Senior AI/ML Engineer

Velir is an established mid-sized agency with a top-tier portfolio of clients, ranging from the world’s largest non-profits to Fortune 500 brands. As of 2023, Velir acquired Brooklyn Data Company, a premier data and analytics consultancy focused on leadership, process improvement, implementation, and advanced analytics.

At Velir, we believe people are our greatest asset. Our culture is built on a foundation of trust, collaboration, and continued improvement. We strive for excellence in everything we do, embracing challenges as opportunities for growth. Our success is driven by a shared passion for making a positive impact on our customers, our communities and each other. We are a remote first company that offers competitive pay and excellent benefits.

Overview

Senior AI/ML Engineers are senior individual contributors who design, build, and deploy production-grade AI/ML systems for both client-facing and internal products. They partner with leadership and cross-functional teams to translate business needs into scalable ML and LLM-based solutions.

This role does not typically include direct reports but requires strong technical leadership, mentorship, and influence across teams.

Responsibilities

AI/ML System Design & Leadership

Lead the design and implementation of scalable ML systems, including supervised, unsupervised, and LLM-based solutions

Translate research and prototypes into production-ready systems

Partner with stakeholders to identify high-impact AI/ML opportunities and define optimal technical approaches

Provide technical mentorship and contribute to team upskilling

LLM & Production AI Systems

Build and operate LLM pipelines, including prompt design, fine-tuning, and evaluation

Develop RAG-based systems using embeddings, vector stores, and retrieval strategies

Design evaluation frameworks, feedback loops, and datasets to continuously improve model performance

Create reusable tooling to accelerate experimentation, deployment, and monitoring

MLOps & Deployment

Own end-to-end ML lifecycle: data pipelines, training, deployment, monitoring, and iteration

Establish best practices for reproducibility, observability, CI/CD, and model versioning

Partner with platform/DevOps teams to ensure reliability and scalability

Promote responsible AI practices, including governance, fairness, and transparency

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Lead cross-functional initiatives across data engineering, analytics, and AI/ML

Translate complex ML concepts into clear recommendations for technical and non-technical audiences

Collaborate with clients and internal teams to plan and deliver AI/ML solutions

Contribute documentation, frameworks, and shared best practices

Project Execution

Scope and lead complex AI/ML initiatives aligned to business outcomes

Align stakeholders and drive execution across teams

Establish clear success metrics and ensure delivery of high-impact solutions

Skills & Qualifications

5–7 years of experience in ML engineering, AI engineering, or related fields, with production deployment experience

Strong programming skills in Python and SQL; experience with PyTorch and HuggingFace

Experience building LLM applications, including RAG, embeddings, and vector search

Experience with cloud platforms (AWS or Azure; e.g., SageMaker, Bedrock, Azure ML)

Strong understanding of ML fundamentals: data design, training, evaluation, and experimentation

Familiarity with LLM alignment techniques (e.g., SFT, DPO, RL)

Experience with MLOps practices: CI/CD, monitoring, retraining, and experiment tracking

Proficiency working with complex, multi-source datasets and defining evaluation strategies

Strong software engineering fundamentals (testing, modularity, code review)

Experience mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction

Strong communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Tech Stack

Languages: Python, SQL

Frameworks: PyTorch, HuggingFace

Platforms: AWS, Azure, Snowflake, Databricks

Physical Requirements

Frequent sitting at a desk performing work on a computer

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions

Compensation Range: $175,000 - 190,000  annually

Please note that compensation packages are finalized after the interview process is concluded. We use a competency-based approach to base pay, which means it is based on the competencies and skills demonstrated for this role.

 
Core Company Values

Take the Long View - Ensure the company is built to last

Be Courageous - Make the right decisions even when they aren't the easiest decisions

Be Genuine - Bring honesty and authenticity to all that you do

Work with Focus + Passion - Display purpose and pride in your work and never stop learning

As an equal opportunity employer, we are firmly committing to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our hiring efforts. We recognize that we need team members from all backgrounds and experiences to successfully shape a positive employee experience as well as deliver our product and service solutions. To that end, we actively seek candidates who can bring diverse experiences and backgrounds to our team. We know that complex factors and systemic bias can get in the way of us meeting strong candidates, so please don't hesitate to apply even if you're not 100% sure.

At this time, Velir does not sponsor candidates and unfortunately cannot accept those on OPT or CPT.