Role : Founding Staff ML / AI Engineer
Location : New York, NY.
On site. Full-time.
About the job :
Advantra is partnering with a Series A AI startup to hire a Founding Staff ML / AI Engineer to build the foundation of the company's AI / ML capabilities and work closely with the founding team.
About the role :
You will own the full AI / ML lifecycle, from research and prototyping to production deployment and monitoring. You'll develop agentic systems, LLM workflows, predictive models, and anomaly detection tools to help brands scale in retail.
Responsibilities :
- Design, develop, and deploy agentic systems that retrieve and process data from legacy retail systems.
- Build and fine-tune LLM workflows for document understanding and analysis.
- Develop predictive models to forecast brand sales and optimize promotions.
- Detect anomalies in sales and operational data to improve brand performance.
- Prototype and productionize advanced ML techniques and pipelines.
- Collaborate with founders and product teams to integrate AI solutions into customer-facing products.
- Implement monitoring, testing, and evaluation processes for ML models in production.
- Contribute to AI / ML research and stay current on state-of-the-art techniques relevant to retail and brand operations.
- Ensure AI / ML systems are scalable, maintainable, and aligned with product goals.
Core requirements :
1+ year of applied AI / ML experience, preferably in a startup or high-growth environment.Strong experience fine-tuning LLMs (Llama, GPT) and designing prompt workflows.Solid background in ML system design and engineering best practices.Strong product mindset with the ability to translate AI capabilities into real-world solutions.Proficiency in Python and relevant ML / AI libraries (PyTorch, TensorFlow, HuggingFace, etc.).Experience building end-to-end ML pipelines from prototype to production.Ability to handle multiple projects and prioritize in a fast-paced startup environment.Excellent problem-solving and communication skills.Experience with data preprocessing, feature engineering, and model evaluation metrics.Comfortable working on-site in a collaborative, fast-moving environment.Nice to have :
Experience with agentic AI systems or multi-agent frameworks.Background in retail, e-commerce, or business analytics.Experience with data orchestration pipelines and cloud deployment (AWS, GCP, or Azure).Knowledge of advanced NLP techniques beyond LLMs.Experience in anomaly detection and predictive analytics in real-world datasets.How to apply :
Email careers@theadvantra.com with links to shipped work and a short note on what you owned. Company name shared after the intro.
About Us :
Advantra-Upstart Crew is a search program inside Advantra Consulting. We partner with early stage and high growth startups to hire the top 2% in Tech and GTM. We run end to end searches, from single role headhunts to full team build outs, using domain experts and a vetted network to deliver tight shortlists. We stay close to founders and candidates so the relationship lasts beyond the first hire.