Founding Staff ML / AI Engineer

Role : Founding Staff ML / AI Engineer

Location : San Francisco, CA.

Hybrid. Full time.

About the job :

Advantra is partnering with a Series A AI software startup in San Francisco to hire a Founding Staff ML / AI Engineer to build and scale AI systems that automate retail brand operations.

About the role :

You will design and implement AI and ML systems that help brands automate accounting, planning, and retail operations. You will build LLM-based agents, predictive models, and anomaly detection systems that power real-world retail decisions. You will work closely with product and engineering teams to translate AI capabilities into usable software for large-scale retail brands.

Responsibilities :

• Build agentic systems that retrieve and process data from legacy and modern systems.
• Develop NLP and LLM pipelines to extract insights from complex documents.
• Design predictive models for brand sales forecasting.
• Implement anomaly detection models to optimize retail operations.
• Create recommendation systems for promotions and marketing strategies.
• Collaborate with product and engineering teams to integrate AI models into software.
• Establish ML best practices for development, testing, and deployment.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers on AI and ML projects.
• Evaluate and implement new AI technologies and frameworks.

Core requirements :

Nice to have :

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.

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.