Member of Technical Staff, Applied Engineering - Government

Title of Role

Title of Role: Member of Technical Staff, Applied Engineering – Government
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Company Stage of Funding: Late-Stage Venture / Well-Funded Startup
Office Type: Onsite, 5 Days/Week
Salary: $180,000 – $440,000 + Equity

Our client is a highly ambitious, well-funded technology company at the forefront of artificial intelligence. The organization’s mission is to build systems that push the boundaries of scientific discovery and deliver cutting-edge AI solutions to critical real-world challenges. Backed by billions in venture funding, the company operates with a startup mindset—small, fast-moving teams, direct ownership, and minimal bureaucracy—while also benefiting from the scale and resources of a global leader in AI research and deployment.

This is a rare opportunity to join a team tackling some of the most impactful problems in AI, particularly within government and enterprise environments, where security, reliability, and measurable outcomes are paramount.

As a Member of Technical Staff, Applied Engineering, you will act as a hands-on builder and strategic partner for high-stakes AI projects. You’ll collaborate directly with government and enterprise stakeholders to scope, design, and deploy solutions powered by large-scale language models and related AI technologies.

Day-to-day responsibilities include:

• Developing and enhancing AI-driven applications tailored to mission-critical use cases.
• Partnering with customers to identify challenges, gather requirements, and deliver scalable, secure solutions.
• Designing evaluation frameworks, benchmarking models, and fine-tuning systems to meet performance and compliance standards.
• Building internal developer tools, SDKs, and automation pipelines to streamline workflows.
• Driving rapid iteration, testing, and deployment in fast-paced, regulated environments.
• Translating complex technical insights into actionable strategies for diverse stakeholders.

The strongest candidates will bring:

• 2+ years of professional software engineering experience in secure, high-reliability, or regulated environments.
• Proven track record of delivering AI/ML-powered products or infrastructure.
• Strong coding ability in Python and/or Type Script, with a focus on building robust and scalable systems.
• Solid academic or practical background in Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, or related technical fields.
• Experience working closely with customers or end-users to tailor technical solutions.
• Ability to thrive in fast-changing, ambiguous environments while maintaining a focus on shipping high-quality work.

• Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code tools such as Pulumi or Terraform.
• Experience tuning, deploying, or operating large language models (LLMs).
• Exposure to enterprise or government AI/ML applications.
• Strong communication skills for interfacing with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Salary: $180,000 – $440,000 (commensurate with experience)
• Equity: Meaningful ownership with long-term upside potential
• Benefits: Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage; retirement savings plans; generous PTO; and other perks aligned with top-tier technology employers.
• Work Environment: Onsite in Palo Alto, CA, with direct exposure to high-level technical leadership and the opportunity to make outsized contributions on a small, high-velocity team.

This role is designed for builders who want to operate at the cutting edge of AI, delivering solutions with real-world impact in some of the most important and challenging domains today.