Applied AI​/ML Lead

Overview:

Join Us in Revolutionizing Cardiac Care from Beautiful Santa Cruz

Imagine bringing AI capabilities to life‑saving robotics technology while being minutes from world‑class surf breaks and redwood forests. We’re developing a groundbreaking robotic platform that gives surgeons superhuman precision in transcatheter valve deployment—and we need an Applied AI/ML Lead to help us integrate machine learning into our product for the first time.

This is a foundational hire. You’ll be the internal expert on AI/ML, but your primary job isn’t to train neural networks from scratch—it’s to understand the rapidly evolving AI/ML landscape, identify opportunities for our product, work with third‑party partners who build ML algorithms, and integrate those capabilities into our robotic platform. We need a strong software engineer who can own the technical integration end‑to‑end, with enough ML depth to be a credible technical counterpart to our partners and to evaluate what’s possible.

• Stay current on advances in AI/ML as applied to medical imaging (X-ray, 3D echo, CT) and identify opportunities to bring these capabilities into our product
• Own relationships with third‑party ML and imaging partners—define requirements, evaluate their work, and hold them accountable for deliverables
• Integrate ML models and AI‑enabled features into our robotic software platform, ensuring they work reliably in a real‑time clinical environment
• Translate clinical and engineering requirements into practical ML problem statements that external partners can execute against
• Evaluate ML model performance, define acceptance criteria, and support validation activities for regulatory submissions
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with software, robotics, controls, and clinical teams to ensure ML outputs are useful and well‑integrated into procedural workflows
• Build internal tooling and infrastructure for model evaluation, data management, and integration testing
• Contribute to longer‑term AI/ML roadmap planning and help define when to build vs. buy vs. partner

• Excellent software engineering fundamentals: you write clean, maintainable, production‑quality code
• Strong Python skills with experience integrating ML models into larger software systems
• Familiarity with modern ML frameworks (PyTorch, Tensor Flow) and the ability to evaluate model architectures and performance
• Understanding of computer vision and medical imaging concepts—you can speak credibly with imaging specialists and ML researchers
• Experience managing technical vendor relationships or collaborating with external development partners
• Strong communication skills—you can translate between clinical needs, engineering constraints, and ML capabilities
• Ability to read and synthesize ML research papers and assess applicability to real‑world problems
• Comfortable working in ambiguity and defining the path forward in a new problem space

• Prior experience with medical imaging data (X‑ray, ultrasound, echo, CT, MRI)
• Experience shipping ML‑enabled products in a regulated or safety‑critical environment
• Familiarity with model validation and documentation requirements for medical devices
• Exposure to robotics, real‑time systems, or image‑guided procedures
• Experience building data pipelines or ML infrastructure
• Background in applied ML, even if not your primary focus

Experience & Background

• BS/MS in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent; advanced degree in ML/AI is a plus but not required
• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience
• Experience integrating ML or AI capabilities into production systems
• Track record of working effectively with external partners or vendors on technical deliverables
• Self‑directed and comfortable owning a new functional area with limited existing infrastructure
• Must be authorized to work in the U.S. (U.S. Citizen or Green Card holder required; no sponsorship available)
• Ability to work in a hybrid environment, onsite 2‑3 days a week at our Santa Cruz, CA office or Portola Valley satellite office

We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, and disability, or other legally protected status.