Senior Applied AI / ML Engineer

About the job: Senior Applied AI / ML Engineer

About Us

Catalyst Labs is a premier talent agency specializing in Applied AI, Machine Learning, and Data Science. We excel in connecting remarkable talent with AI-first startups, helping them build advanced products powered by LLMs and generative AI. We also support established tech companies scaling their ML infrastructure, and enterprise innovation teams unlocking AI potential across various industries such as finance, healthcare, and logistics. We prioritize collaboration with founders, CTOs, and Heads of AI, driving the next wave of intelligent solutions from model optimization to productized AI workflows.

Our Client

Our client is a San Francisco-based startup creating a GenAI-native platform that simplifies the complex task of financial and tax document processing. They transform dense tax documents into structured, usable data within minutes, achieving over 99% accuracy on income lines and integrating effortlessly into Excel and API systems. They cater to sophisticated players in private wealth and asset management, enabling faster, more insightful decision-making. Backed by industry veterans from top tech firms, their team combines product craftsmanship with cutting-edge machine learning.

Having recently been acquired by a global technology leader, the company merges the innovative spirit of a startup with the stability and resources of an established enterprise. By joining this team, you'll collaborate with proven builders who have successfully scaled products to acquisition, developing systems that handle billions of data points and employing GenAI to redefine financial data processing.

Location: Union Square, San Francisco

Work type: Full Time, 5 days a week On-Site.

Compensation: Competitive base salary + bonus + equity.

Visa: Sponsorship available for outstanding candidates.

What We Are Looking For

We are seeking a talented Senior Applied AI / ML Engineer with over 5 years of experience in building and scaling commercial machine learning systems, particularly in document understanding and data extraction. You are a seasoned builder who excels at blending real-world functionalities with AI/ML engineering, leveraging your expertise to deliver tangible value to end-users.

This pivotal role will enable you to enhance our client's GenAI-native platform for tax document processing, featuring the agility of a startup alongside the support of a large multinational firm.

• Develop and scale ML and product infrastructure that drives intelligent tax document processing at production levels.
• Design and optimize inference systems, dataset pipelines, and specific logic to elevate accuracy, speed, and quality as we expand operations to millions of documents.
• Work closely with accountants and tax domain experts to grasp workflows, challenges, and quality standards, converting insights into effective productized ML systems.
• Integrate inference pipelines into a seamless user experience that revolutionizes the document processing approach for tax professionals.
• Create expert systems that encapsulate institutional tax knowledge into scalable, maintainable software components.
• Conduct experiments, assess outcomes, and rapidly iterate on core ML metrics.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with product, engineering, and leadership teams to influence technical direction and product vision.

Qualifications

Core Experience

• 4+ years in machine learning / AI engineering, with proven end-to-end ownership of ML-driven products.
• Strong record in developing systems that deliver direct user value, beyond research prototypes or internal tools.
• Experience managing large, complex datasets, optimizing accuracy, scalability, and reliability. A solid understanding of building, measuring, and iterating on ML systems and ML-driven consumer or enterprise products.
• Proficiency in Python and popular ML libraries (e.g., pandas, scikit-learn, spaCy, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Keras), as well as experience with cloud providers like GCP/AWS, container technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes), and web application development (e.g., Flask, Django).
• Experience deploying or integrating LLMs, LLM APIs, Agents, and prompt engineering in production setups.
• Strong Python skills and hands-on experience with ML infrastructure and data workflows.
• Background in document understanding, OCR, or applied NLP.
• Exposure to financial or tax-related data environments.
• Prior experience in a startup or early-stage product environment.

Soft Skills

• Exceptional problem-solving skills, curiosity, and product intuition.
• Excellent communication abilities to engage directly with domain experts, translating complex needs into technical solutions.
• Demonstrated growth trajectory through promotions or increased responsibilities.

This is an exciting opportunity for professionals eager to make a significant impact in the world of applied AI and machine learning. We invite you to apply and join our