Role overview
****Join SignalFire’s Talent Network for Founding AI Engineer Roles at VC-Backed Startups****
At
**SignalFire**
, we partner with
**top early-stage startups**
that are shaping the future of technology. Our portfolio spans 200+ innovative companies across AI, cybersecurity, healthtech, fintech, developer tools, and enterprise SaaS.
We’re looking to connect with exceptional
**Founding AI Engineers**
who are excited about joining high-growth startups as core technical leaders. By joining SignalFire’s Talent Network, your profile will be shared with our portfolio companies, giving you visibility into exclusive early-stage opportunities that may not be publicly listed.
💡 This is not an application for a specific job. Instead, this is a way to get on the radar of VC-backed startups that are actively hiring AI/ML talent. If you have any questions, please direct inquiries to talentnetwork@signalfire.com.
**Who Should Join?**
We’re looking for AI engineers who are:
✔ Passionate about building AI/ML models from the ground up and deploying them in production
✔ Excited about joining early-stage startups and working directly with founders
✔ Interested in shaping AI strategy and leading the development of AI-powered products
**Typical Roles & Responsibilities**
* Designing, developing, and deploying machine learning (ML) and deep learning models
* Building scalable data pipelines for preprocessing, feature engineering, and model training
* Optimizing and deploying AI models for real-time and batch processing
* Working closely with founders to align AI strategies with product and business goals
* Researching and integrating state-of-the-art AI methodologies
* Developing and optimizing RAG pipelines, agent architectures, and LLM-powered systems
**Common Qualifications**
While each startup has its own hiring criteria, many founding AI roles in our network look for:
* 3+ years of experience in machine learning, deep learning, or applied AI
* Strong Python skills with frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, or JAX
* Experience with big data tools (Apache Spark, Kafka, Hadoop) and MLOps platforms
* Familiarity with cloud environments (AWS, GCP, Azure) and containerization tools (Docker, Kubernetes)
* Startup experience or an interest in early-stage environments is a plus
💡
**Technologies You Might Work With:**
Python, TensorFlow, PyTorch, JAX, scikit-learn, Kubernetes, Docker, MLflow, TFX, Kubeflow, FastAPI, Flask, SQL, NoSQL, Apache Spark, Kafka, Hadoop, Flink, Airflow, AWS (SageMaker, Lambda, S3), GCP (Vertex AI, BigQuery), Azure (ML Studio, Synapse).
**What Happens Next?**
* Submit your application to join SignalFire’s Talent Ecosystem.
* We review applications on an ongoing basis to identify strong candidates.
* If there’s a match, a SignalFire talent partner or a leader from one of our startups may reach out directly.
* No match yet? We’ll keep your profile on file for future AI/ML roles in our portfolio.
Compensation Range: $170K - $250K