Founding Engineer

About Ultralytics:

🌍 Join the team powering the future of vision AI
Hello, hola, 你好, こんにちは, नमस्ते, hallo, bonjour! Thanks for stopping by — we know your time is valuable, so here's what makes Ultralytics special.

⚡ Who we are
At Ultralytics, we're on a mission to simplify AI for everyone. As the creators of the world's leading Ultralytics YOLO models, we empower millions of developers, researchers, and companies worldwide to build state-of-the-art computer vision applications.

Following our $30M Series A round, we're expanding rapidly across our global hubs in New York London, Madrid, and Shenzhen. This is an opportunity to join a fast-scaling, high-performance team that's redefining the future of vision AI — where ambition meets impact, and ideas become reality.

💼 About the role
As Founding Engineer, you'll help establish our New York engineering team, shipping features across the YOLO ML/computer vision surface and the platform around it. You'll connect model capabilities with usable interfaces, reliable APIs, and production infrastructure.

“Founding” means end-to-end ownership, not a queue of assigned tickets. You'll define scope, make architectural decisions, write and review code, deploy changes, and own production outcomes.

This is a hands-on senior engineer with tech-lead responsibility, not a people-management requirement. You'll use AI coding tools daily and coordinate with colleagues in the UK, Spain, and China through clear plans, async communication, and accountable delivery.

🚀 What you'll do
Strategy & execution

• Own a feature area from requirements and architecture through implementation, testing, deployment, and iteration.
• Ship ML/CV capabilities alongside full-stack interfaces, backend services, and infrastructure, using our documentation and guides.
• Use Copilot or Codex routinely, validating generated code for correctness, security, and maintainability.

Cross-functional collaboration

• Break ambiguous work into milestones, align dependencies across locations, and communicate decisions and blockers asynchronously.
• Balance customer needs, technical trade-offs, and commercial deadlines with Product and Engineering.

Representation & leadership

• Lead design and code reviews, unblock engineers, and set standards for testing, observability, and production reliability.
• Strengthen our open-source ecosystem through maintainable contributions, technical documentation, and engineering knowledge-sharing.

• Senior-to-principal/distinguished-level industry delivery, with sustained ownership of feature areas and tech-lead-level accountability.
• Shipped ML/AI and computer vision work, with practical Python and PyTorch proficiency beyond coursework or research.
• Full-stack capability spanning user interfaces, APIs, databases, cloud infrastructure, deployment, and production operations.
• Current AI-assisted development experience, sound review judgment, and a preference for mainstream, well-documented tools.
• Strong async communication, work breakdown, and deadline delivery within structured teams; no degree required, but industry experience is essential.

Nice to have

• Production experience with TypeScript, React, and Python API frameworks such as FastAPI.
• Experience with PostgreSQL, Docker, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and cloud platforms.
• Hands-on model serving, GPU optimization, inference monitoring, or edge deployment experience.
• Contributions to Ultralytics or other open-source projects and engagement with our developer community.
• Early engineering experience building products and establishing technical practices across international teams.

You'll thrive here if you:

• Take ownership and deliver results with focus and accountability.
• Combine strategic thinking with hands-on execution.
• Value excellence, grit, and creativity in equal measure.
• See collaboration as the foundation for meaningful progress.

Our culture is built around our core values:

• Relentless progress: Constant evolution and improvement.
• Strive for excellence: Perseverance and attention to detail.
• Actions, not words: Focus on delivering meaningful results.
• Act with urgency: Seize fleeting opportunities.
• Open access to all: Transparent communication and collaboration.

Learn more in our Ultralytics Handbook.

💰 Compensation and benefits
We reward excellence and impact — not just tenure or title.

• Competitive salary: Reflecting your experience and contribution.
• Equity packages: We want our success to be yours too.
• On-site collaboration: Work with passionate builders in one of our global hubs.
• Flexible working hours: We value results over routines.
• Generous time off: 24 vacation days, your birthday off, plus local holidays.
• Tech & tools: Work on cutting-edge AI projects that power millions of devices.
• Gear: Brand-new Apple MacBook Air/Pro, Apple Studio Display, and AirPods Pro 3.
• Learning & development: Dedicated budget for personal and professional growth.
• High impact: Your work will shape the future of vision AI.

👉 Check out ultralytics.com/careers for more about our culture, values, and teams.

🌎 Where and how you can work
We believe great work happens where passion meets purpose.

• This role is hybrid in New York office, working with our new NYC engineering team.
• Applicants must have legal authorization to work in the country of application.

We're an in-office team that values daily collaboration, energy, and connection. Being together helps us move faster, learn from one another, and celebrate wins as they happen.

🚀 Why join us
We're not just building models — we're building the ecosystem powering the future of vision AI. If you're ready to build, move fast, and make an impact — this is your moment.

⚡ Ready to build the ecosystem powering the future of vision AI? Apply now.