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Clera

Founding Engineer (AI/ML)

San Francisco
Salary
$130,000 - $170,000 annually
Level
Mid
Work type
On-site · San Francisco
Visa
Sponsors visas

Open. First seen 19 October 2026.

Apply on the company's site →

About the role

About the Role

As a Founding Engineer focused on AI and machine learning, you will own the intelligence layer of an AI recruiting marketplace. You will build recommendation, ranking, retrieval, and LLM-powered matching systems that help connect candidates with relevant roles.

What You'll Do

  • Own recommendation, ranking, and retrieval systems from design through production.
  • Build and improve LLM-powered matching features, measuring their impact on candidate-role alignment.
  • Take product features from problem definition to production and ship improvements at a rapid pace.
  • Architect and maintain the data pipelines and production services that support machine learning models.
  • Work directly with company leadership to turn product goals into deployed systems.

What We're Looking For

  • Two to five years of experience building and shipping end-to-end software features in production.
  • Hands-on experience building recommendation, ranking, or machine learning-based matching systems for real users.
  • Experience building LLM API-powered features and shipping machine learning models or products to production.
  • Strong production engineering skills in TypeScript or Python, along with experience using PyTorch, TensorFlow, or equivalent frameworks.
  • Experience building and maintaining production data pipelines and services, with strong computer science fundamentals.
  • More than six months of substantive work experience in the United States, plus a substantive machine learning role at a recognized product company or credible startup.
  • Comfort working in a fast-paced startup environment with frequent iteration and daily shipping.
  • Demonstrated technical achievement through strong open-source contributions, notable personal projects, or comparable accomplishments.
  • React experience is helpful, as is familiarity with Supabase, Prisma, database design, Typesense or similar search infrastructure, embeddings, vector search, and workflow automation tools.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary is $130,000 to $170,000 annually, plus founding-hire equity. Visa sponsorship is available for candidates eligible for a supported sponsorship route.

Location

On-site in San Francisco, California, six days per week. Candidates must be based in San Francisco or willing to relocate.

What this role asks for

Particular to this role

Supabase · TensorFlow · Vector Databases

Rare in Clera's other 299 open postings.

Standard for data science / ML roles

LLM · Machine Learning · PyTorch · Python

Common in data science / ML postings at any company.

Compared with Clera's other open jobs.

The team: Engineering HIRES STEADILY

This role is one of 313 open in Engineering. 247 were posted in the last 30 days and the oldest in March: a team that hires all year rather than one being built.

WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS

LLM (145 of 313), TypeScript (136 of 313), Python (133 of 313), React (110 of 313), Machine Learning (74 of 313), PostgreSQL (59 of 313), JavaScript (56 of 313)

OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM

From the team and dates on Clera's own job board.

Other openings for this role

3 open postings for this role in San Francisco, first posted 28 September 2026. The company is likely hiring for more than one position. None has been taken down and posted again.

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