Founding AI Engineer / Member of Technical Staff
New York, NY
Full Time
Information Technology
Experienced
Job Title: Founding AI Engineer / Member of Technical Staff
Pay: $125000.00–$190000.00/yr+0.20% - 1.50% Equity
Location: NYC, NY
Schedule: Full time, Permanent Role
Relocation Assistance: Available
Job Overview
As a founding AI engineer, you will design and ship the machine learning systems that power a digital analyst for public safety, working directly with founders and investigators to transform digital evidence into searchable insight. You will own the core backend and AI architecture, building robust retrieval and RAG pipelines that process vast volumes of unstructured data including calls, reports, and transcripts. This role requires a hands-on approach to prototyping with LLMs, embeddings, and vector databases, followed by hardening those ideas into production-ready systems that law enforcement agencies can trust for high-stakes investigations. You should bring at least four years of professional software engineering experience with strong backend fundamentals in Python and modern distributed systems. Success in this position demands a proven track record of shipping ML/AI systems to real users and the ability to design sophisticated data pipelines and evaluation frameworks. You will collaborate closely with forward-deployed engineers to translate field feedback into concrete ranking improvements and feature sets. Beyond core AI work, you will contribute across the full stack to ensure the entire platform remains monitored and maintainable. This is a high-ownership opportunity to define technical best practices and influence product strategy at the ground floor of a mission-driven startup.
Responsibilities:
This is a founding AI / backend engineering role. You’ll design and ship the ML systems that power Closure’s “digital analyst” for law enforcement—working closely with the founders, Forward-Deployed Engineers, and investigators in the field.
What you will do:
Own core AI and backend systems that ingest, process, and search across large volumes of evidence (calls, reports, documents, transcripts, and more).
Design and implement retrieval / RAG pipelines for unstructured and structured data, making it fast and reliable for investigators to find what they need.
Prototype with new models and tools (LLMs, embeddings, vector databases, observability stack), then harden the best ideas into production systems agencies can trust.
Collaborate closely with Forward-Deployed Engineers and users to turn real-world feedback from detectives and prosecutors into concrete ML features and ranking improvements.
Contribute across the stack when needed (APIs, internal tools, evaluation dashboards) to keep the overall AI surface area robust, monitored, and maintainable.
Qualifications:
4+ years of professional software engineering experience with strong backend fundamentals (distributed systems, APIs, data modeling) in a modern stack (e.g., Python + TypeScript/React or similar).
Hands-on experience building and shipping ML/AI systems used by real users, ideally involving LLMs or other deep-learning models (not just research or PoCs).
Experience with retrieval / RAG or similar architectures over unstructured text or multi-modal data (documents, transcripts, logs), including designing data pipelines and evaluation approaches.
Comfortable working end-to-end: from understanding investigator workflows and problem framing, to designing experiments, to deploying and monitoring models in production.
Strong communication and collaboration skills; able to work directly with founders, Forward-Deployed Engineers, and non-technical stakeholders in a small, fast-moving, mission-driven team.
Ideal Candidate:
Field-Driven Engineer – Strong full-stack engineer (Python + modern frontend) who enjoys leaving the office, sitting with users, and seeing how software actually gets used in the wild.
Customer-Obsessed Problem Solver – Comfortable building trust with detectives and agency leadership, asking good questions, and turning messy requirements into clear product and technical decisions.
High-Ownership Operator – Thrives in tiny, fast-moving teams, takes full responsibility for deployments and outcomes, and is happy to do whatever the situation requires (from debugging to running training sessions).
Mission-Motivated – Energized by improving public safety and the criminal-justice system, and comfortable working with sensitive, sometimes difficult case material.
Startup-Ready – Has prior experience in early-stage or talent-dense environments and is excited by ambiguity, rapid iteration, and having a big say in how the product and company evolve.
Must-Have Requirements:
4+ years of professional software engineering experience, with strong backend fundamentals (distributed systems, APIs, data modeling) in a modern stack (e.g., Python + TypeScript/React or similar).
Hands-on experience building and shipping ML/AI systems, ideally with LLMs or other deep-learning models used by real users (not just research or prototypes).
Experience with retrieval / RAG or similar pipelines over unstructured text or multi-modal data (documents, audio transcripts, etc.), including designing data flows and evaluation approaches. (Based directly on the JD’s “Data Versatility / RAG or similar pipelines” section.)
Comfort working in a fast-moving startup environment with high autonomy, ambiguity, and end-to-end ownership of projects.
Strong communication skills – able to partner with founders, FDEs and investigators, explain technical trade-offs, and turn messy requirements into robust systems..
Benefits
Retirement/401k
Health Insurance
Vision Insurance
Dental Insurance
U.S.-based role
Equity: 0.20% - 1.50%
Bonuses based on company performance
We contribute 3% to your 401(k), regardless of your own contribution
Unlimited PTO
Paid Short- & Long-term Disability Insurance
Paid Life Insurance
Criminal Justice Ready: Given the sensitivity of our work, we support employees through FBI background checks / CJIS clearance process as needed
HRforGrowth is an extension of the Growth Catalyst Group (GCG), a partnership of companies with more than 65 years of operating experience and a history of successfully serving customers across industries and disciplines.
GCG® is one of the world’s leading providers of business transformation solutions related to supply chain and technology solutions for order fulfillment and marketing execution. We are committed to an inclusive workplace that does not discriminate against race, nationality, religion, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity. We believe in diversity and encourage any qualified individual to apply. We are an EEOC Employer.
Pay: $125000.00–$190000.00/yr+0.20% - 1.50% Equity
Location: NYC, NY
Schedule: Full time, Permanent Role
Relocation Assistance: Available
Job Overview
As a founding AI engineer, you will design and ship the machine learning systems that power a digital analyst for public safety, working directly with founders and investigators to transform digital evidence into searchable insight. You will own the core backend and AI architecture, building robust retrieval and RAG pipelines that process vast volumes of unstructured data including calls, reports, and transcripts. This role requires a hands-on approach to prototyping with LLMs, embeddings, and vector databases, followed by hardening those ideas into production-ready systems that law enforcement agencies can trust for high-stakes investigations. You should bring at least four years of professional software engineering experience with strong backend fundamentals in Python and modern distributed systems. Success in this position demands a proven track record of shipping ML/AI systems to real users and the ability to design sophisticated data pipelines and evaluation frameworks. You will collaborate closely with forward-deployed engineers to translate field feedback into concrete ranking improvements and feature sets. Beyond core AI work, you will contribute across the full stack to ensure the entire platform remains monitored and maintainable. This is a high-ownership opportunity to define technical best practices and influence product strategy at the ground floor of a mission-driven startup.
Responsibilities:
This is a founding AI / backend engineering role. You’ll design and ship the ML systems that power Closure’s “digital analyst” for law enforcement—working closely with the founders, Forward-Deployed Engineers, and investigators in the field.
What you will do:
Own core AI and backend systems that ingest, process, and search across large volumes of evidence (calls, reports, documents, transcripts, and more).
Design and implement retrieval / RAG pipelines for unstructured and structured data, making it fast and reliable for investigators to find what they need.
Prototype with new models and tools (LLMs, embeddings, vector databases, observability stack), then harden the best ideas into production systems agencies can trust.
Collaborate closely with Forward-Deployed Engineers and users to turn real-world feedback from detectives and prosecutors into concrete ML features and ranking improvements.
Contribute across the stack when needed (APIs, internal tools, evaluation dashboards) to keep the overall AI surface area robust, monitored, and maintainable.
Qualifications:
4+ years of professional software engineering experience with strong backend fundamentals (distributed systems, APIs, data modeling) in a modern stack (e.g., Python + TypeScript/React or similar).
Hands-on experience building and shipping ML/AI systems used by real users, ideally involving LLMs or other deep-learning models (not just research or PoCs).
Experience with retrieval / RAG or similar architectures over unstructured text or multi-modal data (documents, transcripts, logs), including designing data pipelines and evaluation approaches.
Comfortable working end-to-end: from understanding investigator workflows and problem framing, to designing experiments, to deploying and monitoring models in production.
Strong communication and collaboration skills; able to work directly with founders, Forward-Deployed Engineers, and non-technical stakeholders in a small, fast-moving, mission-driven team.
Ideal Candidate:
Field-Driven Engineer – Strong full-stack engineer (Python + modern frontend) who enjoys leaving the office, sitting with users, and seeing how software actually gets used in the wild.
Customer-Obsessed Problem Solver – Comfortable building trust with detectives and agency leadership, asking good questions, and turning messy requirements into clear product and technical decisions.
High-Ownership Operator – Thrives in tiny, fast-moving teams, takes full responsibility for deployments and outcomes, and is happy to do whatever the situation requires (from debugging to running training sessions).
Mission-Motivated – Energized by improving public safety and the criminal-justice system, and comfortable working with sensitive, sometimes difficult case material.
Startup-Ready – Has prior experience in early-stage or talent-dense environments and is excited by ambiguity, rapid iteration, and having a big say in how the product and company evolve.
Must-Have Requirements:
4+ years of professional software engineering experience, with strong backend fundamentals (distributed systems, APIs, data modeling) in a modern stack (e.g., Python + TypeScript/React or similar).
Hands-on experience building and shipping ML/AI systems, ideally with LLMs or other deep-learning models used by real users (not just research or prototypes).
Experience with retrieval / RAG or similar pipelines over unstructured text or multi-modal data (documents, audio transcripts, etc.), including designing data flows and evaluation approaches. (Based directly on the JD’s “Data Versatility / RAG or similar pipelines” section.)
Comfort working in a fast-moving startup environment with high autonomy, ambiguity, and end-to-end ownership of projects.
Strong communication skills – able to partner with founders, FDEs and investigators, explain technical trade-offs, and turn messy requirements into robust systems..
Benefits
Retirement/401k
Health Insurance
Vision Insurance
Dental Insurance
U.S.-based role
Equity: 0.20% - 1.50%
Bonuses based on company performance
We contribute 3% to your 401(k), regardless of your own contribution
Unlimited PTO
Paid Short- & Long-term Disability Insurance
Paid Life Insurance
Criminal Justice Ready: Given the sensitivity of our work, we support employees through FBI background checks / CJIS clearance process as needed
HRforGrowth is an extension of the Growth Catalyst Group (GCG), a partnership of companies with more than 65 years of operating experience and a history of successfully serving customers across industries and disciplines.
GCG® is one of the world’s leading providers of business transformation solutions related to supply chain and technology solutions for order fulfillment and marketing execution. We are committed to an inclusive workplace that does not discriminate against race, nationality, religion, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity. We believe in diversity and encourage any qualified individual to apply. We are an EEOC Employer.
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