Applied AI Engineer
Surge GroupAbout the role
Applied AI Engineer - AI Startups
New York
The Opportunity:
We are working with a number of high-growth AI startups hiring engineers focused specifically on building AI products in production.
These are not traditional ML research roles. The focus is on taking the latest models and techniques and turning them into reliable products, workflows and systems used by real customers.
You could be joining an early team building from 0→1 or a well-funded AI company scaling quickly after finding strong product-market fit.
The Role:
We are looking to speak with Applied AI Engineers who enjoy working at the intersection of software engineering, product and machine learning.
You could be:
Building production-grade LLM applications and agentic workflows
Designing RAG, retrieval and knowledge systems
Building evaluations, guardrails and observability for AI products
Working with structured and unstructured data at scale
Experimenting with models, prompting, fine-tuning and inference strategies
Integrating AI systems into real customer workflows
Taking AI features from prototype through production
What We’re Looking For:
Strong Python and software engineering fundamentals
Hands-on experience building with modern LLMs
Experience shipping AI or ML products into production
Familiarity with RAG, agents, evaluations or model orchestration
Strong product judgment and experimentation skills
Ability to move quickly in ambiguous, early-stage environments
Genuine interest in building practical AI systems rather than purely academic research
Why Join:
Work directly with founders and small technical teams
Build at the frontier of applied AI
Own AI systems from experimentation through production
Ship quickly and see direct customer feedback
Work on genuinely 0→1 problems
Join companies where AI is the core product rather than an add-on
Responsibilities
- Building production-grade LLM applications and agentic workflows
- Designing RAG, retrieval and knowledge systems
- Building evaluations, guardrails and observability for AI products
- Working with structured and unstructured data at scale
- Experimenting with models, prompting, fine-tuning and inference strategies
- Integrating AI systems into real customer workflows
- Taking AI features from prototype through production
Qualifications
- Strong Python and software engineering fundamentals
- Hands-on experience building with modern LLMs
- Experience shipping AI or ML products into production
- Familiarity with RAG, agents, evaluations or model orchestration
- Strong product judgment and experimentation skills
- Ability to move quickly in ambiguous, early-stage environments
- Genuine interest in building practical AI systems rather than purely academic research
Benefits
- Work directly with founders and small technical teams
- Build at the frontier of applied AI
- Own AI systems from experimentation through production
- Ship quickly and see direct customer feedback
- Work on genuinely 0→1 problems
- Join companies where AI is the core product rather than an add-on