Applied AI Inference Engineer

ABOUT BASETEN

Baseten provides the infrastructure, tooling, and expertise needed to bring great AI products to market - fast. Backed by top investors including IVP , Spark Capital , Greylock , and Conviction , we’re trusted by leading AI-driven innovators like Writer , Abridge , Bland , Patreon , Descript, Retool , and Zed to deliver industry-leading performance, security, and reliability for their mission-critical workloads. With our recent $75M Series C funding, we’re growing fast to make AI accessible across all products.

THE ROLE

As an Applied AI Inference Engineer at Baseten, you will partner directly with customers to architect, build, and deploy high-scale production AI applications on Baseten’s platform. You’ll own the journey with customers from initial exploration to production deployment, translating ambiguous business goals into reliable, observable services with clear quality, latency, and cost outcomes.

This role is a great fit for entrepreneurial engineers who want a front-row view into how modern companies adopt AI at scale and who enjoy working across product, software development, performance engineering, and customer-facing implementations.

To be clear, this is an engineering role with hands-on coding and software development that also includes aspects of product management, technical customer success, and pre-sales solution engineering mixed in.

This role is part our Forward Deployed Engineering Team, with extra emphasis on the performance engineering aspects of the role.

EXAMPLE INITIATIVES

Take a look at these blog posts written by members of our Forward Deployed Engineering team:

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develop and maintain software systems and product features using one or more general-purpose programming languages in a production-level environment, with a preference for Python due to its relevance in ML projects.

• Drive customer impact by designing, implementing, and deploying Baseten solutions end-to-end (problem framing → evaluation → production deployment → monitoring). This involves working with customers’ engineering teams at every stage of the customer journey including: sales, implementation, and expansion.

• Deliver with velocity: turn vague objectives into clear specs and well-defined PoCs so we can rapidly ship well-tested services and outcomes for our customers

• Optimize and enhance AI/ML projects, contributing to the continuous improvement of our technical stack. This includes developing features and PRDs with other engineering and product orgs.

• Own products and customers projects end-to-end, functioning as both an engineer, project manager and product manager, with a focus on user empathy, project specification, and end-to-end execution.

• Navigate ambiguity and exercise good judgment on tradeoffs and tools needed to solve problems, avoiding unnecessary complexity.

• Demonstrate pride, ownership, and accountability for your work, expecting the same from your teammates.

REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or related field.

• 1+ years of professional work experience in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.

• Demonstrated experience with one or more general-purpose programming languages in a production-level environment, with a strong preference for Python.

• Familiarity with AI/ML pipelines and the lifecycle of ML model development and deployment.

• Strong communication skills, particularly on complex technical topics.

• Experience in building or optimizing AI/ML projects is highly valued.

BENEFITS

• Competitive compensation package.

• This is a unique opportunity to be part of a rapidly growing startup in one of the most exciting engineering fields of our era.

• An inclusive and supportive work culture that fosters learning and growth.

• Exposure to a variety of ML startups, offering unparalleled learning and networking opportunities.

Apply now to embark on a rewarding journey in shaping the future of AI! If you are a motivated individual with a passion for machine learning and a desire to be part of a collaborative and forward-thinking team, we would love to hear from you.

At Baseten, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status.