Backflip
Principal AI Engineer / ML Engineer
Backflip, San Francisco, California, United States, 94199
About Backflip Backflip (Backflip.ai) is a generative AI startup revolutionizing how engineers and designers create for the physical world. Founded by the team behind Markforged, we're building AI-first tools that make 3D CAD as intuitive and fast as sketching on paper. Backed by Andreessen Horowitz and NEA, we’ve raised a $30M Series A and built a deeply technical, mission-driven team of 15. Our goal: empower one engineer to work at the speed of a hundred.
The Role We’re hiring a
Principal AI/ML Engineer —a top-tier
individual contributor
who sets the technical bar,
shapes our AI direction , and
tech-leads critical projects
without direct reports. You’ll architect, prototype, and productionize multimodal generative systems that power our CAD engine. What You’ll Do
Co-define the technical strategy
for generative modeling with the Head of AI; influence roadmap through hands-on prototypes and data-driven recommendations.
Architect end-to-end systems
across LLMs, diffusion, and retrieval; design interfaces between perception, reasoning, and CAD-specific geometry modules.
Tech-lead projects : drive design reviews, create implementation plans, de-risk research, and ensure high-quality, shippable outcomes.
Own the model lifecycle : dataset curation, training/eval, optimization,
low-latency inference , monitoring, and continuous improvement.
Raise the bar : establish coding standards, reproducible experimentation, benchmarking, and model/infra observability.
Mentor and unblock
engineers and researchers (guidance, pairing, design reviews) while remaining an
IC
with
no direct reports .
Collaborate with product/design to translate ambiguous user needs into concrete AI capabilities; instrument and iterate quickly.
What We’re Looking For
3-7+ years
in deep learning / generative AI with a record of
shipping
complex systems.
Expert in
multimodal and generative models
(transformers, diffusion, autoregressive); strong
Python + PyTorch .
Evidence of
technical leadership as an IC : you’ve set standards, led cross-functional efforts, and made architectural decisions that lasted.
Fluency from
research to production : data strategy, training, tooling, serving, and performance engineering.
Bonus
If you want to know about the requirements for this role, read on for all the relevant information. Experience with
CAD , 3D geometry, graphics, differentiable programming, or AI for the physical world. Why Backflip Repeat founders in 3D printing/CAD with a prior
$2.1B exit ; backed by
a16z
and
NEA . In-person in SF with a tight-knit, world-class team building the future of 3D design. Flexible PTO and competitive compensation 3 days a week in our San Francisco office, 2 days remote with the option to come in more often
#J-18808-Ljbffr
Principal AI/ML Engineer —a top-tier
individual contributor
who sets the technical bar,
shapes our AI direction , and
tech-leads critical projects
without direct reports. You’ll architect, prototype, and productionize multimodal generative systems that power our CAD engine. What You’ll Do
Co-define the technical strategy
for generative modeling with the Head of AI; influence roadmap through hands-on prototypes and data-driven recommendations.
Architect end-to-end systems
across LLMs, diffusion, and retrieval; design interfaces between perception, reasoning, and CAD-specific geometry modules.
Tech-lead projects : drive design reviews, create implementation plans, de-risk research, and ensure high-quality, shippable outcomes.
Own the model lifecycle : dataset curation, training/eval, optimization,
low-latency inference , monitoring, and continuous improvement.
Raise the bar : establish coding standards, reproducible experimentation, benchmarking, and model/infra observability.
Mentor and unblock
engineers and researchers (guidance, pairing, design reviews) while remaining an
IC
with
no direct reports .
Collaborate with product/design to translate ambiguous user needs into concrete AI capabilities; instrument and iterate quickly.
What We’re Looking For
3-7+ years
in deep learning / generative AI with a record of
shipping
complex systems.
Expert in
multimodal and generative models
(transformers, diffusion, autoregressive); strong
Python + PyTorch .
Evidence of
technical leadership as an IC : you’ve set standards, led cross-functional efforts, and made architectural decisions that lasted.
Fluency from
research to production : data strategy, training, tooling, serving, and performance engineering.
Bonus
If you want to know about the requirements for this role, read on for all the relevant information. Experience with
CAD , 3D geometry, graphics, differentiable programming, or AI for the physical world. Why Backflip Repeat founders in 3D printing/CAD with a prior
$2.1B exit ; backed by
a16z
and
NEA . In-person in SF with a tight-knit, world-class team building the future of 3D design. Flexible PTO and competitive compensation 3 days a week in our San Francisco office, 2 days remote with the option to come in more often
#J-18808-Ljbffr