Astera Holdings
This range is provided by Astera Holdings. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.
Salary and Benefits
Base pay range $200,000.00/yr - $600,000.00/yr Additional compensation types Annual Bonus, RSUs, and Stock options Position
Head of AI Engineering @ Astera Holdings Location:
Remote (Preference for New York) Reports to:
CEO About Astera Holdings
Astera Holdings is a quantitative finance firm on a mission to build around the emergence of prediction markets. We are transforming this inevitable asset class—where traders bet on real-world event outcomes—from a speculative frontier into a rigorous, scientific asset class. We are looking for a rare breed of builder to co-author this new chapter in quantitative finance and artificial intelligence. Our company operates on a synergistic, three-pillar structure: Astera Capital:
Our institutional asset management arm, designed to generate absolute, uncorrelated returns by systematically exploiting market inefficiencies. Atlas:
Our consumer-facing Agentic / Information / Alpha-as-a-Service application, which makes smart trading in prediction markets accessible. Astera Analytics:
Our premier B2B consulting partner, which deploys our core intelligence to solve complex enterprise challenges. Our culture is a
"Meritocracy of Minds,"
defined by Radical Intellectual Honesty, a Scientific Approach to Everything, and Lean Intensity. The Opportunity
This is a career-defining opportunity for a world-class AI leader to build the central nervous system of a new financial institution. We are not hiring a manager for a research lab; we are seeking a strategic and technical partner to build the high-torque engine that powers our entire company. As the Head of AI Engineering, you are the ultimate owner of the firm\'s most durable competitive advantage: our proprietary, data-compounding Intelligence Engine. If you are an AI/ML leader from a top-tier quantitative firm or technology company who is driven to build mission-critical systems from a clean slate, this role offers an unparalleled greenfield opportunity. You will be responsible for translating the firm\'s ambitious vision into a high-velocity, production-grade reality, with the autonomy and resources to architect the future of our technology. What You\'ll Build
The Central Intelligence Engine As the Head of AI Engineering, you will architect, build, and lead the world-class team that powers the Astera Flywheel. Your mandate is to own the entire AI ecosystem, ensuring it is scalable, reliable, and capable of generating compounding alpha. Technical Strategy & Architecture:
Own the end-to-end technical vision for the entire AI platform, from data ingestion and MLOps to model serving and sophisticated agentic applications. Make the critical "build vs. buy vs. open-source" decisions that balance speed, cost, and long-term defensibility. Team Leadership & Talent Development:
Recruit, hire, mentor, and retain a "lean-elite" team of T-shaped engineers and researchers. Design a rigorous hiring process to find "unicorn" talent and foster a culture of continuous learning and excellence. Cross-Functional Leadership & Execution:
Serve as the primary technical partner to the C-suite, managing collaboration with the CIO of Astera Capital and the CPO of BetSmart. Translate complex quant strategies and dynamic product needs into a cohesive technical roadmap and drive the team's execution tempo to meet milestones. The AI Platform:
Accountable for the delivery of core AI systems, including the predictive models and backtesting engine for Astera Capital's quantitative strategies, the low-latency execution platform for HFT and automated trading, the conversational AI agent ("Sharpe") and recommendation engine for BetSmart, and the MLOps platform governing the AI lifecycle. Who You Are: The Visionary Builder
An Architect from a Premier AI Environment:
You have led teams and architected systems at a world-class AI-native company or top-tier quantitative firm, with experience in foundational models, agentic systems, or advanced AI products. A Proven AI Leader:
You have a minimum of 10 years of software and AI engineering experience, with 3-5 years in leadership handling high-performance teams; a track record of delivering complex, scalable, mission-critical AI systems in production. An MLOps & Systems Expert:
Deep hands-on expertise in the modern MLOps stack and cloud architecture (ideally AWS); history of pragmatic architectural decisions. A Strategic & Business-Minded Partner:
Excellent communication and business acumen; able to articulate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and engage with PhD-level quants and product leaders. A Quant-Fluent Technologist:
Strong first-principles problem solving in AI; excited by learning a new domain and fluent in data, risk, and probability language shared with AI and quantitative finance. Seniority and Employment
Seniority level:
Executive Employment type:
Full-time Job function:
Information Technology We\u2019re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.
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Base pay range $200,000.00/yr - $600,000.00/yr Additional compensation types Annual Bonus, RSUs, and Stock options Position
Head of AI Engineering @ Astera Holdings Location:
Remote (Preference for New York) Reports to:
CEO About Astera Holdings
Astera Holdings is a quantitative finance firm on a mission to build around the emergence of prediction markets. We are transforming this inevitable asset class—where traders bet on real-world event outcomes—from a speculative frontier into a rigorous, scientific asset class. We are looking for a rare breed of builder to co-author this new chapter in quantitative finance and artificial intelligence. Our company operates on a synergistic, three-pillar structure: Astera Capital:
Our institutional asset management arm, designed to generate absolute, uncorrelated returns by systematically exploiting market inefficiencies. Atlas:
Our consumer-facing Agentic / Information / Alpha-as-a-Service application, which makes smart trading in prediction markets accessible. Astera Analytics:
Our premier B2B consulting partner, which deploys our core intelligence to solve complex enterprise challenges. Our culture is a
"Meritocracy of Minds,"
defined by Radical Intellectual Honesty, a Scientific Approach to Everything, and Lean Intensity. The Opportunity
This is a career-defining opportunity for a world-class AI leader to build the central nervous system of a new financial institution. We are not hiring a manager for a research lab; we are seeking a strategic and technical partner to build the high-torque engine that powers our entire company. As the Head of AI Engineering, you are the ultimate owner of the firm\'s most durable competitive advantage: our proprietary, data-compounding Intelligence Engine. If you are an AI/ML leader from a top-tier quantitative firm or technology company who is driven to build mission-critical systems from a clean slate, this role offers an unparalleled greenfield opportunity. You will be responsible for translating the firm\'s ambitious vision into a high-velocity, production-grade reality, with the autonomy and resources to architect the future of our technology. What You\'ll Build
The Central Intelligence Engine As the Head of AI Engineering, you will architect, build, and lead the world-class team that powers the Astera Flywheel. Your mandate is to own the entire AI ecosystem, ensuring it is scalable, reliable, and capable of generating compounding alpha. Technical Strategy & Architecture:
Own the end-to-end technical vision for the entire AI platform, from data ingestion and MLOps to model serving and sophisticated agentic applications. Make the critical "build vs. buy vs. open-source" decisions that balance speed, cost, and long-term defensibility. Team Leadership & Talent Development:
Recruit, hire, mentor, and retain a "lean-elite" team of T-shaped engineers and researchers. Design a rigorous hiring process to find "unicorn" talent and foster a culture of continuous learning and excellence. Cross-Functional Leadership & Execution:
Serve as the primary technical partner to the C-suite, managing collaboration with the CIO of Astera Capital and the CPO of BetSmart. Translate complex quant strategies and dynamic product needs into a cohesive technical roadmap and drive the team's execution tempo to meet milestones. The AI Platform:
Accountable for the delivery of core AI systems, including the predictive models and backtesting engine for Astera Capital's quantitative strategies, the low-latency execution platform for HFT and automated trading, the conversational AI agent ("Sharpe") and recommendation engine for BetSmart, and the MLOps platform governing the AI lifecycle. Who You Are: The Visionary Builder
An Architect from a Premier AI Environment:
You have led teams and architected systems at a world-class AI-native company or top-tier quantitative firm, with experience in foundational models, agentic systems, or advanced AI products. A Proven AI Leader:
You have a minimum of 10 years of software and AI engineering experience, with 3-5 years in leadership handling high-performance teams; a track record of delivering complex, scalable, mission-critical AI systems in production. An MLOps & Systems Expert:
Deep hands-on expertise in the modern MLOps stack and cloud architecture (ideally AWS); history of pragmatic architectural decisions. A Strategic & Business-Minded Partner:
Excellent communication and business acumen; able to articulate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and engage with PhD-level quants and product leaders. A Quant-Fluent Technologist:
Strong first-principles problem solving in AI; excited by learning a new domain and fluent in data, risk, and probability language shared with AI and quantitative finance. Seniority and Employment
Seniority level:
Executive Employment type:
Full-time Job function:
Information Technology We\u2019re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.
#J-18808-Ljbffr