Founding AI/ML Research Engineer

Transform Language Models Into Real-world, High-impact Product Experiences.A1 is a self-funded AI division backed by BJAK, operating in full stealth. We're building a new global consumer AI application focused on an important but underexplored use case — something practical, meaningful, and far beyond the typical chatbot or productivity agent.As a Machine Learning Engineer, you will work at the core of our product: fine-tuning frontier-level models, shaping data pipelines, evaluating behavior, and bringing intelligent features into real production environments. You'll operate with high autonomy within a small, deeply technical team.Why This Role MattersYou will turn state-of-the-art models into real product capabilities used by a global audience.You'll define how our models behave — accuracy, safety, tone, and user experience.You'll help build a new consumer AI product from zero, directly influencing its technical and product direction.Your work will ensure our models are not only powerful, but safe, reliable, and impactful at scale.What You'll DoFine-tune and adapt models as needed while also designing new model architectures and training pipelines from scratchDesign and curate datasets, craft prompts, and experiment with alignment and safety strategies for high-quality outputs.Build evaluation pipelines for model performance, safety, and alignment, and innovate on new metrics for real-world impact.Ship models to production, optimise for latency and scale, and monitor drift or degradationCollaborate with product, engineering, and design to launch polished, user-facing AI featuresExplore new modeling approaches, optimisation methods, and product use casesWhat It's Like To Work HereYou take ownership - you solve problems end-to-end rather than wait for perfect instructionsYou learn through action - prototype → test → iterate → shipYou're calm in ambiguity - zero-to-one building energises youYou bias toward speed with discipline - V1 now > perfect laterYou see failures and feedback as essential to growthYou work with humility, curiosity, and a founder's mindsetYou lift the bar for yourself and your teammates every dayRequirementsStrong experience with transformers, deep learning, and fine-tuning methods (LoRA/QLoRA, SFT, distillation)Proficiency in PyTorch (preferred) or TensorFlowExperience in prompt engineering and dataset creation for alignment, tone, trust, and safetyFamiliarity with evaluation methods: perplexity, toxicity, relevance, robustnessSolid software engineering fundamentals — algorithms, data structures, clean codeAbility to operate in a fast, lean, and high-ownership environmentNice to HaveExperience with text generation, moderation, ranking, or personalisationExposure to RLHF or reinforcement learning for LLMsContributions to open-source ML projectsBackground in consumer-facing AI products or high-growth startupsWhat You'll GetHigh ownership and autonomy from day oneDirect involvement in technical direction and product decisionsRemote-first flexibilityA high-impact role with visibility across ML, engineering, and productCompetitive compensation and performance-based bonusesBacking of a profitable US$2B group, with the speed of a startupInsurance coverage, flexible time off, and global travel insuranceOpportunity to shape a new global AI product from zeroOur Team & CultureWe operate as a dense, senior, high-performance team. We value clarity, speed, craftsmanship, and relentless ownership. We behave like founders — we build, ship, iterate, and hold ourselves to a high technical bar.If you value excellence, enjoy building real systems, and want to be part of a small team creating something globally impactful, you'll thrive here.About A1A1 is a self-funded, independent AI division under BJAK, focused on building a new consumer AI product with global relevance. We're in full stealth and assembling a small, elite team of ML and engineering builders who want to work on meaningful, high-impact problems.