Software Engineer, Backend/Applied ML (Safety & Integrity)
$150k - $300k • Remote • Redwood City, CA • FullTime
Posted 9mo ago
Job Location
Redwood City, CA
Tech Stack
Remote Work Policy
Fully remote
Employment Type
FullTime
Categories
Applied AI Engineer
About the job
Character.AI is seeking a talented and creative Software Engineer to join its Safety Engineering team. This role is at the forefront of designing, developing, and scaling robust backend systems, leveraging applied machine learning to address critical integrity and safety challenges. You will architect and implement innovative solutions, playing a key role in tackling the unique safety challenges of human-to-AI interaction and defining industry best practices in this emerging space. This is a high-impact position where you will provide technical leadership, drive innovation, and contribute to the core trustworthiness of our platform.
Responsibilities
- Design, develop, and maintain highly scalable, resilient, and performant backend systems for integrity and safety features.
- Lead the technical design and implementation of sophisticated backend solutions for detecting, preventing, and mitigating integrity risks, including those related to Generative AI.
- Conceptualize, develop, deploy, and iterate on machine learning models and algorithms for integrity challenges such as content classification, anomaly detection, and risk scoring.
- Collaborate with product managers, data scientists, AI researchers, security teams, and operations to define requirements and deliver impactful integrity systems.
- Drive the long-term technical vision and roadmap for backend integrity systems and applied ML capabilities, focusing on Generative AI safety.
- Provide technical guidance and mentorship to other engineers.
- Advocate for and implement best practices in software engineering, distributed systems, data engineering, and ML model development lifecycle.
- Continuously analyze and improve the performance, scalability, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of integrity platforms and ML models.
- Stay current with emerging threats, new technologies, and advancements in backend engineering, distributed systems, and Generative AI safety research.
Requirements
- 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong emphasis on backend systems development.
- Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
- Proven track record of designing, building, and operating complex, large-scale, and highly available distributed systems.
- Expertise in one or more backend programming languages such as Python, Go, Java, or C++.
- Hands-on experience applying machine learning techniques to solve real-world problems, specifically in integrity, trust, or safety challenges.
- Solid understanding of the machine learning lifecycle, including data gathering, feature engineering, model selection, training, validation, deployment, and monitoring.
- Exceptional problem-solving abilities for ambiguous and technically challenging problems.
- Proven ability to work in a fast-paced development environment and deliver timely results.
- Strong communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills.