Forward Deployed Machine Learning Engineer (AI)

TL;DR

Forward Deployed Machine Learning Engineer (AI): Developing and optimizing the deployment of FLUX generative models in production environments with an accent on inference optimization, fine-tuning, and deep product integration. Focus on bridging the gap between cutting-edge diffusion research and brutal production reality to solve complex customer hardware and latency constraints.

Location: San Francisco (USA) or Freiburg (Germany). Hybrid (at least 2 days a week in office) or remote with a mandatory monthly in-person week.

Salary: $180,000–$300,000 USD (Base Annual for SF based role)

Company

A frontier research lab (team of ~50) that pioneered Latent Diffusion and Stable Diffusion, currently building the state-of-the-art FLUX model family.

What you will do

• Optimize FLUX models for customer environments, balancing the trade-off between latency and output quality.
• Architect deep product integrations, covering model hosting and advanced inference optimization techniques.
• Customize foundation models for visual media to solve complex, industry-specific problems.
• Conduct technical deep-dives with customers to diagnose performance bottlenecks and translate findings into research goals.
• Identify new opportunities for generative visual AI by analyzing industry-specific struggles.

Requirements

• Direct experience working with customers on generative AI deployment and real-time iteration.
• Hands-on expertise in fine-tuning, optimizing, and serving deep learning models in production.
• Strong Python skills and an intuitive understanding of API design.
• Proven track record of shipping ML models that critical systems depend on.
• Ability to communicate technical diffusion concepts to both executives and engineers.
• Must be based in or able to work from San Francisco or Freiburg (hybrid) or be able to travel monthly for in-person weeks.

Nice to have

• Deep knowledge of diffusion models, flow matching, and distillation techniques.
• Intimate familiarity with the FLUX ecosystem and tools like ComfyUI.
• Experience optimizing inference for transformer-based models.
• Experience architecting AI solutions in complex enterprise environments.
• Contributions to open-source projects in the diffusion model space.

Culture & Benefits

• Guided by four core values: Obsessed, Low Ego, Bold, and Kind.
• Distributed team structure with physical office hubs in SF and Freiburg.
• Reasonable travel costs covered for required monthly in-person weeks.
• High-agency environment working at the absolute edge of generative AI.