Machine Learning Engineer, Engineering Hub

About the Engineering Hub

The Renaissance Philanthropy Engineering Hub provides on-demand development technical assistance in support of grant-funded educational technology projects. Our support allows mission-driven teams to overcome hurdles and achieve their technical and impact goals.

Job Description

As a Machine Learning Engineer, AI and Engineering Hub at Renaissance Philanthropy, you will act as a full-service consultant and developer to support projects through strategy advice, technical reviews, prototyping, evaluation, and development of new product functionality.  Engineering Hub team members are expected and empowered to operate with a high degree of independence in the interests of the teams they support. Members are individual contributors and often operate as senior engineers or consultants. The ideal candidate is a creative, capable problem solver, a quick learner, and a strong communicator.

Required work will be determined by the needs of partner teams, but will likely include the development, evaluation, deployment, and maintenance of generative technologies in student- and educator-facing applications. Past projects have included: training, evaluation, and deployment of predictive models on cloud resources; API creation and load testing; LLM fine-tuning; LLM tool use and agentic design patterns; evaluating the quality of LLM-powered systems; and use of LLMs and multi-modal methodologies for analysis of behavioral data. While Hub members should prioritize deploying dependable technologies in a reliable fashion, teams regularly need assistance with novel applications of developing technologies. In such cases, members are expected to guide teams towards feasible, reliable, and functional applications of novel technologies. 

This position is fully remote, with the possibility of travel (<10%).  Base salary for this role is $125k-190k depending on experience, plus a discretionary bonus.

Role and Responsibilities

Technical consulting and strategic advice:

  • Construct/review technical roadmaps to facilitate achievement of high-level project goals

  • Perform reviews of proposed strategies, architectures, and work products to encourage feasibility and maintainability

  • Advise teams on the use and capabilities of new and emerging technologies, including best-practices in applying and evaluating generative AI technologies

  • Support teams in hiring for technical roles that support product functionality

Software development:

  • Support teams in utilizing cloud resources and following DevOps best practices in deploying and monitoring machine learning and AI technologies

  • Develop prototypes and POCs to establish the feasibility of new applications of generative AI

  • Develop and review production-quality machine learning pipelines 

  • Lead the evaluation of ML/AI systems to ensure quality and safety

Flexibility & Adaptability:

  • Willingness and ability to learn new technologies and approaches as needs arise

  • Ability to work with non-technical teams to elicit and articulate technical requirements

  • Ability to develop technical solutions that prioritize both product functionality and data collection required for measuring impact via e.g. A/B testing

  • Ability to clearly articulate the limitations and failure modes of particular technologies, and explain when they can or cannot be mitigated

Key Qualifications

  • Demonstrated experience building production-grade ML-enabled software in a commercial environment.

  • Demonstrated experience performing and publishing research in the field of psychology, social science, education, user experience, economics, or other field that collects and interprets human behavioral data.

  • Candidates with experience developing educational technologies are strongly encouraged to apply.

  • Hands-on experience with LLM evaluation, agentic frameworks, RAG, and other new or emerging techniques is a strong plus.

Values

You will thrive within our team if you:

  • Have strong mission and vision alignment: You believe in the power of science, innovation, and technology to create a brighter future for all.

  • Exhibit high agency: You can move mountains and break perceived constraints.

  • Inspire others and are highly collaborative: You can motivate others to join your mission and goals. You understand the value of going further by working with others.

  • Value exceptional talent and the power of networks: You can spot or nurture exceptional talent and believe in the value of building networks and the power law of talent.

  • Are comfortable working in fast-moving and ambitious teams: You are not afraid of ambiguity and enjoy working at pace.

Diversity

We encourage anyone who is interested in this role to apply, regardless of whether you feel you meet 100% of the qualifications. The top candidates will bring their own unique perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds from a variety of industries along with many but not necessarily all the skills listed above.

Recruiting, hiring, mentoring, and retaining a diverse workforce is critical to our success. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. 

Renaissance Philanthropy is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Next Steps

Apply here.

Outcomes

In 2-3 years, a successful Machine Learning Engineer will have assisted multiple product teams bring their education-focused, mission-driven ideas to life through technical guidance, hands-on development, and support for team capacity-building. Conditional on team needs, candidates will also have contributed to open-source projects and presented collaborative published work at conferences.