Founding Senior AI Engineer

About Us

JoyoLabs crafts the next wave of iconic consumer apps powered by AI. We're forming a team of world-class makers who want to be on the frontier of how AI shapes billions of users' lives. Our founders led engineering teams at Meta, Google, Palantir and top startups. We're backed by top-tier VCs.

The Role

As our Founding AI Engineer, you'll own the entire AI stack for our consumer mobile apps. You'll rapidly bring AI capabilities from concept to production, working closely with the rest of our team to create compelling user experiences.

What You'll Do

• Own end-to-end AI implementation for our mobile apps, from model selection to production deployment
• Rapidly evaluate and integrate models from HuggingFace and other repositories
• Build and deploy features like image recognition, face manipulation, and AI assistants
• Set up and manage MLOps infrastructure on Google Cloud Platform
• Optimize model performance, costs, and quality for production
• Establish processes for model deployment, monitoring, and maintenance
• Work closely with other developers to integrate AI capabilities
• Identify opportunities for new AI-powered features

Required Skills & Experience

• Strong practical experience implementing AI models in production
• Hands-on experience with computer vision, LLMs, and generative AI
• Proficiency in Python and modern AI frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow)
• Experience with AI deployment platforms (e.g., Replicate, fal.ai)
• Strong background in MLOps and production model serving
• Track record of quickly prototyping and implementing AI features
• Experience with cost optimization for AI services
• Excellent problem-solving skills and pragmatic approach

Nice to Have

• Experience with GCP AI/ML services and infrastructure
• Knowledge of on-device inference (TensorFlow Lite, CoreML)
• Experience setting up and managing GPU clusters
• Understanding of mobile app development constraints
• Background in model fine-tuning and optimization
• Experience with AI model quantization techniques

What We're Looking For

Mindset & Approach

• Intellectually curious with a growth mindset - able to tackle entirely novel challenges that lack prior precedent
• Looking for a low-ego, high-drive environment
• Love taking initiatives, extra responsibility, and high ownership
• Can take feedback gracefully and give constructively
• Organized and self-sufficient: You are comfortable managing yourself, navigate ambiguity and finding ways to create impact

Core Requirements

• Hustle, knowledge, and skill, in whatever form it comes in
• Excellent communication skills: we are not writing this because everybody else does. It really is critical that you communicate clearly and when needed. You articulate your thoughts precisely. You possess solid English proficiency, both written and verbal
• Pragmatism and sense of urgency: We seek individuals who excel at balancing speed with strategy. The ideal candidate can identify the most effective path to impact – whether that means taking a quick, practical approach or investing in a more polished solution. They combine careful consideration with swift execution, always maintaining sight of long-term goals while driving projects forward with momentum. When in doubt as to the appropriate balance between speed and sophistication, they favor the former

Working Style

• We're a remote-only company (ideally EST to GMT+3)
• Regular In-Person Collaboration: We believe that forming and norming relationships in a nascent business has to include regular in-person time. We plan to meet in person every 2 months or more frequently, for one week at a time. We will arrange the logistics and pay for accommodation/travel costs, but it's important that you commit to attending these colocation weeks
• Commitment to Impact: Working too many hours doesn't guarantee success, but working too few leads to failure. We expect everyone to put in their best effort every day, but we generally don't expect you to work late evenings or on weekends. We are careful to avoid burnout, but we also don't want to sugarcoat the fact that raw hours can make a huge difference in a startup
• Fast-paced with changing priorities as we experiment and find product-market fit

When it's not a good fit

• You want perfect work-life balance and/or pre-determined working hours (e.g. 9-5) — we're an early stage startup with high ambitions. While this tends to lead to fantastic learning, achievements, and career growth, it also requires a significant commitment
• You want well-defined, stable roadmap. Predictability is important to you: as we seek the elusive product market fit and experiment, we will change priorities often
• You care about your job title and hierarchy
• You need lots of coaching and being told what to do

This is a unique opportunity to shape the AI strategy for a suite of mobile applications from the ground up. You'll have the freedom to choose technologies and establish best practices while working on products that directly impact users' daily lives.