Machine Learning (ML) Engineer

Stack

Responsibilities

• ▹Design, prototype, research and build AI systems for Vectara
• ▹Train, evaluate and deploy ML models in NLP, information retrieval, AI agents, and multimodal LLMs
• ▹Improve Vectara's AI agents and RAG-as-a-service platform (multilinguality, self-supervised learning, agentic behavior, hallucination reduction)
• ▹Publish technical blogs, papers, and patents

Requirements

• ▹BS/MS in Computer Science, Statistics, Electrical/Computer Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field
• ▹5+/4+ years of professional experience applying machine learning to real-world problems
• ▹Strong domain knowledge in at least one of: RAG, LLM, information retrieval, multimodal LLMs
• ▹Excellent Python programming skills
• ▹Proficiency in data/ML libraries (pandas, transformers, torch)
• ▹Familiarity with deep learning concepts (Transformers, RAG, mixture of experts)
• ▹Hands-on experience training ML systems end-to-end
• ▹Remote applicants across the US supported, though candidates near the Palo Alto office (2-3 days/week) are preferred

Nice to have

• ▹PhD in Computer Science/Engineering with 1+ years of industry experience
• ▹Publications at prestigious venues (ACL, NAACL, EMNLP, NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR) as key author
• ▹Experience as an ML engineer in an early-stage, high-growth environment
• ▹Expertise in embedding models, rerankers, multimodal retrieval, vector databases, BM25, planning/reasoning in LLMs, multilinguality, NLG evaluation

Soft skills

What we offer

• ▹100% paid medical, dental, and vision from day one
• ▹HSA or FSA options
• ▹Generous PTO, paid sick time, holidays, and company rest days
• ▹Professional development and training opportunities
• ▹Company team-building events
• ▹Equity ownership for full-time employees

About the company

Vectara provides a scalable platform for deploying enterprise AI agents and assistants with accuracy, security, and explainability. The company developed the Hughes Hallucination Evaluation Model and Correction Model, and serves over 100 enterprise clients including US military organizations, financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing companies.