Applied AI Engineer

Salient is pioneering voice AI solutions to transform consumer loan servicing and compliance. Our initial focus: the $1.5T U.S. auto lending market. In under two years since our launch Salient has seen rapid market growth, including:Scaling to more than $10M in ARRPartnering with some of the largest consumer lenders in AmericaCash flow positiveRaising $65m in funding from top-tier venture capital investorsInterfacing with more than 2 million unique US consumersProcessing over $150M in cash transactionsPreventing $30M in fraud and 35k+ CFPB violationsIn-person office culture in San Francisco, CAAbout the RoleAs an Applied AI Engineer at Salient, you'll work at the cutting edge of multimodal AI in financial services. You'll build systems that operate at massive scale, collaborating closely with our product and engineering teams.Key areas of focus:Developing state-of-the-art multimodal AI systems, with particular focus on voice interactionsImplementing robust safety and alignment frameworks for LLM-consumer interactionsBuilding scalable monitoring systems to detect and escalate unexpected model behaviorsBalancing rapid feature deployment with architectural scalabilityEnsuring AI systems comply with financial regulations and safety requirementsRequirements3+ years of experience working directly with LLMs or voice AI technologiesDeep expertise in modern LLM techniques (RAG, fine-tuning, prompt engineering)Experience with voice AI, ASR, and TTS technologiesTrack record of building and deploying production AI systems at scaleStrong background in ML systems design and engineering best practicesExcellence in cross-functional communicationExperience implementing AI safety and monitoring frameworksAbility to work 4 days a week from our San Francisco office (open to candidates willing to relocate)As an early-stage company building at the frontier of AI, we work with high intensity and commitment. While schedules can vary by role/team, many weeks will demand extra focus, flexibility and time particularly during major launches and high impact sprints. We're seeking those who are aligned to and able to commit to that expectation which includes 4 days per week in our San Francisco Office.