Senior AI Engineer - Applied Scientist
ForterraEast Palo Alto, CAPosted 24 March 2026
Tech Stack
Job Description
About Forterra
At Forterra, we are unleashing autonomy at scale to transform the battlefield. Our mission is to build the foundational platforms that enable an intelligent ecosystem to coordinate, adapt, and execute with speed and precision even in the uncertainty and disruption of modern conflict. In an era marked by rapid technological change and evolving threats, we design for flexibility, survivability, and operational dominance.
Forterra delivers weapons, sensors, and battlefield effects through integrated autonomous networks reaching operational areas faster, safer, and without placing human lives at risk. Our systems operate with distributed control, dynamic routing, and real-time responsiveness, enabling sustained advantage across complex mission environments.
About The Role
We are seeking a Senior/Staff AI Engineer with deep expertise in generative modeling and multimodal AI systems. In this role, you will design and implement advanced models for understanding complex agent interactions in dynamic environments. You'll work on extending these capabilities toward vision-language models and action-aware systems, collaborating closely with research and engineering teams to bridge foundational representation learning with real-world applications.
What You'll Do
Develop neural network architectures for modeling sequential agent interactions using generative modeling approaches
Implement Transformer-based models that encode agent and contextual features with attention mechanisms for capturing interactions
Research and integrate goal-conditioned models that leverage structured representations before generating complete sequences
Prototype and optimize learning models into lightweight modules suitable for real-time inference
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure seamless integration of models into the broader AI stack
Benchmark and visualize model performance using real-world and simulated datasets
Optimize models for low-latency inference and interpretability of output distributions
Minimum Qualifications
Deep understanding of probabilistic generative models for sequential forecasting tasks
Strong experience with Transformers and graph-based modeling for complex relational data
Familiarity with multimodal sensor processing and representation learning
Proven ability to work with uncertainty quantification and latent variable inference
Experience implementing models in PyTorch/TensorFlow and deploying them in production environments
M.S. or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Robotics, or related field
3+ years of experience with sequential modeling, generative architectures, or forecasting systems
Strong foundation in applied deep learning, especially variational inference and attention mechanisms
Solid software engineering background with emphasis on clean, modular, and optimized implementations
Preferred Qualifications
Publications or project experience in forecasting, agent modeling, or scene understanding
Familiarity with graph-based or vectorized representations of structured environments
Experience with diffusion model optimization or goal-conditioned decoding
Contributions to open-source frameworks related to generative modeling or sequential forecasting
Interest in bridging high-fidelity modeling with real-time applications
US Salary Range
$145,000—$185,000
The salary range for this role is an estimate and is based on a wide variety of compensation factors. The salary offered to candidates will vary based on a variety of factors including (but not limited to) relevant work experience, education, specialized training, critical expertise, training, and more. Equity in Forterra is included in most of our full-time, high-demand roles and is therefore considered part of Forterra’s overall compensation package. In addition to base salary and equity, Forterra offers competitive benefits for full-time employees including:
Premium Healthcare Benefits: Three plan options, incl ... (truncated, view full listing at source)
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