At ASAPP, our mission is simple: deliver the best AI-powered customer experience—faster than anyone else. To achieve that, we’re guided by principles that shape how we think, build, and execute. We value customer obsession, purposeful speed, ownership, and a relentless focus on outcomes. ASAPP’s AI Engineering team is seeking an enterprising, talented and curious machine learning engineer. We are seeking a highly experienced Lead AI/ML Engineer to join our Core GenerativeAgent team. You will play a pivotal role in designing, building, and deploying cutting-edge AI systems that power mission-critical enterprise applications. This role is ideal for an individual who thrives in ambiguity, is deeply technical, and has a strong product sense paired with deep expertise in foundational models and enterprise AI systems. You will lead the design and delivery of end-to-end voice AI solutions, combining large language models with speech technologies such as speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and real-time streaming audio pipelines. This role requires a hands-on technical leader who can architect low-latency, highly reliable conversational voice systems and guide a team through ambiguity toward production excellence. We are looking for someone who understands the unique constraints of voice experiences, latency, turn-taking, interruption handling, streaming inference, and audio quality, and can translate these into scalable, enterprise-grade systems. This is a hybrid role with weekly in-person responsibilities. We have offices in New York City and Mountain View, CA
What you'll do
Lead the design and implementation of scalable ML/AI systems, with a focus on large language models, vector databases, and retrieval-based architectures
Integrate and apply foundation models from major providers (OpenAI, AWS Bedrock, Anthropic, etc.) for prototyping and production use cases
Adapt, evaluate, and optimize LLMs for domain-specific enterprise applications
Build and maintain infrastructure for experimentation, deployment, and monitoring of AI models in production
Improve model performance and inference workflows with attention to latency, cost, and reliability
Provide technical leadership within the team, mentoring engineers and promoting best practices in ML engineering
Partner with product and cross-functional stakeholders to translate requirements into scalable ML solutions
Contribute to the evolution of internal standards for experimentation, evaluation, and deployment
What you'll need
6+ years of experience in Machine Learning or AI systems, with hands-on experience in LLMs, speech, or conversational AI systems
Proficiency on Python and ML frameworks like PyTorch or TensorFlow
Proven experience leading complex, cross-functional AI initiatives
Experience building or integrating speech-to-text and text-to-speech systems
Deep understanding of latency-sensitive system design and distributed architectures
Strong proficiency in Python and ML frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow
Strong experience integrating foundational models into production applications
Understanding of RAG pipelines, prompt engineering, and vector search
Experience deploying and scaling AI systems using AWS (required), Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD practices
Strong communication skills with the ability to align engineering, product, and executive stakeholders
Comfortable operating in fast-paced environments and driving clarity in ambiguous problem spaces
What we'd like to see
Experience with speech model fine-tuning or acoustic/language model optimization
Hands-on experience with real-time or streaming audio systems (WebRTC, gRPC streaming, or similar architectures)
Experience optimizing TTS prosody, pronunciation control, and voice customization
Background in MLOps, experimentation platforms, or evaluation frameworks for speech and conversational systems
Contributions to open-source AI or speech tooling
Graduate degree (MS or PhD) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Speech Processing, or related field
Benefits include: Competitive compensation with stock optionsComprehensive medical, vision, and dental insurance 401k matchingFitness and wellness stipendMental well-being benefitsProfessional learning and development stipendParental leave, including adoptive and foster parents3 weeks paid time off (increases with tenure) along with sick leave, bereavement and jury duty ASAPP is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, or veteran status. If you have a disability and need assistance with our employment application process, please email us at careers@asapp.com to obtain assistance. #LI-AG1 #LI-Hybrid
