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Senior / Staff ML Engineer

San Francisco, California, United States

Instawork’s vision is to create economic opportunities for local businesses and skilled hourly workers in communities around the world. With an AI-first approach, we’re supercharging the leading online labor marketplace and looking for exceptional talent to help us build the future of hourly work. Backed by world-class investors like Benchmark, Spark Capital, Craft Ventures, Greylock, Y Combinator, and more, we want you to help us continue to scale quickly and make an even greater impact.

We are seeking an innovative Senior / Staff ML Engineer to join our dynamic and growing team. Our goal is to create economic opportunity for businesses and local professionals globally. We believe AI and Machine Learning will be key factors across our products and company in accelerating our mission.

Who You Are:

  • BS or MS in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Physics, or a related quantitative field; PhD is a plus but not required
  • 8+ years (Staff) / 5+ years (Senior) of experience in quantitative analysis, statistical modeling, and deploying ML solutions to production
  • Strong command of advanced statistical techniques, including regression, hypothesis testing, and distributions, with practical experience applying them to real-world problems
  • Deep understanding of machine learning algorithms, including decision trees, clustering, neural networks, and their trade-offs in production environments
  • Hands-on experience with LLMs and generative AI (e.g., prompt engineering, Agent frameworks, fine-tuning, RAG, or LLMOps)
  • Proficient in Python and SQL, with experience in ML libraries such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, and XGBoost
  • Familiar with data modeling and pipeline development using dbt, with the ability to design clean, scalable transformations that support downstream ML applications
  • Working knowledge of modern data/ML infrastructure (e.g., Airflow, MLFlow, feature stores, vector databases, CI/CD for ML)
  • Strong communication and documentation skills with the ability to collaborate cross-functionally
  • Experience mentoring or providing technical guidance to others is a plus

What You'll Do:

  • Build/integrate new machine learning models into production using the necessary tools to monitor/administer them
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to set and align on machine learning platform strategies to meet company objectives
  • Deliver best-in-class technical approach and problem analysis documents
  • Impact key company objectives by working closely with Product to refine our roadmap
  • Build/maintain reports, dashboards, and metrics to monitor the performance of our products
  • Mentor junior team members helping them to grow their skills and expertise
  • Drive key architectural decisions and contribute to our ML platform architecture and strategy
  • Act as a data evangelist to create a data-driven culture across the company and provide mentorship/feedback to analysts and other data-minded stakeholders

For CA based applicants:

  • The base salary range for this position is $210,000 - $250,000, dependent on experience
  • This position is eligible for equity in the form of stock options
  • This position is eligible for Instawork benefits, including:
    • A variety of medical, dental, and vision plans with coverage beginning on the date of hire
    • Flexible paid time off
    • At least 8 paid company holidays annually
    • Phone stipend
    • Commuter stipend
    • Supplemental pay on qualified leaves
    • Employee health savings accounts (HSA) contribution
    • Flexible spending plans
    • 401K plan
    • Perkspot - discount program through Lumity

A variety of factors are considered when determining someone’s compensation including a candidate’s professional background, experience, and location.  Final offer amounts may vary from the amounts listed above.

#LI-Onsite

Our Values 

  • Empathy, Trust & Candor
    We put ourselves in the shoes of our colleagues and customers and don’t shy away from uncomfortable conversations, instead building trust through honest and direct feedback.

  • Bias for Action
    We practice high-velocity decision-making, clear-eyed that we often operate with incomplete information. Growing quickly means it’s OK to be wrong, so long as we learn from our mistakes and course correct!

  • Always Be Learning
    We’re a curious bunch, and with AI transforming our workplace we encourage everyone to learn from each other, compounding our knowledge and experience to help us change an entire industry.

  • Act Like an Owner
    We work long, hard, and smart, building products that delight our users and drive growth. Your ability to impact Instawork is limited only by your courage and conviction, not your job description.

About Instawork

Founded in 2015, Instawork is the nation’s leading online labor marketplace for food services, hospitality, light industry, and logistics, connecting more than 7M skilled workers with local restaurants, hotels, warehouses, stadiums, and more. Our AI-powered platform serves thousands of businesses across more than 50 major markets in the United States and Canada. We're not just helping fill shifts, we're supporting local economies—and we're just getting started!

Instawork has been featured by CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press. Forbes included us on their Next Billion Dollar Startups list; RetailTech Breakthrough named us Workforce Hiring Solution of the Year for 2025; and Inc. 5000 recognized us as one of the country's top 10% fastest-growing companies two years in a row. But what matters most is our impact. We're solving real problems for real people, and we’re doing it at scale.

Join our team to help us build something that matters! We’re looking for superstars who want to help us shape the future of work. With hubs in San Francisco, Bangalore, and Chicago, city offices in New York, Phoenix, and Singapore, we're back to working together in-person five days a week because we believe the best ideas happen when great people collaborate face-to-face. We also value diverse perspectives and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds.

Ready to make an impact? Learn more at www.instawork.com/about.

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