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Distillery Engineering Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Waabi

Distillation Lead

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$195K - $286K/yr

... engineers working in the distillation and model efficiency space, setting a high technical bar and ... fostering a culture of rigorous experimentation. - Champion best practices for model compression ...

Waabi

Distillation Lead

San Francisco, CA

$195K - $286K/yr

... engineers working in the distillation and model efficiency space, setting a high technical bar and ... fostering a culture of rigorous experimentation. - Champion best practices for model compression ...

Hark

On-Device Research Engineer

San Jose, CA · On-site

$120K - $300K/yr

About the Role We are looking for an On-Device Research Engineer to compress large audio and ... You will own distillation, quantization, and architecture-aware compression as a first-class work ...

Hark

On-Device Research Engineer

San Jose, CA · On-site

$120K - $300K/yr

About the Role We are looking for an On-Device Research Engineer to compress large audio and ... You will own distillation, quantization, and architecture-aware compression as a first-class work ...

OpenAI

Engineering Manager, MLE

San Francisco, CA · On-site

The Engineering Manager, MLE role involves designing and deploying advanced machine learning models ... distillation, supervised fine-tuning, and policy optimization • Excellent problem-solving and ...

Adobe, Inc.

Applied Scientist 3

San Jose, CA · On-site

Adobe Firefly's Applied Science & Machine Learning (ASML) group invites an Applied Scientist / Machine Learning Engineer passionate about post-training and distillation of large generative AI models ...

Adobe

Senior Applied Scientist

San Jose, CA · On-site

$107K - $146K/yr

Adobe Firefly's Applied Science & Machine Learning (ASML) group invites an Applied Scientist / Machine Learning Engineer passionate about post-training and distillation of large generative AI models ...

Adobe

Applied Scientist 3

San Jose, CA

Adobe Firefly's Applied Science & Machine Learning (ASML) group invites an Applied Scientist / Machine Learning Engineer passionate about post-training and distillation of large generative AI models ...

Adobe, Inc.

Senior Applied Scientist

San Jose, CA · On-site

$107K - $146K/yr

Adobe Firefly's Applied Science & Machine Learning (ASML) group invites an Applied Scientist / Machine Learning Engineer passionate about post-training and distillation of large generative AI models ...

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Distillery Engineering information

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How much do distillery engineering jobs pay per hour?

As of Jul 2, 2026, the average hourly pay for distillery engineering in California is $30.38, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $23.51 and $35.58 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are some typical challenges faced by professionals in distillery engineering roles?

Distillery engineers often work with complex systems where even minor production issues can impact product quality, yield, and safety, so troubleshooting and quick decision-making are daily challenges. The role frequently involves coordinating with cross-functional teams—including operators, quality control specialists, and maintenance crews—to implement process improvements and ensure seamless production. Additionally, engineers must stay current with evolving regulations and sustainability practices, which can add layers of complexity to project management. Embracing these challenges is key to driving innovation and maintaining high standards in the distilling industry.

What is a Distillery Engineering job?

A Distillery Engineering job involves designing, maintaining, and optimizing the equipment and processes used in alcohol production. Engineers in this field work with fermentation, distillation, and bottling systems to ensure efficiency, safety, and product quality. They may also focus on energy efficiency, automation, and regulatory compliance. This role requires expertise in mechanical, chemical, or process engineering, along with a strong understanding of brewing and distillation principles.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive in the Distillery Engineering position, and why are they important?

To thrive in Distillery Engineering, a strong background in chemical, mechanical, or process engineering with knowledge of distillation processes and safety regulations is essential. Familiarity with process control systems, automation software, quality assurance practices, and relevant industry certifications like OSHA or Six Sigma is highly valued. Excellent problem-solving abilities, teamwork, and clear communication are important soft skills for this role. These skills ensure efficient, safe, and innovative operations in the production of distilled spirits, supporting both quality and regulatory compliance.

What are popular job titles related to Distillery Engineering jobs in California? For Distillery Engineering jobs in California, the most frequently searched job titles are:
What job categories do people searching Distillery Engineering jobs in California look for? The top searched job categories for Distillery Engineering jobs in California are:
Distillery Engineering jobs near you
Infographic showing various Distillery Engineering job openings in California as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 100% Full Time. Highlights an 100% In-person job distribution, with an average salary of $63,191 per year, or $30.4 per hour.

Distillation Lead

Waabi

San Francisco, CA • On-site

$195K - $286K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, PTO

Posted 3 days ago

Job description

Waabi, founded by AI visionary Raquel Urtasun, is the leader in Physical AI. With a world-class team, we're unlocking the next era of autonomous transportation with technology that's powering commercial autonomous trucks and robotaxis. Waabi is backed by and partners with world leaders in AI, automotive, logistics, and deep tech.

With offices in Toronto, San Francisco, Dallas, and Pittsburgh, Waabi is growing quickly and looking for diverse, innovative and collaborative candidates who want to impact the world in a positive way. To learn more visit: www.waabi.ai

Waabi's Physical AI platform is powered by state of the art ML models which must be deployed efficiently across diverse use-cases, from onboard vehicle inference to large-scale simulation. As the Distillation Lead, you will own the strategy and execution for distillation across Waabi's AI stack, ensuring our most capable models run efficiently in every deployment context. You will partner closely with ML Platform, Infrastructure, Onboard Autonomy, and Simulation teams to deliver compressed models that meet the performance requirements of both real-time onboard systems and high-throughput simulation pipelines.
 

You will...

- Define and drive the technical strategy for model distillation and compression across Waabi's AI stack - spanning perception, world models, and planning - with an eye toward both onboard deployment and simulation use-cases.

- Design, implement, and scale state-of-the-art distillation and efficiency pipelines, which may include: 

  • Distillation for generative models (diffusion, autoregressive, flow-matching, video models)

  • Quantization-aware training (QAT) and post-training quantization (PTQ)

  • Knowledge distillation (feature-level, response-based, and relation-based)

  • Structured and unstructured pruning and sparsification

  • Low-rank factorization and efficient architecture design

  • Speculative decoding and other inference-time efficiency techniques

- Collaborate closely with ML Platform, Infrastructure, Onboard, Autonomy, and Simulation teams to integrate compressed models into production pipelines and meet latency, memory, and throughput targets across deployment contexts.

- Define rigorous benchmarks and evaluation frameworks to characterize efficiency vs. quality trade-offs across models and hardware targets.

- Mentor and guide researchers and engineers working in the distillation and model efficiency space, setting a high technical bar and fostering a culture of rigorous experimentation.

- Champion best practices for model compression across the organization; disseminate knowledge through internal design reviews, documentation, and technical talks.

- Stay at the cutting edge of model efficiency research; contribute to the broader scientific community through publications and open-source contributions.

Qualifications:

- Deep distillation expertise: You have extensive hands-on experience designing and implementing distillation, quantization, pruning, and model compression techniques for large-scale neural networks, with demonstrated impact in production settings.

- Strong research and engineering foundation: A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Robotics, or a related field, or equivalent industry experience; relevant hands-on experience in model distillation and efficiency is what matters most. Expert Python and PyTorch (or JAX) skills with experience in large-scale distributed training.

- Technical leadership: You have a proven track record of setting technical direction and driving projects from conception to production. You inspire and elevate those around you through deep technical expertise and mentorship.

- Cross-functional collaboration: You have experience working closely with infrastructure, platform, and autonomy teams to deploy compressed models under real engineering constraints.

- Clear communicator: You can communicate complex technical trade-offs clearly to diverse audiences and drive alignment across research and engineering teams.

Bonus:

- Experience with hardware-aware optimization (TensorRT, ONNX, custom CUDA kernels, hardware-specific quantization).

- Publications at top-tier ML/CV venues (NeurIPS, ICML, CVPR, ICLR, ECCV) in model compression, efficient deep learning, or related areas.

- Experience distilling large generative models (diffusion models, LLMs, VLMs, or video models).

- Background in autonomous vehicles or robotics.

The US yearly salary range for this role is: $195,000 - $286,000 USD in addition to competitive perks & benefits. Waabi (US) Inc.'s yearly salary ranges are determined based on several factors in accordance with the Company's compensation practices. The salary base range is reflective of the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations.  Note: The Company provides additional compensation for employees in this role, including equity incentive awards and an annual performance bonus.
 

Perks/Benefits:
- Competitive compensation and equity awards.
- Health and Wellness benefits encompassing Medical, Dental and Vision coverage (for full-time employees only).
- Unlimited Vacation.
- Flexible hours and Work from Home support.
- Daily drinks, snacks and catered meals (when in office).
- Regularly scheduled team building activities and social events both on-site, off-site & virtually.
- As we grow, this list continues to evolve! 

Waabi is a technology start-up building technologies to transform the way the world moves. Join our talented team to be a part of the future and to make an impact!

Waabi is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating a supportive, inclusive, and accessible workplace for all our employees. We seek applicants of all backgrounds and identities, across race, color, ethnicity, national origin or ancestry, age, citizenship, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military or veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or parental status, caregiver status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law. We make workplace accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities as required by applicable law. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process please let our recruiting team know.
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.
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