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Founding Ai Engineer Jobs in Roxbury, MA (NOW HIRING)

AI Lead

Boston, MA ยท On-site

The Role We are seeking a deep AI practitioner to join as a founding team member - someone with ... Work with hardware engineers to define and refine processor architecture based on insights learned ...

Senior Applied AI Engineer

Boston, MA ยท On-site

$175K - $210K/yr

We are hiring senior founding engineers to set its bar. In this role, you will turn the highest-value ideas from our company-wide AI workshop into real, deployable tools, and build LLM- and agent ...

Senior Applied AI Engineer

Boston, MA ยท On-site

$175K - $210K/yr

We are hiring senior founding engineers to set its bar. In this role, you will turn the highest-value ideas from our company-wide AI workshop into real, deployable tools, and build LLM- and agent ...

Founding GTM Engineer

Cambridge, MA ยท On-site

$90K - $120K/yr

Founding GTM Engineer About Proton Proton is building the AI infrastructure for wholesale distribution, embedded in the workflows that move nearly every physical product on the planet. Distribution ...

Founding GTM Engineer

Cambridge, MA ยท On-site

$90K - $120K/yr

Founding GTM Engineer About Proton Proton is building the AI infrastructure for wholesale distribution, embedded in the workflows that move nearly every physical product on the planet. Distribution ...

... AI. The Role We are seeking a deep ML practitioner to join as a founding team member - someone with ... Work with hardware engineers to define and refine processor architecture based on insights learned ...

We're building the future of recruiting with AI - and we need an exceptional engineer to join our founding team in our San Francisco hackerhouse. We just raised a $3M pre-seed from top-tier investors ...

Company Description Farsyt is an AI-native insurance services company reimagining how insurance is ... Role Description You'll work closely with the founders and early engineers to build core product ...

Founding Senior Software Engineer

Cambridge, MA ยท On-site

$133K - $176K/yr

Company Description Farsyt is an AI-native insurance services company reimagining how insurance is ... Strong backend engineering skills -- you've built and scaled real systems (we use Python, but care ...

We power AI agents for Clay, Zoominfo, Dun & Bradstreet, and the next generation of AI GTM tools ... You are the founding hire for this function. When we hire behind you, you hire them. What You'll Do:

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Founding Ai Engineer information

See Roxbury, MA salary details

$27

$58

$83

How much do founding ai engineer jobs pay per hour?

As of Jul 16, 2026, the average hourly pay for founding ai engineer in Roxbury, MA is $58.20, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $46.97 and $67.55 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a Founding AI Engineer?

A Founding AI Engineer is an early member of a startup's technical team, responsible for designing, building, and implementing artificial intelligence systems that form the core of the company's product or service. This role often involves working closely with company founders to set technical direction, make key architectural decisions, and develop scalable machine learning solutions from the ground up. Founding AI Engineers are expected to wear multiple hats, contribute to both research and engineering efforts, and help establish best practices as the company grows. They play a crucial role in shaping the company's technology culture and long-term vision.

What are some unique challenges a Founding AI Engineer might face in an early-stage startup environment?

As a Founding AI Engineer in a startup, you'll often be responsible for both building core AI systems and setting up foundational engineering practices. Unique challenges include balancing rapid prototyping with long-term scalability, working with limited resources, and defining the technical roadmap alongside product priorities. You'll likely collaborate closely with founders, product managers, and sometimes even customers, making adaptability and strong communication essential. This role offers significant autonomy but also requires comfort with ambiguity and frequent shifts in direction as the company grows.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Founding AI Engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Founding AI Engineer, you need deep expertise in machine learning, software engineering, and algorithm development, typically supported by an advanced degree in computer science or a related field. Proficiency with frameworks like TensorFlow or PyTorch, cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP), and version control systems is essential, along with experience deploying AI models to production. Strong problem-solving, adaptability, and entrepreneurial mindset distinguish top performers in this role. These skills are vital for building innovative AI solutions from the ground up, shaping product direction, and driving early-stage company success.

What is the difference between Founding Ai Engineer vs AI Engineer?

AspectFounding Ai EngineerAI Engineer
Required CredentialsBachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, AI, or related fields; experience in AI developmentBachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, AI, or related fields; experience in AI development
Work EnvironmentStartup or early-stage company, often in a founding or core team roleEstablished companies, tech firms, or startups with ongoing AI projects
Employer & Industry UsageFounding AI roles are common in startups and new venturesWidely used across industries including tech, finance, healthcare, and more

The main difference is that a Founding AI Engineer is typically an early team member in a startup, often involved in shaping the company's AI strategy from the ground up, whereas an AI Engineer generally works within established organizations on ongoing AI projects. Both roles require similar technical credentials but differ in scope, environment, and level of responsibility.

What cities near Roxbury, MA are hiring for Founding Ai Engineer jobs? Cities near Roxbury, MA with the most Founding Ai Engineer job openings:

AI Lead

Ayo Semiconductor

Boston, MA โ€ข On-site

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision

Posted 29 days ago


Job description

About Ayo

We are a venture-backed early-stage startup developing processors specialized for machine learning. The processor will provide orders or magnitude improvement in speed and power efficiency with a goal of unseating the GPU as the dominant computing platform for AI.

The Role

We are seeking a deep AI practitioner to join as a founding team member - someone with hands-on experience working on or alongside a foundation model at scale, who understands what happens under the hood when splitting jobs across thousands of GPUs, and who is excited to bring that depth to novel hardware. They have a full-stack understanding of machine learning architectures, love to optimize algorithms across disciplinary boundaries, and will deploy and train models directly on our prototype chips to help us prove out what our processor can do - no prior hardware experience required.

What Youโ€™ll Do:

  • Deploy and run trained models on prototype hardware and digital twins, producing working demonstrations on our chips.

  • Develop and adapt algorithms to train models on novel processing environments, including our prototype hardware.

  • Work with hardware engineers to define and refine processor architecture based on insights learned through model training and experimentation.

  • Maintain a deep curiosity about what makes AI systems work - and bring that curiosity to bear on how they run on new hardware.

  • Support go-to-market strategy development

What Weโ€™re Looking For:

  • PhD in machine learning, representation learning, theory of computation, or a related field - or equivalent industry experience working on foundation models at scale.

  • Experience training models at scale - distributed training across many GPUs, working with large datasets and compute.

  • Has built and trained neural networks from scratch

  • Deep knowledge of the structure and internal operation of neural networks - including how and why they behave the way they do (e.g. interpretability or explainability work is a plus).

  • Excitement about applying deep AI expertise to new and novel hardware environments - you donโ€™t need prior experience with photonics or silicon, but you want to learn.

  • Fluent knowledge of Python

  • Fluency in PyTorch (preferred), TensorFlow, JAX, or other industry-standard ML software libraries

Why Ayo

  • You'll be a founding AI team member - shaping how we think about and deploy AI as a company.

  • We are working on a genuinely hard and interesting problem: unseating the GPU as the dominant AI compute platform.

  • Early-stage means real ownership, real impact, and meaningful equity.

  • Competitive salary. Equity commensurate with stage and seniority. Benefits package including health, dental, and vision.

  • Fully onsite in Boston - we are a collaborative, in-person team.