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Language Engineer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Retell AI

Senior Language Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$200K - $290K/yr

Partner with researchers and engineers to drive each modeling iteration. REQUIREMENTS * 2+ years of experience in computational linguistics, language data processing, or a similar field, including ...

SpaceX

Sr. Database Reliability Engineer

Hawthorne, CA · On-site

$155K - $205K/yr

Develop code for automation of routine tasks by leveraging Python, bash, Ansible or a similar scripting language * Engineer, deploy, maintain, and own all aspects of database monitoring * Provide ...

SpaceX

Sr. Database Reliability Engineer

Hawthorne, CA · On-site

$155K - $205K/yr

Develop code for automation of routine tasks by leveraging Python, bash, Ansible or a similar scripting language * Engineer, deploy, maintain, and own all aspects of database monitoring * Provide ...

SpaceX

Sr. Database Reliability Engineer

Hawthorne, CA · On-site

$155K - $205K/yr

Develop code for automation of routine tasks by leveraging Python, bash, Ansible or a similar scripting language * Engineer, deploy, maintain, and own all aspects of database monitoring * Provide ...

Ametek

Senior DSP/Firmware Engineer

San Diego, CA

$126K - $167K/yr

Embedded C & Assembly language programming for real-time embedded systems; control peripherals (inc. ADCs, PWMs, DACs); and 6 yr comm protocols (e.g., SPI, I2C & CAN). Apply at Refer to code SM.

Cypress HCM

Signal Processing Engineer

Redwood City, CA · On-site

$150 - $190K/hr

C language programming skills. * Experience with adaptive filtering techniques. * Expertise with adaptive filtering techniques. * Expertise in modeling 3D wireless channels using ray tracing or ...

Apple

HID Algorithms Engineer

Cupertino, CA · On-site

$98K - $133K/yr

Experience building mathematical models in Python, MATLAB, R, or a similar high-level language. Programming skills in C/C++. Excellent problem solving and root cause analysis skills. BS in Electrical ...

Ametek

Senior DSP/Firmware Engineer

San Diego, CA · On-site

$126K - $167K/yr

Embedded C & Assembly language programming for real-time embedded systems; control peripherals (inc. ADCs, PWMs, DACs); and 6 yr comm protocols (e.g., SPI, I2C & CAN). Apply at Refer to code SM.

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All JobsLanguage Engineer JobsLanguage Engineer Jobs in California

Language Engineer information

See California salary details

$38.5K

$100.4K

$135.7K

How much do language engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 18, 2026, the average yearly pay for language engineer in California is $100,420.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $82,900.00 and $115,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a language engineer?

A Language Engineer designs, develops, and optimizes language-related technologies, such as natural language processing (NLP) models, speech recognition systems, and machine translation tools. They work with linguistic data, improve language models, and create rules and algorithms to enhance text and speech processing. This role often involves collaborating with software engineers, data scientists, and linguists to refine language-based AI systems. Language Engineers also help expand language support for AI applications by curating datasets and improving system accuracy.

What are the typical daily responsibilities of a language engineer?

Language Engineers typically spend their days developing, testing, and improving language models and algorithms used in applications such as chatbots, voice assistants, and translation tools. They collaborate closely with data scientists, software engineers, and linguists to collect and annotate data, refine language processing workflows, and address real-world linguistic challenges. Regular tasks may include designing rule-based systems, implementing machine learning models, evaluating system performance, and troubleshooting language-specific issues. This role often requires balancing independent work with team collaboration to ensure language technologies meet both technical and user experience goals.

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

To thrive as a Language Engineer, you need a strong background in computational linguistics, natural language processing (NLP), and programming languages such as Python or Java, often supported by a degree in computer science, linguistics, or related fields. Familiarity with NLP libraries (e.g., NLTK, spaCy), machine learning frameworks, and tools for text annotation and data processing is highly beneficial. Strong problem-solving abilities, attention to detail, and effective communication skills are crucial soft skills in this role. These competencies enable Language Engineers to build robust language models, collaborate across interdisciplinary teams, and address complex language-related challenges in technology products.

What are the most commonly searched types of Language Engineer jobs in California?

The most popular types of Language Engineer jobs in California are:

What are popular job titles related to Language Engineer jobs in California?

For Language Engineer jobs in California, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Language Engineer jobs in California look for?

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Language Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Language Engineer job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 86% Full Time, 7% Part Time, and 7% Contract. Highlights an 86% In-person, and 14% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $100,420 per year, or $48.3 per hour.

Senior Language Engineer

Retell AI

San Francisco, CA • On-site

$200K - $290K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision

Posted 11 days ago

Job description

ABOUT RETELL AI
Retell AI is using first-principles thinking to reimagine the call center with cutting-edge voice AI. Thousands of companies now use Retell's AI voice agents to handle sales, support, and logistics calls that once required large teams of human agents. Backed by Y Combinator, Alt Capital, and other leading investors, we've scaled to $80M in ARR with a team of 50, up from $5M at the start of 2025, and are now valued at over $1.5B.
Our vision for 2026 is to build a modern CX platform where entire contact centers are powered by AI. Instead of basic automation that needs constant human tuning, we're creating intelligent AI "workers" that act as frontline agents, QA analysts, and managers, continuously executing, monitoring, and improving every customer interaction.
We're growing fast and looking for ambitious builders who want to tackle hard technical problems, move quickly, and have a real impact on one of the fastest-growing voice AI companies in the world.
Let's build the future together.
Recent recognition:
  • No. 1 Best Places to Work in the Bay Area, San Francisco Business Times 2026
  • Top 50 AI Apps, a16z (2025)
  • #3 Fastest-Growing Software Company, G2 Best Software Awards 2026
  • Best Agentic AI Software, G2 Best Software Awards 2026
  • #4 Fastest-Growing Software Vendor, Brex Benchmark 2025
  • Enterprise Tech 30 Class of 2026, Nasdaq & Wing VC
  • Top-Ranked Startup, Lean AI Leaderboard
  • Backed by Y Combinator

ABOUT THE ROLE
Retell AI transforms customer experience with voice AI for enterprises, including customers like CVS/Aetna, American Airlines, Lenovo, and Grab. We have more customer stories than we can tell!
This role sits at the intersection of frontier AI systems, high-quality data, and core product requirements. You will own the full data stack, from data creation, scraping, and synthesis, to managing an annotation workforce, to data cleaning, processing, evaluation, and analysis, applying sharp linguistic judgment throughout. You will play a critical role in driving modeling innovation, working closely with researchers, ML engineers, and product managers to ensure our AI systems sound natural, humanlike, and aligned with human preferences.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
  • Define requirements and own the end-to-end pipeline for creating high-quality datasets for voice agent use cases, across both text and audio modalities.
  • Engineer web-scale data pipelines and apply synthetic generation techniques to produce high-quality training and evaluation data.
  • Coordinate and manage a human annotation workforce: author guidelines, define quality targets, and QA annotator output.
  • Build data processing and cleaning pipelines that align datasets to production needs, balancing coverage across use cases, languages, and domains.
  • Analyze production logs, curated datasets, and other sources to surface failure patterns and identify high-leverage areas for targeted data collection.
  • Apply your linguistic taste to judge which outputs are more natural, conversational, and humanlike, and produce preference data that encodes that judgment.
  • Partner with researchers and engineers to drive each modeling iteration.
REQUIREMENTS
  • 2+ years of experience in computational linguistics, language data processing, or a similar field, including hands-on work with large-scale text and audio datasets.
  • Highly technical: fluent at writing scripts for data processing and at leveraging models for synthetic data generation.
  • Native-level command of English, with the confidence to make opinionated linguistic calls about what sounds natural in voice agent conversations.
YOU MIGHT THRIVE IF YOU
  • A strong applied ML background in language or audio modeling - ideally having contributed to the data pipelines behind a well-known audio or language model.
  • A PhD in Computational Linguistics or an equivalent field with computational emphasis.
  • Experience managing human annotation and evaluation teams.
  • Excitement for building scalable systems that bridge research and production.

JOB DETAILS
  • Cash: 200k - 290k
  • Equity: Equity Provided
  • Location: Redwood City, CA, US
  • US Visas: Retell AI is open to sponsoring work authorization for qualified candidates, including H1B/H-1B, TN, L-1, E-3, F-1 (OPT/CPT).
OTHER BENEFITS
  • 100% coverage for medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • $70/day DoorDash credit for unlimited breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks
  • $200/month wellness reimbursement (gym, fitness classes, etc.)
  • $300/month commuter reimbursement (gas, Caltrain, etc.)
  • $75/month phone bill reimbursement
  • $50/month internet reimbursement

COMPENSATION PHILOSOPHY
  • Best Offer Upfront: Choose from three cash-equity balance options; no negotiation needed.
  • Top 1% Talent: Above-market pay (top 5 percentile) to attract exceptional builders.
  • High Ownership: Small teams, >$1M revenue/employee, and significant equity.
  • Performance-Based: Offers tied to interview performance, not experience or past salaries.

INTERVIEW PROCESS:
  • Talent Screen (15min): chat with our recruiter to get a better sense of the role, the team, and what it's like to work here.
  • Technical Interview (45 min): practical coding for data processing (scraping, cleaning, analysis)
  • Technical Interview (45 min): linguistic judgement and preference alignment
  • Onsite/Virtual Interviews (2 hrs): Hosted in our office if located in the Bay Area or virtual, with three rounds:
    • Dataset problem mining and fixing
    • Background deep dive + behavior

Apply