ML Engineer, Research
Mach9
San Francisco, CA · $180k–$300k a year · Posted June 3, 2026
Just laid off? Start here: a plan for the first weeks
More in California job market · Technology & Software · Data & Analytics jobs
More roles at Mach9
- Software Engineer - 3D Graphics · San Francisco, CA
- Business Development Representative · San Francisco, CA
- Software Engineer - Test Automation (SDET) · San Francisco, CA
- Business Operations Associate · San Francisco, CA
- Community Marketing Manager · San Francisco, CA
- Head of Growth · San Francisco, CA
Similar jobs
- Platform Engineer · Flux · San Francisco, CA
- CANES Platform Engineer · Scientific Research · San Diego, CA
- Systems Engineer II · Crane · Burbank, CA
- Engineer, Rewarming Systems · Until · CA
- Platform Engineer · Sable Bio · San Francisco, CA
- (Sr) Staff SOC Architect - AI Accelerators (Multiple Locations) · Qualcomm · San Diego, CA
Where San Francisco, CA ranks
Where San Francisco, CA placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.
November 2026
- #1Best cities for security jobs316 openings · of 20
- #1Best cities for technology jobs7,178 openings · of 100
- #1Best cities for financial services pay after cost of living$173k · of 33
- #1Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills35% · of 100
- #1Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills in the West Coast35% · of 54
- #1Cities with the most jobs that do not need a four-year degree in the West Coast902 jobs · of 47
Rankings about data & analytics jobs
- Best cities for data and analytics jobs #1 New York (1,713 openings)
- Best cities for data and analytics pay after cost of living #1 Foster ($232k)
- Most requested AI skills in data and analytics jobs #1 Machine learning engineering (17.1%)
- AI tools named most often in data and analytics jobs #1 Databricks (7.6%)
- Employers with the most data and analytics jobs #1 Amazon (711 roles)
Data & Analytics jobs · Top Data & Analytics employers · All rankings
How AI is used in this kind of work
Among computer occupations, all other, AI is already used for a large share of the tasks. Measured exposure for computer occupations, all other: 31% (high).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
Skills this job asks for
Say which you have and which you want to build. We use it to match you to jobs like this one.
About the job
THE ROLE
At Mach9, ML Engineers build the perception models at the core of our AI-enabled CAD system. We build models to extract 3D object and line features from dense LiDAR point clouds and imagery. Our unique data advantage allows us to develop and train cutting edge 3D scene understanding models that serve real surveyors and engineers in the field.
This role is both research-driven and product-focused. You'll design and train the models that power our automated extraction pipeline — image and 3D detection and localization — and work end-to-end from research prototype to production feature. You'll partner closely with infrastructure and product teams to take ideas from a paper to deployed capabilities.
This role is ideal for early-to-mid-career ML engineers who thrive on end-to-end ownership and are able to move fluidly from dissecting a new architecture paper to shipping the product feature that the resulting ML model backs.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Design, train, and evaluate computer vision and 3D ML models for extracting CAD-grade geometry and features from dense LiDAR and imagery.
- Drive ML research that translates directly into product capabilities: prototyping new approaches, running experiments, and identifying what’s shippable.
- Own models through the full product lifecycle: problem framing, data strategy, training, evaluation, and final integration into our cloud-based CAD software, Digital Surveyor.
- Develop evaluation methodology and metrics that reflect real surveying and engineering accuracy requirements.
- Work with ML infrastructure engineers to scale training and inference of your models and with product teams to align your model’s behavior with what the user wants.
REQUIREMENTS
- Master's or PhD in Machine Learning, Computer Vision, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent industry experience.
- Strong foundation in computer vision and deep learning, with hands-on experience training models for segmentation, detection, or 3D understanding.
- Experience taking a ML model from research/prototype to production, not just publishing or benchmarking.
- Working knowledge of geometric concepts relevant to 3D perception like coordinate systems and 3D transforms.
- Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate with researchers, other engineers and product stakeholders.
- Proficient with Python and a production-quality ML library like PyTorch, JAX, or TensorFlow.
BONUS QUALIFICATIONS
- Experience with common 3D deep learning architectures, like point cloud backbones such as PTv3, sparse convolutions, or 3D detection/segmentation networks.
- Experience with large unstructured datasets — imagery and 3D point clouds — at scale.
- Experience delivering production-grade models with optimization techniques such as quantization, pruning, distillation, or runtime acceleration (e.g., TensorRT, ONNX Runtime).
- Familiarity with multi-GPU training and experiment management (Weights & Biases or similar).
- Publications or strong open-source contributions in computer vision or 3D machine learning.