Principal AI Architect Job at The Talent Co-op, Santa Clara, CA

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  • The Talent Co-op
  • Santa Clara, CA

Job Description

Principal AI Architect Opportunity | San Francisco | Hybrid

A stealth-mode, seed-stage fintech startup is hiring a Head of AI / Principal AI Architect to lead AI development efforts in the private wealth space. This company has a live product, paying customers, and six-figure annual revenue, all while operating with under $2 million in funding.

About the Role

The selected candidate will define and build the AI architecture from the ground up, working directly with a small team of engineers (approximately nine) to create intelligent systems for financial decision-making. This position requires deep, hands-on model development experience, with a focus on foundational and multi-modal models, agentic AI systems, and sophisticated prompting techniques. It is not a role limited to LLM API integration or traditional application-layer work.

Compensation and Structure

  • Salary: $200,000 to $350,000, dependent on interview performance, experience, and location.
  • Equity: Flexible, around 2 percent based on compensation package.
  • Employment Type: Full-time or Contract.
  • Location: San Francisco (in-office 3 days per week; hybrid model).
  • Relocation Support: Not available.
  • Visa Sponsorship: H1-B transfers not supported.
  • Workload Expectation: Startup hours (approximately 9am to 9pm, six days a week).

Candidate Requirements

  • Hands-on experience developing foundation models; not limited to using prebuilt APIs.
  • Experience at a top AI lab or foundation model organization such as OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind, Google Brain, or Meta FAIR.
  • Advanced degree in AI or ML, preferably a PhD from a leading university (Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, CMU, etc.).
  • Deep technical expertise in generative AI, LLMs, multi-modal models (text and voice), retrieval-augmented .generation (RAG), and autonomous agents.
  • Familiarity with prompting methods such as Tree of Thoughts, Constitutional AI, and agent protocol frameworks.
  • Proven ability to work cross-functionally with product, design, and business stakeholders.

Exclusion Criteria

  • Candidates with only short-term roles in their background.
  • Candidates who have only used models but have not contributed to their development.
  • Backgrounds primarily focused on non-LLM fields such as computer vision, robotics, or traditional ML.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Research or development work in multi-modal AI systems.
  • Publications in leading AI conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, CVPR, ACL).
  • Prior experience leading research teams or complex AI initiatives.
  • Experience building AI-driven products in startup or zero-to-one settings.
  • Domain knowledge in financial technology is a strong plus.

Technical Environment

  • Core stack includes React, Node, AWS, DynamoDB.
  • Acceptable tools and frameworks: LLaMA, Claude, Python, TypeScript, chatbot development, RAG pipelines, agent frameworks.

Interview Process

  • Hiring Manager Screen.
  • Interview with the CEO.
  • System Design (45 minutes): Design a conversational chatbot, focusing on architecture, evaluation, and hallucination mitigation.
  • Coding Round: May include a take-home assignment, depending on the candidate.
  • Behavioral Round with the broader business team.
  • Offer.

Why Join

  • Competitive salary and meaningful equity.
  • Flexible remote work within a hybrid setup.
  • A rare opportunity to drive AI innovation in a high-potential sector.
  • Direct influence on core product and company trajectory.
  • Collaborative and fast-moving environment focused on breakthrough ideas.

Job Tags

Full time, Contract work, Temporary work, Relocation package, Flexible hours, 3 days per week,

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