Machine Learning Lead

Who We Are

Our mission is to make the world programmable. Sight is one of the key ways we understand the world, and soon this will be true for the software we use, too.

At Roboflow, we’re building the tools, community, and resources needed to make the world programmable with artificial intelligence. Roboflow simplifies building and using computer vision models. Today, over 250,000 developers, including those from over half the Fortune 100, use Roboflow’s machine learning open source and hosted tools. That includes counting cells to accelerate cancer research, improving construction site safety, digitizing floor plans, preserving coral reef populations, guiding drone flight, and much more.

Our team is small relative to our impact, and we believe our users’ success is our success (not the inverse). A team member summarized: “Roboflow is a company full of giant brains and tiny egos.” We find software has a multiplier effect on all roles (not only product and engineering), so Roboflow employs developers across the company in design, sales, customer support, marketing, and beyond.

We’re supported by great customers and investors, having raised over $23 million from Y Combinator, Craft Ventures, Sam Altman, Lachy Groom, amongst other leading software investors. Our goal is to build one of the world’s most important companies.

What We're Looking For

Primarily, you like to make great things with passionate colleagues. You are someone that likes to own outcomes, not only inputs. You’re motivated by having responsibility and accountability. You’re eager to “do the work,” big and small.

Every team lead at Roboflow is a hands-on-keyboard player-coach. We’re looking for an accomplished builder that is both a strategic thinker and an inspiring leader that maintains a high and ambitious bar for their team.

You’re motivated by the question, “How can I improve this?” and have a track record of doing so, even in ways adjacent to your role. Much of our current team is made up of former founders who thrive in the level of autonomy at Roboflow.

Many Roboflowers have used our tools before joining. One of the best ways to stand out amongst other applicants is to write about something you have built with Roboflow or contribute to one of our open source projects.

What You'll Do

In this role you will lead Roboflow’s Machine Learning Team which is responsible for three core things: Driving adoption of inference, our open source computer vision deployment product, via new features, improved developer experience, and increased awareness.

Working alongside the core team to build, expand, and support the ML capabilities into our core platform (for semantic search, interactive segmentation, training, and more).

Pulling forward the future of computer vision via content and research in areas like datasets, models, and prompting.

You will have broad latitude and resources to drive outcomes & your core metrics. This role is intended to be a barrel, not ammunition.

You’ll be tasked with setting a vision, charting a roadmap, executing against your goals, writing code, being a resource and mentor for your team, talking to customers, and collaborating cross-functionally. You’ll be the directly responsible individual for the ML team’s output and metrics.

Every week is different and things will ebb and flow (and you’ll be trusted to choose your own loss function), but in a typical week your time may be spent 40% on coding, 20% on product management, 20% on people management, 10% on evangelism and working directly with customers, and 10% on recruiting.

The ML team currently consists of two exceptional Machine Learning engineers that you will lead. We will be expanding investment in this team over the course of the year and you will shape that expansion.

📅 Within one week, you will… Learn all about our product, company, customers, and vision. Onboard in person with our founders at our SF hub. Begin weekly 1:1s with members of the ML Team. Get ramped up in our codebase & become familiar with our architecture and backend. Ship something substantial to an end user. 📅 Within one month, you will… Build your first computer vision project with Roboflow (if you haven't already) Be fully ramped up in the codebase & lead your first major initiative. Meet several customers & start leading our weekly inference user sessions. Take over responsibility for the ML Team’s metrics & roadmap. 📅 Within three months, you will… Add the first new ML Engineer to your team. Deliver an important new tent-pole feature or product. Be the primary owner of the ML Team’s core metrics. Participate in quarterly planning & chart a course for the next few months. Develop a vision, strategy, and plan for the future of ML at Roboflow. 📅 Within six months, you will… Execute against the goals, roadmap & plans. Attend your first all company onsite.

Who You Are

You are an experienced machine learning practitioner who wants to be an important part of an exceptional team that focuses on using Roboflow's computer vision tools to impact and improve every industry. You have high agency and a bias toward action.

You should be both technically proficient and have experience leading a team. You have a strong, informed opinion on the future of computer vision and machine learning, are innately curious, a strong first-principles thinker, and thrive in unstructured environments. You inspire intensity in your team.

You love building things people want, seeing your software get adopted at scale, interacting directly with customers, staying on the forefront of machine learning (and connecting with others who share that passion), and thinking big.

Who You'll Be Working With

Our team of ~50 attracts talent like executives that wanted to return to building, founders with a 100M+ exit, Roboflow users turned team members, open source contributors, a cyclist who biked across the United States, prolific high school hackers, a CTO from 100+ person engineering organization, amongst many others.

You will work directly with our CTO and a team of machine learning engineers, alongside the rest of our 15-person product/engineering team, and amongst highly capable sales, marketing, field engineering, and ops teams (including many other engineers embedded in those teams).

Where You'll Work

Roboflow is distributed across the US and Europe. We currently have Hubs in New York City and San Francisco (and plan to open more as we grow density in new cities). We provide opportunities (like team on-sites in different cities) and resources (like a $4000/yr travel stipend) to work in person with other team members as much as you'd like, while also supporting remote team members.

Given this role’s need for tight integration with the AI/ML ecosystem, we are prioritizing locality in SF for this role (and offer a relocation bonus).

When You'll Work

Roboflow primarily operates during the daytime hours in the US and there are some synchronous meetings you’ll be expected to attend each week. Apart from that, we have a flexible schedule that allows you to work collaboratively with other team members and asynchronously when needed.

What You'll Receive

To determine your salary, we use a number of market and data-driven salary sources. We review all salaries every six months to ensure we stay in line with the market.

💰 The target compensation for this role is $250,000 + equity. 📈 In addition to our cash compensation, we offer generous perks and benefits. Below are some of the highlights: $4000/yr Travel Stipend to travel anywhere anytime to work alongside other Roboflowers $350/mo Productivity stipend to spend on things that make your work environment more productive, like high-speed internet at home or a co-working space Cover up to 100% of your health insurance costs for you and your partner or family Equity in the company so we are all invested in the future of computer vision Interview Process (~8 hours) Below is the interview process you can expect for this role. We are all motivated to work with an exceptional team and don't currently have in-house recruiters. You will be speaking directly with our team about what it's like to work and thrive at Roboflow. We like to be decisive and work fast, so don't be surprised if all the below conversations happen over a day or two.

Before the Interview: We’ll review your application, LinkedIn, Github, etc. The best way to stand out is to write about something you’ve built with Roboflow or contribute to one of our open source projects. We may send you a technical screen if applicable.

Introduction Phase: [30m] Meet with the CTO for introduction to assess overall mindset and skill set This first interview is a time to get to know more about the role, allow us to get to know you better, and ensure it's a good fit for both parties to continue moving forward in the process [90m] Take-Home: We will have you build something with Roboflow [30m] Followup to present your project & talk through the code aspects & your product thoughts.

Team Interview Phase: [30m x 3] Meet with other members of the team 1x Peer Technical Lead 2x ML Engineers on your team

Technical Assessment: [90m] Coding Session We will build something together

Final Interview Stage: [60m] Meet with hiring manager again Use this time to review specifics about the job description Begin working through your 30/60/90 projects Ask questions!

[45m] Meet with Kate Wagner, Head of Operations, for a culture discussion [60m] Meet with Joseph Nelson, CEO and Co-Founder We check references and conduct a background check

Note: You are welcome to request additional conversations with anyone you would like to meet, and we will accommodate you as best we can and these steps may be individualized based on what we assess to be the most important areas for getting more signal.

Not sure if this is you?

We want a diverse, global team with a broad range of experience and perspectives. If this job sounds great, but you’re not sure if you qualify, look into our Former Founders role. We carefully consider every application and will either move forward with you, find another team that might be a better fit, keep in touch for future opportunities, or thank you for your time.

Learn More About Us

We are building a diverse Satellite team that is distributed across the globe. Roboflow is an equal opportunity workplace; we welcome people from all backgrounds, communities, and experiences. We provide competitive compensation and stellar benefits to accelerate your personal and work life. Learn more about what it is like to work at Roboflow by reading these blog posts. See our careers page for all open listings.

Company Size: 11 - 50 People

Year Founded: 2019

Country: United States