Checkr

Data platform

MachineLearningEngineer

$168–198k San Francisco, California, United States
Market Sentiment
HIGH DEMAND

Neural analysis suggests this role is
optimal for Mid candidates.

The Brief

“Machine Learning Engineer at Checkr. Skills: Machine Learning, LLM APIs, Production Software, Python. Build and ship AI systems. Design with LLMs and APIs”

What You'll Achieve.

deliver meaningful outcomes

Industry & Context.

Data platform
Problems you'll solve

solving complex problems; Translate business problems into ML solutions; evaluate tradeoffs

Eligibility Requirements

Individuals are expected to work from the office 3+ days a week, relocation stipend may be available

What They're Looking For.

Must Have

4+ years building software professionally, at least 2 of those building ML systems that run in production, Python you write clean, testable, well-structured code with solid OOP instincts, Hands-on experience using LLM APIs in production systems, prompt engineering, structured outputs, function calling, cost management, evaluation, built and maintained APIs, worked with CI/CD pipelines, shipped code that other engineers depend on, Comfortable with distributed systems concepts, queues, async processing, caching, horizontal scaling, Experience with NLP tasks in production, classification, extraction, entity resolution, summarization, Comfort with and enthusiasm for AI-assisted experience using LLMs, code-generation tools, or agentic systems in production or operational contexts, evaluate tradeoffs, fine-tune vs. prompt, hosted vs. self-deployed, classical ML vs. LLM, rule vs. model, explain technical decisions clearly to engineers and non-engineers alike, use AI tools (Copilot, Claude, etc. ) to move faster, understand every line they produce, spot AI slop, An A-player mindset with a bias for action, raise the bar, move with urgency, stay resilient through ambiguity, take ownership to deliver meaningful outcomes

Nice to Have

Experience with MLOps platforms (MLflow, SageMaker, Vertex, or similar), Background in document processing, OCR, information extraction, Experience with PySpark or large-scale data processing, Ruby experience, Familiarity with compliance-sensitive domains (fintech, legal tech, HR tech), Working knowledge of dbt, Snowflake, or modern ELT/data transformation tools

What You'll Do.

Build and ship AI systems

Design with LLMs and APIs

Use LLM APIs as building blocks

Ship production software

Partner with product and engineering

Translate business problems into ML solutions

Explain approach clearly

Evaluate and iterate fast

Build evaluation frameworks

Make data-driven decisions

Ship AI-powered workflows

Build agentic workflows

Contribute reusable skills and context

How You'll Work.

Team & Collaboration

Partner with product and engineering; Define API contracts with product engineers; Explain your approach clearly to non-ML partners; leave the room with alignment; explain technical decisions clearly to engineers and non-engineers alike

Communication Scope

explain technical decisions clearly to engineers and non-engineers alike; without hiding behind jargon

Full Job Description

About Checkr Checkr is building the data platform to power safe and fair decisions. Over 140,000 companies and millions of people rely on Checkr for AI verification in the moments that matter most: getting a new job, a new place to live, a car ride, childcare, even a date. Customers include Uber, Pennymac, Airbnb, Doordash, Amazon, and Anthropic. We’re a team that thrives on solving complex problems with innovative solutions that advance our mission. Checkr is recognized on Forbes Cloud 100 2025 List and is a Y Combinator 2024 Breakthrough Company. About the team/role We’re hiring an ML Engineer (P2) to build and ship the AI systems that power Checkr’s core products. This role sits on the ML team inside Checkr’s Data production services. Design with LLMs and APIs. Use LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) as building blocks in production systems. You know when to call an LLM, when to fine-tune, when to use a classical model, and when to write a rule. You think about cost, latency, and quality together. Ship production software. Write clean, well-structured code with solid OOP, proper abstractions, error handling, and tests. Your code gets reviewed by SWEs and passes. CI/CD is how you work, not something you bolt on at the end. Partner with product and engineering. Translate business problems into ML solutions. Define API contracts with product engineers. Explain your approach clearly to non-ML partners and leave the room with alignment, not confusion. Evaluate and iterate fast. Build evaluation frameworks, run experiments, and make data-driven decisions about model and system performance. Ship and iterate; don’t wait for perfect. Ship AI-powered workflows. Put AI to work on your own processes: automate pipelines, build agentic workflows, and contribute reusable skills and context to Checkr’s agentic platform. The expectation is that our teams operate AI-first. What you bring A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related technical field,

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