At Waystar, we are hiring a Senior ML Engineer to be a core member of our team. You will build robust, efficient, and domain-specific AI systems using Language Models and agentic architectures. Your work will span the entire ML pipeline, from sophisticated data extraction to fine-tuning specialized models and orchestrating multi-agent frameworks.
What You'll Do
- Design, implement, and optimize robust pipelines for ingesting, parsing, and extracting structured information from complex documents.
- Develop rich, nested JSON schemas for representing structured data and ensure scalable storage.
- Generate and manage high-quality vector embeddings for efficient retrieval-augmented generation within a Vector Database.
- Research, select, and experiment with appropriate open-source Language Models for specialized tasks.
- Design and execute efficient fine-tuning strategies on curated, domain-specific datasets to achieve precise performance.
- Explore and implement knowledge distillation techniques to transfer capabilities from larger to smaller models.
- Build and maintain the core agentic framework, including the orchestrator that coordinates interactions between specialized LM tools.
- Develop and integrate 'tools' that perform atomic medical necessity tasks, ensuring strict behavioral alignment and structured outputs.
- Deploy, manage, and monitor LMs and agentic components on Google Cloud Platform using services like Vertex AI and GKE.
- Implement robust MLOps practices for continuous integration, delivery, model versioning, and performance monitoring.
- Establish effective feedback loops from end-user interactions and system logs to identify areas for model improvement.
- Curate and expand training datasets, ensuring data privacy and legal compliance.
- Stay abreast of the latest research in LMs, agentic AI, NLP, and document understanding.
- Work closely with subject matter experts, product managers, and other engineers to translate complex requirements into technical solutions.
What We're Looking For
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or a related quantitative field.
- 3+ years of professional experience in Machine Learning Engineering, with a strong focus on NLP.
- Proven experience with Language Models, including model selection, fine-tuning, and deployment.
- Strong proficiency in Python and familiarity with ML frameworks like PyTorch, TensorFlow, and Hugging Face Transformers.
- Solid understanding and hands-on experience with core NLP techniques and architectures, especially Transformers.
- Experience with cloud platforms, particularly Google Cloud Platform, including services like Vertex AI and Cloud Storage.
- Familiarity with MLOps principles and tools for model serving, monitoring, and pipeline automation.
- Excellent problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and ability to work independently and collaboratively.
- Active use of artificial intelligence tools and techniques to enhance performance, drive innovation, and improve decision-making.
- Curiosity and adaptability in exploring emerging AI technologies, with a mindset for continuous learning.
Nice to Have
- Hands-on experience building or contributing to agentic AI systems or multi-agent frameworks.
- Direct experience with document processing technologies such as OCR, layout parsing, Document AI, or custom information extraction.
- Experience with Vector Databases and RAG architectures.
- Exposure to the healthcare domain, particularly understanding medical terminology, CPT/ICD codes, or regulatory documents.
Technical Stack
- Languages & Frameworks: Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face Transformers
- Cloud & Infrastructure: Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Vertex AI, GKE, Cloud Functions, Cloud Run
- Specialized Tools: OCR, Document AI, Vector Databases (pgvector, Pinecone, Weaviate, Qdrant)
Benefits & Compensation
- Competitive total rewards (base salary + bonus, if applicable).
- Customizable benefits package with 3 medical plans and Health Saving Account company match.
- Generous paid time off for non-exempt team members (starting with 3 weeks + 13 paid holidays, including 2 personal floating holidays).
- Flexible time off for exempt team members + 13 paid holidays.
- Paid parental leave (including maternity + paternity leave).
- Education assistance opportunities and free LinkedIn Learning access.
- Free mental health and family planning programs, including adoption assistance and fertility support.
- 401(K) program with company match.
- Pet insurance.
- Employee resource groups.
Waystar is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We celebrate, value, and support diversity and inclusion. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, marital status, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.
