Applied AI/ML Engineer

San Francisco, CA

Full Time

Engineering

Experienced

San Francisco, New York, Kansas City, or Remote (US)

Replica provides data about the built environment and ways people interact with it. With better data, human-context and an intuitive design, Replica helps public and private sectors make informed, effective, and responsive decisions. By showing how people live, move and work, we contextualize hard choices, allowing our clients to see around corners and understand the trade-offs surrounding their decisions. Whether for a city planner increasing public transit to underserved neighborhoods or for a grocery chain evaluating where to open a new location, Replica’s insights lets clients make more informed, people-centered decisions.

We spun out of Alphabet in 2019 and recently secured series B funding from venture firms including Founders Fund, Innovation Endeavors, Sidewalk Labs, Firebrand Ventures, and Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund. Today, we are a team of 34 employees with offices in San Francisco, New York, Kansas City and Remote.

We value our customers, believe in being resourceful, and work in service of each other to scale our product. As we build our team, we are committed to pursuing and bringing together a diverse workforce and creating an environment of inclusion. We value our differences and we encourage all to apply. We are committed to equal opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, gender, gender identity, parental or pregnancy status, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, Veteran status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.

The Role

We’re looking for an Applied AI/ML Engineer to help design, implement, and scale advanced models that power Replica’s urban simulation and analytics products. This role is scoped at the Senior level or above: we expect candidates to operate at least at a Senior Engineer level, and for exceptional candidates, we are open to Staff or Principal-level.

You’ll sit at the intersection of research and engineering, translating applied methods into production-ready models that deliver meaningful insights about mobility, land use, and activity patterns across the US. Unlike our infrastructure-oriented teams, your work will focus on algorithms, modeling, and applied AI/ML techniques that improve Replica’s products and unlock new capabilities for customers.

Organizational Relationships

Reports to: Director of Engineering

Works closely with: Product and Data Science teams and other engineers on the Data Production team

Collaborates with: Customer Success and Strategy teams to ensure models align with product needs and customer use cases

Responsibilities

Design, prototype, and implement applied AI/ML models for mobility, activity, and behavioral modeling at scale.
Drive improvements to core models for routing, mode choice, demand estimation, and geospatial forecasting — balancing research innovation with production readiness.
Partner closely with Product and Data Science leadership to set technical direction for modeling initiatives, ensuring they align with customer and business needs.
Evaluate new data sources (e.g., vendor-provided mobility data, traffic sensors, geospatial layers) for quality, coverage, and fitness-for-use in Replica’s models.
Develop new algorithms to fuse Replica’s proprietary data with external sources (e.g., traffic sensors, land use, census, streaming data).
Evaluate model performance, define success metrics, and iterate quickly to improve accuracy, robustness, and fairness.
Collaborate with data production engineers to transition prototypes into robust, production-quality systems used nationwide.
Contribute to modeling frameworks and shared libraries, mentoring peers and raising the technical bar across the team.
Stay current with advances in machine learning, optimization, and geospatial modeling, applying them pragmatically to Replica’s challenges.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, Engineering, or related field; advanced degree (MS/PhD) preferred.
4+ years of professional experience in applied ML/AI, research engineering, or related roles.
Strong Python skills with experience in ML libraries (PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn) and numerical computing (numpy, pandas, scipy).
Experience designing, training, and deploying AI/ML models in production.
Hands-on experience with large-scale data sets, especially geospatial or time-series data.
Familiarity with distributed computation frameworks (Dask, Spark, Ray) and cloud environments (GCP preferred).
Proven ability to communicate technical decisions and tradeoffs clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

What We Value

We work in the service of others
We understand that talent + diversity + curiosity + relentlessness wins
We believe walking > talking
We operate with thoughtful urgency
We communicate openly and directly
We build products people use

Benefits

Our people! We work as a team and are excited to contribute to city planning
Competitive salary based on experience and potential for impact
Equity at an early stage startup
Health benefits including medical, dental, vision, and FSA options
401k account + employer safe harbor contribution
Offices in San Francisco, CA, New York and Kansas City
Flexible PTO

Compensation

Replica is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices.
The base salary range for this position is $157,500 to $239,800. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to relevant qualifications, depth of experience, skill set, certifications, training, education, and specific work location. The compensation packages may be adjusted based on the candidate’s work location, due to differences in the cost of living for the given location. Our position titles may also span multiple career levels.
The total compensation package for this position additionally includes equity stock options, employee benefit package, 401k with 3% safe harbor employer contribution, unlimited PTO, and may also include other applicable incentive compensation and/or bonuses. For more information, visit https://replicahq.com/careers

Replica is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily.
The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required.
Ability to operate at both a strategic/conceptual level and at a detailed, operational level metrics driven; highly disciplined
Must have strong interpersonal skills, maturity and good judgment and be capable of communicating with a diverse range of individuals
A hands-on, action-oriented approach that fits well with the entrepreneurial, fast-paced culture
Engaging leadership style that builds and sustains credibility with colleagues, clients and other stakeholders
Broad functional experience in areas of strategic planning and marketing, sales and market development and planning

If you don't think you meet all of the criteria above, but still are interested in the job, please apply. Nobody checks every box, and we're looking for someone excited to join the team

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