Zyphra · 2 months ago
Machine Learning Data Engineer - Systems & Retrieval
Palo Alto, CA
Full-time
Onsite
Mid LevelZyphra is an artificial intelligence company based in Palo Alto, California. The role involves building and optimizing data infrastructure for machine learning systems, including designing high-performance pipelines and architecting retrieval systems for LLMs.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)Cloud ComputingMachine LearningSoftware
Responsibilities
Design and implementation of distributed data ingestion and transformation pipelines
Building retrieval and indexing systems that support RAG and other LLM-based methods
Mining and organizing large unstructured datasets, both in research and production environments
Collaborating with ML engineers, systems engineers, and DevOps to scale pipelines and observability
Ensuring compliance and access control in data handling, with security and auditability in mind
Qualification
Required
Strong software engineering background with fluency in Python
Experience designing, building, and maintaining data pipelines in production environments
Deep understanding of data structures, storage formats, and distributed data systems
Familiarity with indexing and retrieval techniques for large-scale document corpora
Understanding of database systems (SQL and NoSQL), their internals, and performance characteristics
Strong attention to security, access controls, and compliance best practices (e.g., GDPR, SOC2)
Excellent debugging, observability, and logging practices to support reliability at scale
Strong communication skills and experience collaborating across ML, infra, and product teams
Preferred
Experience building or maintaining LLM-integrated retrieval systems (e.g, RAG pipelines)
Academic or industry background in data mining, search, recommendation systems, or IR literature
Experience with large-scale ETL systems and tools like Apache Beam, Spark, or similar
Familiarity with vector databases (e.g., FAISS, Weaviate, Pinecone) and embedding-based retrieval
Understanding of data validation and quality assurance in machine learning workflows
Experience working on cross-functional infra and MLOps teams
Knowledge of how data infrastructure supports training pipelines, inference serving, and feedback loops
Comfort working across raw, unstructured data, structured databases, and model-ready formats
Benefits
Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and FSA plans
Competitive compensation and 401(k)
Relocation and immigration support on a case-by-case basis
On-site meals prepared by a dedicated culinary team; Thursday Happy Hours
In-person team in Palo Alto, CA, with a collaborative, high-energy environment
Company
Zyphra
Zyphra is superintelligence research and product company based in San Francisco, California.
Founded in 2021
51-200 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Zyphra has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (1)
Funding
Current Stage
Growth StageTotal Funding
$100M2025-06-09Series A· $100M
2023-06-09Seed
2021-11-18Pre Seed
Recent News
2025-11-30
2025-11-27
Company data provided by crunchbase