Founding Engineer

Role details

About Ultralytics: At Ultralytics https://ultralytics.com/, we commit to relentless innovation in the AI space and seek team members https://www.ultralytics.com/about who resonate with our ambition to produce the world's best YOLO AI models https://ultralytics.com/yolo. If you're obsessed with AI, eager to make an impact on the world, and thrive in dynamic, high-intensity environments, we invite you to apply for a position on our team. 🌍 Join the team powering the future of vision AI Hello, hola, 你好, こんにちは, नमस्ते, hallo, bonjour! Thanks for stopping by — we know your time is valuable, so here's what makes Ultralytics special. ⚡ Who we are At Ultralytics https://www.ultralytics.com/, we're on a mission to simplify AI for everyone. As the creators of the world's leading Ultralytics YOLO models https://github.com/ultralytics/ultralytics, we empower millions of developers, researchers, and companies worldwide to build state-of-the-art computer vision applications. Following our $30M Series A round https://www.ultralytics.com/news/ultralytics-raises-30m-series-a, we're expanding rapidly across our global hubs in New York London, Madrid, and Shenzhen. This is an opportunity to join a fast-scaling, high-performance team that's redefining the future of vision AI — where ambition meets impact, and ideas become reality. We move fast. We build boldly. We execute with purpose. And we do it together. 💼 About the role As Founding Engineer, you'll help establish our New York engineering team, shipping features across the YOLO https://docs.ultralytics.com/models ML/computer vision surface and the platform around it. You'll connect model capabilities with usable interfaces, reliable APIs, and production infrastructure. “Founding” means end-to-end ownership, not a queue of assigned tickets. You'll define scope, make architectural decisions, write and review code, deploy changes, and own production outcomes. This is a hands-on senior engineer with tech-lead responsibility, not a people-management requirement. You'll use AI coding tools daily and coordinate with colleagues in the UK, Spain, and China through clear plans, async communication, and accountable delivery. 🚀 What you'll do Strategy & execution - Own a feature area from requirements and architecture through implementation, testing, deployment, and iteration. - Ship ML/CV capabilities alongside full-stack interfaces, backend services, and infrastructure, using our documentation https://docs.ultralytics.com/ and guides https://docs.ultralytics.com/guides. - Use Copilot https://github.com/features/copilot or Codex https://openai.com/codex/ routinely, validating generated code for correctness, security, and maintainability. Cross-functional collaboration - Break ambiguous work into milestones, align dependencies across locations, and communicate decisions and blockers asynchronously. - Balance customer needs, technical trade-offs, and commercial deadlines with Product and Engineering. Representation & leadership - Lead design and code reviews, unblock engineers, and set standards for testing, observability, and production reliability. - Strengthen our open-source ecosystem https://github.com/ultralytics through maintainable contributions, technical documentation, and engineering knowledge-sharing. 🧠 Skills and experience Core requirements - Senior-to-principal/distinguished-level industry delivery, with sustained ownership of feature areas and tech-lead-level accountability. - Shipped ML/AI and computer vision work, with practical Python https://www.python.org/ and PyTorch https://pytorch.org/ proficiency beyond coursework or research. - Full-stack capability spanning user interfaces, APIs, databases, cloud infrastructure, deployment, and production operations. - Current AI-assisted development experience, sound review judgment, and a preference for mainstream, well-documented tools. - Strong async communication, work breakdown, and deadline delivery within structured teams; no degree required, but industry experience is essential. Nice to have - Production experience with TypeScript https://www.typescriptlang.org/, React, and Python API frameworks such as FastAPI. - Experience with PostgreSQL, Docker https://www.docker.com/, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and cloud platforms. - Hands-on model serving, GPU optimization, inference monitoring, or edge deployment experience. - Contributions to Ultralytics or other open-source projects and engagement with our developer community https://community.ultralytics.com/. - Early engineering experience building products and establishing technical practices across international teams. 🌟 Cultural fit At Ultralytics, we set bold goals and execute with speed, precision, and teamwork. We're driven by hard work, ambition, and resilience — building fast, learning constantly, and delivering measurable impact. You'll thrive here if you: - Take ownership and deliver results with focus and accountability. - Combine strategic thinking with hands-on execution. - Value excellence, grit, and creativity in equal measure. - See collaboration as the foundation for meaningful progress. Our culture is built around our core values: - Relentless progress: Constant evolution and improvement. - Strive for excellence: Perseverance and attention to detail. - Actions, not words: Focus on delivering meaningful results. - Act with urgency: Seize fleeting opportunities. - Open access to all: Transparent communication and collaboration. Learn more in our Ultralytics Handbook https://handbook.ultralytics.com/mission-vision-values/#values. 💰 Compensation and benefits We reward excellence and impact — not just tenure or title. - Competitive salary: Reflecting your experience and contribution. - Equity packages: We want our success to be yours too. - On-site collaboration: Work with passionate builders in one of our global hubs. - Flexible working hours: We value results over routines. - Generous time off: 24 vacation days, your birthday of