AI Engineer (Research & Development)

About the role

Bandwidth's Research & Development (R&D) team is dedicated to exploring and leveraging transformative technologies to redefine communication experiences. As an AI/ML Engineer, you will contribute to innovative projects that push the boundaries of what's possible in AI and machine learning.

Responsibilities

• Dive deep into the latest AI/ML research, particularly in the LLM space, identifying opportunities relevant to Bandwidth's domain.
• Design, build, and test proof-of-concepts and prototypes for novel AI-powered features and services.
• Implement and integrate AI/ML models, including those based on LLMs, into potential future Bandwidth offerings.
• Collaborate intensely within a small, cross-functional R&D team, sharing knowledge and contributing to a T-shaped skill set.
• Experiment with various AI techniques, including advanced prompting strategies, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and potentially agentic systems.
• Stay constantly updated on the rapidly evolving AI landscape, evaluating new tools, models, and methodologies.
• Leverage LLM-powered IDEs and development tools (like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, etc.) to accelerate the innovation cycle.
• Clearly articulate and present research findings, experiment results, and prototype demonstrations to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, AI, ML, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Proven experience (typically 3+ years) designing, building, and evaluating AI/ML models and systems.
• Strong programming skills, particularly in Python and familiarity with common ML libraries/frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn, Hugging Face).
• Solid understanding and practical experience with Large Language Models (LLMs) and associated concepts, including Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and various prompting techniques (e.g., Zero-shot, Few-shot, Chain of Thought).
• Experience implementing services or applications built on top of foundational LLMs (via APIs or open-source models).
• Proven ability to thrive in a small, highly collaborative team environment with an urgent, results-oriented culture. Significant experience in startups or similar fast-moving, resource-constrained organizations is highly desirable.
• A relentless curiosity and passion for exploring new technologies and techniques in the AI/ML space.
• Experience using LLM-powered IDEs or coding assistants.
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to navigate ambiguity.
• Must be able to work full-time from the Bandwidth headquarters in Raleigh, NC.

Bonus points

• Master’s degree or PhD in Computer Science, AI, ML, or a related field.
• Experience with LLM training, fine-tuning (e.g., LoRa), and/or developing custom evaluation benchmarks.
• Familiarity with advanced AI architectures and concepts such as agentic systems (e.g., ReAct), multi-modal models, Mixture of Experts (MoE), or LLM tooling/external capabilities.
• Experience with MLOps practices and cloud-based ML platforms (e.g., AWS SageMaker, Azure ML, Google AI Platform).
• Familiarity with AI Developer and Agentic Frameworks (e.g., OpenAI, LangChain, CrewAI, Autogen)
• Experience contributing to AI/ML research, publications, or open-source projects.