Downstream · 10 hours ago
Senior Applied AI Engineer
United States
Full-time
Remote
Senior LevelDownstream Systems, Inc. is a leading marketplace platform that's transforming the waste and construction industries from the ground up. They are seeking a Senior Applied AI Engineer to architect the intelligence layer of their marketplace, integrating AI into their construction rentals platform and building robust systems for logistics and data management.
ConstructionLogisticsMarketplaceRecyclingWaste Management
Hiring Manager
Lauren Geber
Responsibilities
Architect MCP Servers: Design and implement Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to standardize how our data (inventory, logistics, pricing) is exposed to AI agents. You will treat context as a first-class product
Agentic Orchestration: Build the backend logic for multi-agent systems that can plan, reason, and execute tasks. You will ensure these agents can plug into client-facing Chat UIs (built in Flutter/React) via structured, reliable protocols
LLM-Powered Recommendation Engines: Develop predictive engines that analyze historical construction data and project requirements to proactively recommend rentals and services
Rigorous LLM Evaluation (LLMOps): You will implement comprehensive logging and evaluation pipelines using tools like Weights & Biases (WandB) . You are responsible for measuring drift, hallucination rates, and agent success metrics— ensuring we ship reliable intelligence, not just "vibes."
Production Python Backend: Write high-performance, maintainable Python code. Whether it's a microservice or a monolith, you ensure the AI logic is scalable and secure
Qualification
Required
Senior Applied AI Experience: You have moved beyond prototypes. You have experience deploying LLM applications where reliability and latency matter
Mastery of the AI Stack: Deep expertise with orchestration frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph, or custom implementations) and vector databases
MCP Expertise: You understand the Model Context Protocol and how to build servers that provide context to LLMs efficiently
Evaluation-First Mindset: You don't guess if a prompt is better; you prove it. Extensive experience with logging and evaluation platforms (WandB, LangSmith, Ariz) is required
Strong Python Fundamentals: You are an expert in Python. You understand concurrency, async/await patterns, and API design (REST/gRPC)
Builder's DNA: You are comfortable with ambiguity and iteration. You build scrappy to validate, but architect for scale
Preferred
Django Experience: Our core platform is built on Django. Familiarity is helpful, but strong Python fundamentals are what matter
Mobile/Frontend Awareness: Experience working with Flutter or modern JS frameworks. You don't need to write the UI, but you need to understand how to feed it
Logistics Domain Knowledge: Familiarity with marketplaces, supply chain, or construction tech
Benefits
Comprehensive Health Coverage
Medical, dental, and vision insurance plans
Health Savings Account (HSA) option for added flexibility
Peace of Mind
Life insurance coverage to help protect what matters most
401(k) Retirement Plan
Downstream matches up to 5% of your contributions:
100% match on the first 3%
50% match on the 4th and 5th percent
Remote-First Work
Work from wherever you're most productive—our team is fully remote
Generous Paid Vacation
We offer a flexible, paid vacation policy so you can recharge when you need to
Company Equity
Be an owner in what we’re building with equity in the company
Company
Downstream
Downstream is a marketplace simplifying the waste management buying process for commercial customers
Founded in 2022
11-50 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Early StageTotal Funding
$8M2025-11-03Series A· $8M
Leadership Team
Justice Baird
Co-Founder & COO
Recent News
Company data provided by crunchbase