> AI agents: this is one page of Nextmove’s FDE site, in Markdown. Nextmove is a job board and free career service for forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Each posting is classified from its text, not its title: the kind of work, how much of it is production code, pre-sales weight, time at customer sites, travel, remote arrangement, level and posted base pay. The site also publishes the aggregates: median pay by level, metro, company and kind of work, and which companies started hiring FDEs each week. Every page under https://nextmove.md/fde is served this way; the index of pages is https://nextmove.md/llms.txt.

# Member of Technical Staff, Applied Machine Learning Engineer

Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/991b159eed68c984

Fireworks AI posts a FDE role to build what the customer runs in San Mateo, CA, at $170,000–$240,000 base, above the senior FDE median of $190,000 across 1,864 postings with pay. Applied Machine Learning Engineer bridging AI research and real-world customer applications, with responsibility for developing, fine-tuning, deploying, and optimizing machine learning solutions. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026.

- [Fireworks AI](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/fireworks-ai)

Posted May 9, 2025 by Fireworks AI · open on Ashby as of Nov 8, 2026

**$170,000–$240,000** + equity San Mateo, CA Hybrid Full-time

Applied Machine Learning Engineer bridging AI research and real-world customer applications, with responsibility for developing, fine-tuning, deploying, and optimizing machine learning solutions.

- [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2F991b159eed68c984&placement=top)
- [View posting at Fireworks AI](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/fireworks/fc3845e6-e8ba-4756-a03e-654f14ce605b/application)

Free. Upload your resume once, see why each FDE role fits, and get introduced only when you say so.

## At a glance

### Posted base pay

$170K–$240K Above the median

Midpoint $205K · median $190K

This job $170K to $240K. Senior FDE postings, 1,864 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $160K to $220K, median $190K.

### The work

Builds what the customer runs

Balance **Mostly building**

Project stages

1. Pre-sales
2. Proof of concept
3. Implementation
4. Operations

- **Coding**: Writes production code

- **Builds for**: Both

- **Level**: Senior

- **Role**: Individual contributor

### What they ask for

Experience

- **5+ years** software engineering role

Background

- **Software engineering**

### Do you meet what the posting states?

The posting asks for 5+ years. How many do you have?

The posting reads as a senior role. What level are you at now?

The job is in San Mateo, CA. Could you work there?

Which of these have you used in production?

Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent.

[What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths)

## Conditions

- **Location**: San Mateo, CA

- **Work arrangement**: Hybrid

- **Employment type**: Full-time

- **Pay**:

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- [Other jobs at Fireworks AI (4)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/fireworks-ai)

## The job description from Fireworks AI

Posted by Fireworks AI on May 9, 2025

### About Us:

Fireworks is the platform for specialized intelligence, enabling companies to build, train, and serve AI models tailored to their own data, workflows, and products. Founded by the team behind PyTorch and backed by AMD, Atreides, Benchmark Capital, Index Ventures, Lightspeed, NVIDIA, Sequoia Capital, and TCV, Fireworks powers production AI with hundreds of state-of-the-art open models across text, image, embedding, audio, and multimodal workloads. Today, Fireworks is a Series D company valued at $17.5 billion, bringing together an ambitious, collaborative team that's building the future of enterprise AI.

### The Role:

As an Applied Machine Learning Engineer, you will serve as a vital bridge between cutting-edge AI research and practical, real-world applications. Your work will focus on developing, fine-tuning, and operationalizing machine learning models that drive business value and enhance user experiences. This is a hands-on engineering role that combines deep technical expertise with a strong customer focus to deliver scalable AI solutions.

### Key Responsibilities:

- **Customer Success:** Collaborate directly with the GTM team (Account Executives and Solutions Architects) to ensure smooth integration and successful deployment of ML solutions.
- **Demo / Proof of Concept (PoC):** Build and present compelling PoCs that demonstrate the capabilities of our AI technology.
- **Application Build:** Design, develop, and deploy end-to-end AI-powered applications tailored to customer needs.
- **Platform Features / Bug Fixes:** Contribute to the internal ML platform, including adding features and resolving issues.
- **New Model Enablements:** Integrate and enable new machine learning models into the existing platform or client environments.
- **Performance Optimizations:** Improve system performance, efficiency, and scalability of deployed models and applications.
- **Partnership Enablement:** Work closely with partners to enable joint AI solutions and ensure seamless collaboration.

### Minimum Qualifications:

- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
- 5+ years of experience in a software engineering role, with a strong preference for customer-facing roles.
- Robust coding skills required, preferably with proficiency in Python.
- Demonstrated ability to lead and execute complex technical projects with a focus on customer success.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills; ability to thrive in dynamic, cross-functional teams.

### Preferred Qualifications:

- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
- Experience working in a startup or fast-paced environment.
- Hands-on experience fine-tuning machine learning models, including supervised fine-tuning (SFT) and reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF or RFT).
- Solid understanding of generative AI, machine learning principles, and enterprise infrastructure.

### Why Fireworks?

- Solve Hard Problems: Tackle challenges at the forefront of AI infrastructure, from low-latency inference to scalable model serving.
- Build What’s Next: Work with bleeding-edge technology that impacts how businesses and developers harness AI globally.
- Ownership & Impact: Join a fast-growing, passionate team where your work directly shapes the future of AI—no bureaucracy, just results.
- Learn from the Best: Collaborate with world-class engineers and AI researchers who thrive on curiosity and innovation.

*Fireworks AI is an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all innovators.*

[View posting at Fireworks AI](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/fireworks/fc3845e6-e8ba-4756-a03e-654f14ce605b/application)

## About Fireworks AI

Inference and training infrastructure for open-weight AI models, with fine-tuning, reinforcement fine-tuning, and low-latency production serving for developers and enterprises.

Series C · 100–200 people

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- [Compare senior FDE salary ranges](https://nextmove.md/fde/salary/senior)
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