Founding Engineer ML/IA - CDI H/F

About

My client is a startup based between Lyon and San Francisco, building the first truly useful AI Copilot for mechanical engineers — at the intersection of generative AI and professional CAD software. Raised $3M, 10,000 users, confirmed interest from Ford, Audi, Amazon Robotics, Meta, Tesla, McLaren. A new product category is being created.

Why this role is different

You'll join a team of 4 engineers as a founder-level technical contributor. Not standard applied AI: you will design, train, and deploy ML systems that integrate deeply into professional CAD software. Real founder posture, real equity, real impact.

Your missions

• Design and train specialized AI models for CAD, mechanical reasoning, and geometry generation
• Work on model fine-tuning, evaluation pipelines, and data strategy
• Build production-grade ML systems that integrate with real CAD APIs
• Contribute to the AI stack architecture — from embeddings to tool orchestration
• Transform research ideas into scalable product features
• Collaborate closely with mechanical engineers to bridge AI and real-world workflows
• Help define the company's long-term AI roadmap

Profile sought

The profile we're looking for

• Fluent professional English
• Deep expertise in AI / ML — well beyond using APIs or libraries: understanding the underlying mathematics and science of models
• Able to read and understand scientific papers in AI, and extract applicable insights
• Hands-on experience: fine-tuning LLMs, training models from scratch, building datasets, evaluating metrics
• Mastery of the Python ML ecosystem (frameworks, model architectures)
• 3-4 years minimum experience in AI — a long-time "geek" profile, not a recently converted engineer
• CAD knowledge appreciated and a clear opinion on part generation
• Top 20 engineering school or PhD (advanced training essential)
• Startup mindset: commitment, autonomy, ability to work in uncertainty