🤖 Senior AI Engineer – Applied AI/ML at SureHost | $25–$35/Hour

🤖 Senior AI Engineer – Applied AI/ML at SureHost | $25–$35/Hour | Long-Term Opportunity 🚀 Are you an experienced AI Engineer with strong Python skills and a background in building production-ready AI systems? SureHost is looking for a Senior AI Engineer – Applied AI/ML to design, develop, and improve AI-powered solutions for real-world customer problems. This opportunity is ideal for experienced engineers who want to remain hands-on with coding while taking greater ownership of system architecture, model evaluation, technical decisions, and production reliability. 💡 The role begins as a full-time contractor engagement, with the potential to transition into a full-time employee position as SureHost grows. 📌 Job Details 💼 Job Title: Senior AI Engineer – Applied AI/ML 🏢 Company: SureHost 🧑‍💻 Job Category: Engineering 📋 Job Type: Freelance / Full-Time Contractor 💵 Hourly Rate: $25–$35 per hour 🎯 Experience: 5–10 years listed; detailed description indicates 5–8+ years of software engineering experience ⏰ Workload: 40 hours per week 📅 Duration: Long-term 📍 Preferred Location: Pune, India 🌐 Working Hours: IST/SLST with full-day overlap 🛠️ Top Skills: Python, AI/ML 📈 Career Potential: Possible transition to a full-time employee role ⚠️ Listing Status: Pending bank information 📍 Location Note: India is the specified location, with Pune preferred. The role requires full-day overlap with the listed time zone. Applicants based in Pakistan or other countries should confirm location eligibility and work arrangements before applying. 🏢 About SureHost SureHost is an early-stage hospitality technology company developing solutions to help short-term rental operators manage and grow their businesses. 🌍 The company's technical and AI team is based in Pune, India, while its customer and product team is based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. These teams work together to develop technology based on real customer needs. 🚀 SureHost is working with its first paid customer pilot and preparing for broader expansion in the United States. As the company grows, engineers have opportunities to influence architecture, product direction, and the technical decisions behind its AI-powered systems. 🛠️ Key Responsibilities The Senior AI Engineer will design, build, deploy, and maintain AI/ML systems while collaborating closely with technical leadership. 🤖 AI and Machine Learning Development 🐍 Design and build production-ready AI/ML systems using Python. 🧠 Develop solutions involving large language models (LLMs), computer vision, multimodal AI, and AI-agent workflows. 🔌 Evaluate proprietary model APIs, open-source models, and alternative technical approaches. 📊 Design evaluation systems to measure accuracy, reliability, latency, and cost. 🔍 Identify model weaknesses, failure patterns, and opportunities for improvement. ⚙️ Production Engineering 🏗️ Build data pipelines, APIs, backend services, and supporting infrastructure. 🚀 Take AI systems from experimentation through deployment, monitoring, debugging, and continuous improvement. 🧪 Improve automated testing, observability, and technical documentation. ⚡ Optimize performance, reliability, response times, and operating costs. 🔧 Troubleshoot complex production issues and develop sustainable solutions. 🤝 Technical Leadership and Collaboration 🧭 Work directly with the CTO and AI/architecture leadership. 🏛️ Contribute to architecture design and important technical decisions. 🎯 Understand customer and product requirements and recommend better technical solutions when appropriate. 👨‍💻 Review code and help less-experienced engineers solve challenging technical problems. 📦 Take ownership of systems and remain actively involved in implementation. 🎓 Required Qualifications and Skills SureHost is looking for an experienced engineer with strong software engineering fundamentals and meaningful hands-on experience developing AI/ML systems. ✅ Essential Qualifications 🧑‍💻 Approximately 5–8+ years of software engineering experience, with relevant recent AI/ML development experience. 🐍 Strong Python programming and software engineering skills. 🤖 Experience building and deploying AI/ML systems in production. 🧠 Knowledge of LLMs, multimodal AI, computer vision, or AI-agent workflows. 🔌 Familiarity with model APIs and open-source AI models. 📊 Experience evaluating AI systems and investigating model failures. 🗄️ Understanding of data pipelines, APIs, backend services, and cloud infrastructure. 🧪 Knowledge of testing, monitoring, observability, and production reliability. 🧩 Strong technical judgment and the ability to evaluate different engineering approaches. 💬 Excellent problem-solving, collaboration, and communication skills. ⭐ Additional Experience That May Be Helpful 🎥 Video processing or computer vision. 🦾 Workflow automation and AI agents. 🏗️ Early-stage startup engineering. ☁️ Cloud infrastructure and production AI deployment. 🏨 Hospitality technology or short-term rental software. These additional areas are useful but are not stated as mandatory requirements. 🌟 What Makes This Opportunity Different? Many senior engineering roles gradually move experienced developers away from hands-on technical work. SureHost offers a different path for engineers who want to remain close to the code while influencing architecture and product decisions. In this role, you can contribute to: 🧠 AI system design and technical strategy. 💻 Hands-on software development. 🔍 Model evaluation and complex problem-solving. ⚙️ Production engineering and system reliability. 🤝 Collaboration with technical leadership. 🎯 Decisions shaped by actual customer problems. The architecture and product are still evolving, giving experienced engineers an opportunity to influence how systems are designed and developed. ⏰ Work Schedule and Employment Terms 📋 Engagement: Full-time contractor. 🕒 Hours: Approximately 40 hours per week. 📅 Duration: Long-term. 📍 Location: India, Pune preferred. 🌐 Schedule: Full-day overlap with IST/SLST. 💵 Rate: $25–$35 per hour. 📈 Future Opportunity: Potential transition to full-time employment. 💡 The advertised rate and future employment transition should be confirmed directly with SureHost during the application process. 👤 Who Should Apply? This position may suit experienced software engineers, machine learning engineers, and applied AI specialists who want to solve difficult technical problems while continuing to build software themselves. Apply Now