Full-Time

Software Engineer

ML Infrastructure, Training Platform

Confirmed live in the last 24 hours

Scale AI

Scale AI

5,001-10,000 employees

AI platform for data and models

Compensation Overview

$160k - $225.6k/yr

+ Equity

Mid, Senior

San Francisco, CA, USA + 1 more

More locations: New York, NY, USA

In Person

Category
Backend Engineering
Software Engineering
Required Skills
Machine Learning
Requirements
  • Strong fundamentals in machine learning
  • Backend system design experience
  • Prior ML Infrastructure experience
  • Comfortable with infrastructure and large scale system design
  • Ability to diagnose model performance and system failures
Responsibilities
  • Build highly available, observable, performant, and cost-effective APIs for model training
  • Participate in our team’s on call process to ensure the availability of our services
  • Own projects end-to-end, from requirements, scoping, design, to implementation, in a highly collaborative and cross-functional environment
  • Exercise good taste in building systems and tools and know when to make build vs. buy tradeoffs, with an eye for cost efficiency
Desired Qualifications
  • 4+ years of experience building machine learning training pipelines or inference services in a production setting
  • Experience with distributed training techniques such as DeepSpeed, FSDP, etc.
  • Experience building, deploying, and monitoring complex microservice architectures
  • Experience with Python, Docker, Kubernetes, and Infrastructure as code (e.g. terraform)

Scale AI provides a platform that helps businesses develop AI applications by utilizing their enterprise data to tailor powerful generative models. The platform includes tools for collecting, curating, and annotating data, as well as features for evaluating and optimizing models. Scale serves a wide range of clients, including major technology firms like Microsoft and Meta, large enterprises such as Fox and Accenture, generative AI companies like OpenAI and Cohere, U.S. Government Agencies like the Army and Airforce, and startups like Brex and OpenSea. What sets Scale apart from its competitors is its comprehensive suite of tools and services that allow clients to effectively harness the potential of AI while ensuring safety. The company's goal is to enable clients to unlock the value of AI through subscriptions and service fees for its platform and tools, ultimately enhancing the performance of advanced language models and generative models.

Company Size

5,001-10,000

Company Stage

Acquired

Total Funding

$15.9B

Headquarters

San Francisco, California

Founded

2016

Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Scale AI secured $1.6B in Series F funding, boosting its financial stability.
  • Meta's $14.3B investment values Scale AI at $29B, doubling its previous valuation.
  • The data annotation market is projected to grow to $3.6B by 2027.

What critics are saying

  • Loss of major clients like Google due to Meta's significant stake.
  • Emerging competitors like Surge AI are aggressively raising capital.
  • CEO Alexandr Wang's departure to Meta may lead to leadership instability.

What makes Scale AI unique

  • Scale AI offers comprehensive data annotation for AI applications, including LiDAR and video.
  • The platform supports diverse clients, from tech giants to government agencies.
  • Scale AI's tools enhance performance of advanced LLMs and generative models.

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Benefits

Health, Dental & Vision Coverage - Our health plans give you the flexibility to select the right coverage for you and eligible family members through a variety of plan options.

Easy to use 401(K) - Plan and invest for the future with a 401(k) via Guideline. Scale’s 401(k) plan provides you an opportunity to defer compensation for your long-term savings.

Wellness Fund - We care about the physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing of all Scaliens. Our $100/month wellness stipend can be used for gym memberships, acupuncture, meditation apps, and so much more.

Virtual Social Activities - Being remote has not stopped us from hosting fun virtual events. From trivia night to candle making, we ensure employees are fostering connections & building strong relationships.

Learning & Development - We know how important career growth is for Scaliens, so we offer a $500/year L&D stipend to help support continued development throughout your journey.

Flexible hours allow you to work when you are most productive. You can work with your manager to best plan your daily work schedule.

Generous Paid Time Off - Enjoy time to travel or plan a staycation. We encourage employees to take time off to recharge and prevent burnout. We have a flexible PTO policy where each employee is afforded the flexibility to take planned time-off as needed.

Commuter Benefits - Set aside pre-tax dollars to use on qualified transportation expenses to help ease your commute.

Parental Leave - Balancing work and family is essential, and Scale understands the importance of having adequate leave policies in place to promote a healthy home and work life.

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

0%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

-1%
Tech Startups
Jul 1st, 2025
Surge AI seeks $1B at $15B+ valuation in first-ever raise as Scale AI loses customers and CEO to Meta

"Surge AI, a data-labeling firm that competes with Scale AI, has hired advisors to raise as much as $1 billion in the first capital raising in the firm's history," Reuters reported.

Tech Announcer
Jul 1st, 2025
Scale AI Secures $1.6B Series F Funding

The AI startup scene is booming with significant investments. Scale AI secured $1.6 billion in Series F funding, while Meta plans to raise $29 billion for AI infrastructure. Abridge raised $300 million for medical documentation AI. Emerging startups like Delv.AI, Conveo, and FortyTwo are innovating in AI. Major investors like Accel and Andreessen Horowitz are heavily investing in AI, and Perplexity AI launched a $50 million venture fund for AI startups. AI is advancing across diverse industries.

Platum
Jun 16th, 2025
Meta Invests $14.3B in Scale AI

Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg, has invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI, acquiring a 49% stake. This investment values Scale AI at $29 billion, doubling its previous valuation of $14 billion. This is Meta's second-largest investment after acquiring WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014. Despite the significant stake, Meta will not be heavily involved in Scale AI's operations. Scale AI's CEO, 28-year-old Alexandr Wang, will join Meta to lead the newly established Superintelligence Lab.

Tech in Asia
Jun 16th, 2025
Google Plans To End Partnership With Scale Ai After Meta Deal

👩‍🍳 How we use AI at Tech in Asia, thoughtfully and responsibly.🧔‍♂️ A friendly human may check it before it goes live. More news hereGoogle, a subsidiary of Alphabet, plans to end its partnership with Scale AI, its primary data-labeling provider.This follows Meta’s acquisition of a 49% stake in Scale AI, raising concerns about exposing proprietary information to a competitor.Google had budgeted around US$200 million for Scale AI’s services in 2025 but is now seeking alternatives.Scale plays a key role in training models like Gemini, Google’s competitor to ChatGPT.The move has triggered a wider industry response. Meta’s deal valued Scale AI at US$29 billion, up from US$14 billion, and includes CEO Alexandr Wang moving to Meta.Other AI firms, Microsoft, OpenAI, and xAI, are also distancing themselves from Scale over data security concerns.🔗 Source: Reuters🧠 Food for thought1️⃣ The commoditization of AI training data has endedMeta’s 49% stake in Scale AI marks a pivotal shift in how the industry views data labeling, transforming it from a commodity service into a strategic asset.Scale AI’s valuation doubling from $14 billion to $29 billion through Meta’s investment reflects the escalating value of specialized data annotation capabilities in the AI race 1.The industry has evolved significantly since Scale’s early days when it was valued at just $1 billion in 2019, with specialized annotations now costing as much as $100 each, particularly those requiring domain expertise from PhDs and other specialists 2.This price premium exists because high-quality labeled data directly impacts model performance, with Scale having processed over 13 billion annotations and labeled 87 million data points specifically for generative AI applications 3.Google’s planned $200 million annual spend on Scale’s services demonstrates how critical these specialized data services have become to developing competitive AI systems like Gemini 1.The reaction of major AI labs to Meta’s stake acquisition shows that data labeling partnerships are now viewed through a competitive lens rather than as neutral vendor relationships.2️⃣ AI companies face a build-versus-buy dilemma with data operationsThe exodus of major customers from Scale AI highlights an emerging strategic tension between outsourcing data labeling and bringing these capabilities in-house.Google had already been working to diversify its data service providers for over a year before the Meta deal, indicating earlier concerns about dependency on a single vendor 1.This trend is accelerating with companies like Handshake reporting their “demand has tripled overnight” as AI labs seek alternatives that won’t expose their research priorities to competitors 1.The situation mirrors broader industry moves toward vertical integration, with companies like Mercor now focusing on technologies that help AI labs recruit and vet in-house data labelers quickly 1.The data annotation market’s projected growth to $3.6 billion by 2027 indicates there’s still substantial demand, but the nature of the business is changing from centralized services to distributed specialized capabilities 4.This shift creates challenges for Scale AI, whose original value proposition was being a trusted neutral third party, a position now compromised by Meta’s significant ownership stake.Recent Google developments

American Bazaar
Jun 13th, 2025
Meta invests $14.3 billion in Scale AI, brings CEO Alexandr Wang onboard

Wang also revealed that Chief Strategy Officer Jason Droege would be promoted to the role of Scale AI's CEO.