About the Role
Clutch is a high-growth, a16z-backed vertical SaaS company dedicated to transforming how credit unions engage with their members by providing cutting-edge digital lending solutions. We are looking for a Senior ML Engineer to serve as the technical owner of our production machine learning and AI agent systems, moving models from initial prototype to robust, scalable production environments. This is a defining builder's moment at Clutch, where you will shape our agent infrastructure and establish the standards for how we deploy production AI for years to come. You will join a fast-moving data team that values pragmatism over purity, acting as the bridge between data science and production-ready software engineering.
Key ResponsibilitiesAs a Senior ML Engineer, you will be the primary architect for our low-latency ML API, which powers our proprietary Next Best Action (NBA) engine. Within your first few months, you will take full ownership of this API, hardening it for high-traffic production environments and ensuring seamless integration with our HAL platform. Your role involves designing and shipping sophisticated end-to-end agent tool contractsincluding schema design, handler implementation, and structured error handlingthat turn NBA recommendations into real, member-facing conversations. You will be responsible for building a rigorous evaluation foundation for our agents, utilizing golden transcripts, rubric-based judges, and comprehensive regression suites to manage non-deterministic systems effectively.
- Build and maintain low-latency production APIs using FastAPI, BentoML, or similar frameworks.
- Design LLM-callable tools with narrow input/output schemas and identity-gated dispatch.
- Establish the data team's playbook for shipping new ML models as production-grade LLM tools.
- Implement observability for production agents, tracking audit rows, distributed traces, and per-tool metrics.
- Drive measurable improvements in agent cost and latency, targeting 30% reductions for P95 metrics.
- Mentor data engineers on production ML patterns and provide technical leadership across the organization.
We require at least 7 years of professional engineering experience with a demonstrated track record of taking ML models through the full lifecycle from research to production. You must possess expert-level proficiency in Python and feel comfortable working within production codebases rather than just notebooks, with a working knowledge of TypeScript for tool contracts and runtime integrations. Successful candidates will exhibit exceptional discipline in tool design for LLM consumption, focusing on narrow schemas and identity-required dispatch. You should have a deep understanding of evaluation discipline for non-deterministic systems, treating evals with the same rigor as traditional unit testing. Experience building low-latency APIs, working within AWS and Docker environments, and a habit of integrating AI tools into your daily engineering workflow are essential for success in this role. Prior experience in SaaS or Fintech is highly desirable.
- Proven experience shipping production-grade agents with prompt versioning and multi-tenant gating.
- Strong background in AWS Lambda, Docker, and GitHub-based CI/CD workflows.
- Intuition for cost and latency tradeoffs within complex agent loops.
- Ability to read and debug system prompts as code, focusing on register and compliance.
- Familiarity with agent frameworks like Vercel AI SDK, LangChain, or LlamaIndex.
- Knowledge of Databricks, PySpark, or Terraform is a plus.
Clutch offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support a high-performing remote workforce. We believe in providing our team members with the autonomy and resources they need to thrive both professionally and personally. You will be joining a mission-driven company that is actively improving the financial well-being of millions of Americans by empowering local credit unions with modern technology.
- Remote Flexibility: Work from anywhere while balancing your career and life seamlessly.
- Unforgettable Off-Sites: Join us twice a year in exciting destinations for team bonding and strategy.
- Generous Time Off: 20 days of PTO per year plus all National Holidays for rest and rejuvenation.
- Equity: Receive a competitive stock option package to share in our long-term success.
- Home Office Setup: A dedicated budget to create your ideal remote workspace.
- Professional Growth: Budget for work-related trips, conferences, and co-working spaces.