Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Education

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg in 2015 to help solve some of society’s toughest challenges — from eradicating disease and improving education to addressing the needs of our local communities. Our mission is to build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone.

The Team

At CZI, we pair technology with grantmaking to equip educators, families and students with tools that integrate high-quality research, practices and content to unlock the full potential of every student, no matter who they are or where they live. From program conception to software feature design, we center our work on student and educator voices to help educators address the day-to-day challenges in their classrooms. 

Since 2015, our grant investments have helped catalyze new tools, practices, and measures designed to foster whole-child outcomes. We leverage technology to provide research-based practices in products that help teachers connect with students and tailor learning experiences to individual student needs.

At our core, we are builders and our unique builder philanthropy approach is what sets us apart from other education funders. Take a closer look at the highlights and significant milestones of CZI’s first eight years of education work. 

The Opportunity

Educators are already using AI-based tools in various ways—including generating lesson plans, creating classroom materials such as tests and assignments, and helping differentiate instruction for students. At CZI, we are inspired and excited about the possibilities and promise of AI to accelerate the availability of research-backed practices at scale. We actively and thoughtfully explore how to incorporate AI into products in close partnership with researchers, experts, and educators.

This is our first significant AI/ML-specific hire in our Education Initiative. You will be working in the AI Explore pod, which is tasked with exploring new ideas and technologies to apply AI to education. You will apply the latest research and invent new techniques to enable whole-child, personalized learning in the classroom to build significant new capabilities over the coming years. 

Our ideal hire is someone who combines expertise in AI/ML and a willingness to engage in a conversation about what comes next. They need to be comfortable with ambiguity and excited by the challenge of applying AI to education.

What You'll Do

• Use fine-tuning and RAG to focus LLMs on the education space
• Investigate and propose new systems that combine deep learning with reasoning engines and knowledge-based systems to provide greater precision when tackling education-specific use cases
• Develop and deploy multi-modal AI systems for teachers and students
• Dive deep with our expert partners to explore new applications for AI technology.

What You'll Bring

• Enjoy working in a highly interactive and cross-functional collaborative environment with a diverse team of colleagues and external partners.
• Have a Masters or PhD in computer science (focus on machine learning & data analytics) or a related field or equivalent industry experience and at least 2-3 years of experience developing and applying machine learning methods.
• Have demonstrated experience building and training AI/ML models and developing deep learning methods
• Experience and technical fluency in AI, machine learning, operations research, data integration, or computer science on varied large-scale data sets

Compensation

The Redwood City, CA base pay range for this role is $214,000.00 - $321,000.00. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process. Pay ranges outside Redwood City are adjusted based on cost of labor in each respective geographical market. Your recruiter can share more about the specific pay range for your location during the hiring process.

Benefits for the Whole You 

We’re thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment, we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible. 

• CZI provides a generous employer match on employee 401(k) contributions to support planning for the future.
• Annual benefit for employees that can be used most meaningfully for them and their families, such as housing, student loan repayment, childcare, commuter costs, or other life needs.
• CZI Life of Service Gifts are awarded to employees to “live the mission” and support the causes closest to them.
• Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice. 
• Funding for select family-forming benefits. 
• Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving to the Bay Area
• And more!

Commitment to Diversity

We believe that the strongest teams and best thinking are defined by the diversity of voices at the table. We are committed to fair treatment and equal access to opportunity for all CZI team members and to maintaining a workplace where everyone feels welcomed, respected, supported, and valued. Learn about our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. 

If you’re interested in a role but your previous experience doesn’t perfectly align with each qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role.

Explore our work modes, benefits, and interview process at www.chanzuckerberg.com/careers.

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