Machine Learning Engineer

About Upstart

At Upstart, we’re united by a mission that matters: to radically reduce the cost and complexity of borrowing for all Americans. Every day, we bring creativity, experimentation, and advanced AI to reshape access to credit, helping millions move forward financially with clarity and confidence.

As the leading AI lending marketplace, we partner with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit through technology that’s both radically intelligent and deeply human. Our platform runs over one million predictions per borrower using more than 1,800 signals, powering smarter, fairer decisions for millions of customers. But the numbers only hint at the impact. Every idea, every voice, and every contribution moves us closer to a world where credit never stands between people and their financial progress.

We’re proudly digital-first, giving most Upstarters the flexibility to do their best work from wherever they thrive, alongside teammates across 80+ cities in the US and Canada. Digital-first doesn’t mean distant. We’re intentional about in-person connection through team onsites, planning sessions, and moments that spark creativity and trust. And whether you choose to work primarily from home or collaborate in-person from one of our offices in Columbus, Austin, the Bay Area, or New York City (opening Summer 2026), you’ll have the support to work in the way that works best for you.

If you’re energized by tackling meaningful problems, excited to innovate with purpose, and motivated by work that truly matters, we’d love to hear from you.

As a Staff Machine Learning Engineer at Upstart, you will collaborate closely with our Research Scientists, Data Scientists, and other engineering teams to increase ML productivity through better software and infrastructure, improving how we research, train, deploy, serve, and monitor our models. You’ll help reduce the time it takes to go from idea to production, enabling us to quickly test and iterate on new approaches so we can more effectively deliver on our mission of expanding access to credit.

In addition, you’ll design and implement code and algorithms that directly improve our models’ predictive power.

• You will set engineering & coding standards for the team and set technical direction to identify investments necessary drive model quality, system reliability, and iteration velocity
• Build repeatable workflows and automation that enables scientists to spend more time on high leverage tasks (methodology, writing, analysis) and less on keeping the lights on or getting things to run
• Discover and develop a short and long-term roadmap of engineering improvements Explore new algorithms and methodologies for our machine learning models
• Interface cross-functionally with other engineering teams (data engineering, machine learning platform, pricing, and growth software engineering), to provide feedback and requirements, so that we can build high-quality systems end-to-end

• Advanced degree (MS, PhD, or equivalent experience) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Operations Research, Statistics, or a related quantitative field.
• 4+ years of industry experience as a Machine Learning Engineer or Research Scientist with a strong focus on implementation and tooling
• Proficiency in multiple object-oriented programming languages (e.g. Python, C++)
• Experience building and product ionizing innovative end-to-end Machine Learning systems
• Experience in exploratory data analysis, statistical modeling, hypothesis testing, and experimental design
• Experience working with cross-functional teams(product, science, product ops etc)

• PhD in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Operations Research, Statistics, or other related quantitative fields or related field
• Publications at industry recognized ML conferences
• Experience in modern deep learning architectures and probabilistic modeling
• Experience with optimization techniques, including reinforcement learning (RL), Bayesian methods, causal ML meta learners and genAI LLM
• Experience with CI/CD, data validation, and automation tools (e.g. metaflow)
• Expertise in the…