--- title: 'Lead Machine Learning Engineer at Saris' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/lead-machine-learning-engineer-saris-toronto-2thdr6fbgr0a' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-13' --- # Lead Machine Learning Engineer at Saris - **Company:** Saris - **Location:** Toronto, Canada - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** hybrid - **Posted:** 2026-07-22 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/saris-ai/eb6f2717-512e-47d6-88be-c638778ccaf3 ## Job description ## About Saris AI We're a San Francisco, Montreal and Toronto based applied AI startup that's building the future of work in the banking industry. We are tackling a $100 billion/yr problem, doubling every quarter and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with multi-turn AI agentic systems Our goal is to tackle the type of automation problems that require long-context reasoning, tool orchestration across legacy systems, and strict compliance loops: the ones without known answers. We’ve shipped real agents that handle real customer workflows in production. With a growing customer base and live deployments, we’re scaling up fast and looking for deeply technical builders who want to have outsized impact early. Our core engineering team is looking for a hands-on ML Engineering Lead who thrives in early-stage, ambiguous environments. You’ve led ML systems from v1 to scale, and enjoy defining both the technical direction and the systems that power them. ## Your mission is to - Own and lead the ML/AI function end-to-end, setting technical direction and standards across the company - Architect and guide the development of multi-modal, agentic AI systems powering real-world workflows - Define and oversee evaluation frameworks, datasets, and performance metrics to continuously improve agent quality - Drive productionization of ML systems, ensuring reliability, scalability, and compliance in real-world environments - Build and mentor a high-performing ML team over time, setting best practices across modeling, experimentation, and deployment ## Who You Are - 8+ years of experience in ML/AI engineering, including time as a technical lead or manager - Proven track record of leading ML initiatives end-to-end, from problem definition → production deployment - Deep experience with LLMs and/or agentic systems, ideally in real-world, customer-facing applications - Strong understanding of ML fundamentals (deep learning, transformers, model evaluation, tradeoffs) - Experience scaling ML systems in production, including monitoring, iteration, and reliability - Demonstrated ability to lead engineers, influence architecture decisions, and drive technical direction - Comfortable operating in early-stage, ambiguous environments with high ownership - Strong communication skills with the ability to translate complex ML concepts into clear decisions Bonus Points If You - Have experience building agentic systems, orchestration layers, or long-context reasoning systems - Are comfortable across the stack (data → modeling → infra → APIs) - Have worked with both open-source and closed LLMs, including fine-tuning or retrieval systems (RAG) - Have a strong product mindset and care deeply about real-world impact, not just model performance Why Join Saris AI? - 🏦 Join us in building the future of work for the trillion-dollar banking industry using cutting edge AI technology. - ⚡Tackle ambiguous technical challenges with no clear answers. - 💲Competitive compensation with premium benefits and equity package. - 🤝Work with a stellar team of engineers, builders, and leaders; including repeat YC founders with a successful exit (Ready Education). - 📈We already have production agents live with revenue-generating customers - 🐦 🔥Our team is backed by Tier 1 Silicon Valley VCs ## About Saris ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Saris develops AI workflow agents that automate back-office lending, compliance, and operational tasks for banks and credit unions. - **Entity Type**: Private (Pre-Seed, closed October 2023) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA - **Founded**: 2024 - **Founders**: Danial Jameel (CEO), James Dang (Co-Founder), Alice (Co-Founder) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Banking & Financial Services, Enterprise AI / Automation - **Target customers**: B2B – Banks (including top 10 U.S. banks) and credit unions of all sizes - **Mission**: “Create the future of work in financial services” – help institutions serve their communities better by giving employees AI-powered leverage, replacing repetitive work with human + AI collaboration. ## Products & Services - **Saris AI Workflow Agents** – A platform that integrates with existing core banking, loan origination, document repositories, and communication tools. It automates multi-step workflows such as document intake, data validation, system updates, compliance checks, and audit trail creation. Human supervisors review and approve critical actions. No engineering required; white-glove deployment. Typical results: 300% productivity increase, 9.8x cost reduction. ## Market Standing - **Valuation / Market Cap**: Not disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total funding – Pre-Seed round (October 2023, 1 investor, amount not publicly available). No revenue figures disclosed. - **Notable Investors / Partners**: Tier 1 VC backer (named on website but not specified). Advisors include the Chairman of Bank of Texas, CEOs of Vibrant Credit Union and Service Credit Union, CTO of Catalyst Credit Union, CRO of Community Bank, and SVP People/AI of Grow FCU. - **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew ~400% year-over-year to 30 employees (LinkedIn, 2025). Deployed at a Top 10 U.S. bank (unlocked ~$27.8M/year in cost savings and output increase). Also delivering measurable ROI for a credit union’s HELOC team (2.5 hours saved/employee/day, avoiding three new hires). ## Competitive Advantages - **Purpose-built for financial services**: Integrates securely with legacy banking systems and meets strict compliance/audit requirements. - **Minimal engineering needed**: “White-glove” deployment and optimization; bank teams don’t need to write code or learn new interfaces. - **Guaranteed ROI**: Published average results (300% productivity, 9.8x cost reduction) backed by real case studies. - **Tier 1 VC backing & research pedigree**: Founders and team have published research, hold patents, and have experience at tier-1 venture-backed companies. ## Strategic Focus - Continue scaling the platform to automate more back-office functions (lending, compliance, operations) across banks and credit unions. - Expand integrations with additional core systems and data sources. - Grow the team and deepen presence in existing offices (San Francisco, Canada, Qatar) to support institutional deployments. ## Why Work Here - **Mission-driven**: “Support the backbone of the US economy & community” – work that directly improves how financial institutions serve their communities. - **Culture highlights**: “High performance + high care” – a high bar for output combined with mutual support. Operating principles include clarity, ownership, accountability, and customer obsession. - **Hybrid / remote flexibility**: Employees work in a hybrid model (typical time on-site varies by role). Offices in San Francisco, Canada (multiple), and Qatar. Several roles listed as remote or in-office/remote. - **Engineering culture**: Tackle complex AI agentic systems with long-context reasoning, multi-turn tool orchestration, and strict compliance loops. Small, fast-moving team (30 people) with significant ownership. - **Growth opportunity**: Early-stage (Pre-Seed) with rapid headcount growth, offering potential for impact and career advancement. ## Sources 1. [saris.ai](https://saris.ai/) 2. [saris.ai/about](https://www.saris.ai/about) 3. [builtin.com/company/saris-ai](https://builtin.com/company/saris-ai) 4. 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