---
title: 'Machine Learning Engineer at NOX METALS'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/machine-learning-engineer-nox-metals-los-angeles-n02tktx9tbs0'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-17'
---

# Machine Learning Engineer at NOX METALS

- **Company:** NOX METALS
- **Location:** Los Angeles, CA
- **Compensation:** $152k–$168k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-11
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-17
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/nox-metals/a9d38f81-0116-4ab0-b822-b0b7f8d445bc

## Job description

Machine Learning Engineer | Nox Metals | Los Angeles, CA

About Nox Metals. American factories deserve a supply chain that moves as fast as they do. Nox Metals is building it, along with the tools that run it. We’re a technology company with operations in Metro Detroit and Los Angeles, supplying aluminum plate, bar, and rounds to aerospace and defense manufacturers. We use software and automation to supply metal to American factories faster than the industry thought possible.

The role. We’re hiring a Machine Learning Engineer to build production systems that make quoting, material selection, planning, and factory decisions faster and more accurate. You will work with messy operational data, test ideas against real outcomes, and put the useful ones into production. This is applied ML. A model matters only when it improves a decision, survives real operating conditions, and earns the trust of the people using it.

You will:

- Identify high-value opportunities for machine learning and optimization
- Build datasets, features, models, evaluation systems, and production pipelines
- Establish strong baselines before adding complexity
- Deploy models into customer and internal workflows with software engineers
- Monitor model quality, drift, latency, and business impact
- Design safeguards and clear fallbacks for uncertain predictions
- Work with operators and domain experts to understand constraints and failure modes
- Improve data quality and make model behavior explainable
- Document experiments and communicate tradeoffs clearly

You are:

- Strong in applied machine learning, statistics, and software engineering
- Comfortable working in Python and SQL
- Rigorous about evaluation and skeptical of impressive-looking demos without evidence
- Able to turn an operational problem into a measurable learning problem
- Comfortable deploying and maintaining models, not just training them
- Curious about factories, materials, and supply chains
- Clear, practical, and willing to change course when the data disagrees

Nice to have:

- Experience with operations research, geometric optimization, forecasting, or pricing
- Experience with industrial, logistics, or marketplace data
- Experience building human-in-the-loop decision systems
- Experience applying modern AI models responsibly in production

Benefits:

- Equity in Nox Metals
- Company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance

This role is full time, in person in Los Angeles.

Nox Metals is an equal opportunity employer. We hire based on skill, attitude, and fit for the work, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, height, weight, marital status, or any other protected status under federal, state, or local law. We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records in a manner consistent with the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance, and the California Fair Chance Act.

## About NOX METALS

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: NOX METALS is an AI-powered metals supplier that provides instant quotes and rapid delivery of cut-to-size aluminum plate to American manufacturers through vertically integrated, software-driven factories.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage; raised $11.5M seed round per company website, plus $4.6M pre-seed from Y Combinator per LinkedIn – conflicting reports)
- **Headquarters**: Detroit, Michigan, United States (2703 23rd Street, Detroit, MI 48216)
- **Founded**: 2025
- **Founders**: Zane Hengsperger (Founder & CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Manufacturing, metals processing, industrial supply chain
- **Target customers**: Job shops, OEMs, Tier 1/2/3 suppliers, aerospace, defense, and industrial manufacturers (B2B)
- **Mission**: To reindustrialize America by supplying manufacturers at warp speeds and lower prices, with the goal of enabling 100x more parts made in the USA.

## Products & Services
- **Gondor (Ordering Platform)**: An AI-powered system where customers upload material lists or paste part specs, and the AI parses, prices, and returns a quote in under 60 seconds. Offers real-time order tracking, mill certs, and one-click reordering.
- **Nox Nest (AI Nesting Engine)**: An ML-trained bin-packing solver that evaluates hundreds of thousands of cut combinations to find the optimal path, reducing scrap and creating predictive inventory based on likely future orders.
- **Predictive Inventory**: AI that anticipates what American manufacturers need and stocks material before customers even place an order.
- **AI Schedule**: Machine-learning trained scheduling and job timing to lower lead times.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metrics**:
  - Total funding: $11.5M seed round (per company website) plus a $4.6M pre-seed round led by Y Combinator (per LinkedIn/Tracxn)
  - Team size: ~22 (per Y Combinator profile; LinkedIn shows 8 employees but 24 active job postings, suggesting rapid growth)
  - Headcount growth: +27.3% monthly (LinkedIn)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Y Combinator (led pre-seed; Summer 2025 batch), Jared Friedman (Primary Partner at YC)
- **Growth Signals**: Raised $11.5M seed round in 2026; 24 open positions; expanding from aluminum plate/block into steel, tube, and sheet; LinkedIn followers 4,148 with +8.3% monthly growth.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Vertically integrated factories**: NOX builds and operates its own automated cutting facilities, removing middlemen, brokers, and manual scheduling layers.
- **AI-first operations**: ML-driven nesting, scheduling, and inventory prediction deliver quotes in seconds and lead times in days rather than weeks.
- **Lower overhead**: Automation (robots pick, cut, package, label) reduces human bottlenecks, enabling better pricing and faster throughput.
- **Real-time visibility**: Every order tracked from quote to delivery, with mill certifications attached.

## Strategic Focus
- **Current priorities**: Scale the Detroit factory, expand product offerings into steel, tube, and sheet, and continue building out the software platform (Gondor, Nest, AI Schedule).
- **Direction**: Become the fastest and lowest-cost supplier to America’s industrial base by treating the factory as a software product.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Early-stage startup backed by Y Combinator; mission-driven to reindustrialize America; fast-paced environment where software and hardware meet.
- **Work environment**: On-site in Detroit, MI (2703 23rd Street). Roles span software engineering (perception, full-stack), factory operations, shift leads, sales, and IT/SecOps.
- **Perks & highlights**: Opportunity to work with advanced manufacturing technology (AI, robotics, automated cutting lines); competitive salaries ($80K–$150K for engineering roles); direct impact on the supply chain of American manufacturing.
- **Engineering culture**: Emphasis on building automated factories that are “the product” – software engineers work alongside factory operators to optimize real-time production.

## Sources
1. [NOX METALS Website](https://noxmetals.co/)
2. [Y Combinator Company Profile](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/nox-metals)
3. [LinkedIn Company Page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/noxmetals)
4. [Careers Page (Ashby)](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/nox-metals)

## Other roles at NOX METALS

- [People Operations Generalist](https://feeny.ai/job/people-operations-generalist-nox-metals-ferndale-mkyz87nf9kfa) — Ferndale
- [Recruiter](https://feeny.ai/job/recruiter-nox-metals-ferndale-dgj128t2kh6n) — Ferndale
- [Production Supervisor (Weekday 2nd Shift - DET)](https://feeny.ai/job/production-supervisor-weekday-2nd-shift-det-nox-metals-ferndale-j384akngkkkg) — Ferndale
- [Factory Technician (LA)](https://feeny.ai/job/factory-technician-la-nox-metals-los-angeles-ccxhfyjfjte8) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Director of Manufacturing](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-manufacturing-nox-metals-los-angeles-j9hnwe3x6f27) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Operations Trainer](https://feeny.ai/job/operations-trainer-nox-metals-detroit-wpaekh9e021f) — Detroit, MI
- [Production Supervisor (LA)](https://feeny.ai/job/production-supervisor-la-nox-metals-los-angeles-6pjh802z7tcq) — Los Angeles, CA
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- [Assistant General Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/assistant-general-manager-nox-metals-los-angeles-6qh4nf81x4k4) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Plant Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/plant-manager-nox-metals-los-angeles-q6820a6dsq50) — Los Angeles, CA