Staff Machine Learning Engineer, ALT
$240-270k
Plus equity
Management platform for alternative assets
Open for applications
Management platform for alternative assets
101-200 employees
Open for applications
$240-270k
Plus equity
101-200 employees
Company mission
To unlock the value of alternative assets.
Role
Who you are
- Are passionate about trading cards or a similar alternative asset class, with a desire to go deep on the domain
- Are a hands-on individual contributor who thrives in a zero-to-one startup environment
- Want to own a business-critical system and have the opportunity to build a team around you
- Are pragmatic and prefer to build a solution to a problem, not replace an entire system just for the sake of it
- Are highly curious with a strong desire to learn
- 10+ years of total engineering experience with at least 4-5 years of direct machine learning experience
- Expertise in Python with hands-on experience using libraries such as scikit-learn, XGBoost, and pandas
- A strong foundation in ML Ops and infrastructure, with experience deploying models on AWS using tools like ECS and Docker
- Experience in data orchestration using Airflow for model training and batch jobs
- A demonstrated ability to improve model accuracy through feature generation and experimentation
- Experience working with Random Forest, ensemble methods or pricing/underwriting models in a similar marketplace environment
What the job involves
- Are you a highly skilled ML engineer looking to own the lifeblood of a growing startup? In this role, you'll be responsible for Alt's core card pricing model, the critical engine that automates our cash advance decisions, powers our risk assessment framework and enables card valuations that collectors rely on for market research
- You'll apply your expertise in both data science and ML operations to improve model accuracy and optimize our infrastructure for scalability and cost-effectiveness
- Optimize our pricing model to significantly reduce infrastructure costs while maintaining and improving its accuracy especially for high value cards
- Iterate on our underwriting model to maximize cash advance disbursements while maintaining target risk thresholds and default rates
- Lead the full ML lifecycle from model training and feature generation to production deployment and monitoring
- Collaborate closely with our Expert Pricers to become a domain expert in the trading card market and inform model improvements
- Design and execute experiments and backtesting to discover and validate new features that improve the model's predictive power
- Own the model's AWS infrastructure, writing code for our pricing API to ensure the model can serve at scale and with low latency
Our take
Increased interest in alternative assets has resulted in an unexpected boom in the collectables market, as more people are seeking to diversify their portfolios. Alt is a trading and portfolio management platform capitalizing on this exciting new upswing, making it simple to buy and sell investment-grade trading cards.
Initially dealing exclusively with sports cards, the company’s platform has expanded to include other trading card types, ranging from Pokémon to Yu-Gi-Oh! Alt sets itself apart from the competition by offering its users a vast range of attractive options, such as no buyer premiums, cash advances, Alt Vault card storage and borrowing options.
By tackling the three key problems hobbling the uptake of alternative asset investments (liquidity, price transparency, and physical storage) Alt’s success certainly opens the door for further expansion into different assets like art and sneakers, ushering in a new model for alternative asset markets.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
108% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (2 rounds)
Nov 2021
$75m
SERIES B
Mar 2021
$31m
SERIES A
Total funding: $106m
Company benefits
- Medical, Dental & Vision
- Monthly WFH, health and wellness stipend
- Generous parental and family leave
- Volunteer opportunities
- Learning and development programs
- Unlimited PTO
- WeWork access
Company HQ
SoMa, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Leore Avidar
(CEO )Also co-founded Lob, a platform that makes direct mail for businesses faster and easier. Was an Asset Management Derivates Trader for Citigroup Global Markets, and part of the Technical Business Development, Startups and Venture Capital services for AWS.
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