Software Engineer, Model Integrations

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Provide immediate support for ship models. When a significant new foundation model, video generator, voice model, or open-weight checkpoint is released, artists should have the opportunity to experiment with it in Griptape Nodes right away. You will create the node and library that facilitate this.

• Convert model behavior into terminology that artists understand. When a model encounters an issue, the system can identify the problem; however, the artist often cannot. Your role is to bridge that gap—transforming "403: proxy model failed with [800 lines of garbage]" into "Your reference image must be at least 1024px wide and 32-bit; yours is 859px and 24-bit." This involves client-side validation, clear error messages, sensible defaults, and predictable behavior—crafting experiences that elevate "technically functional" to "genuinely enjoyable."

• Create the next-generation interface for open-source and local models. Design how Griptape Nodes interacts with self-hosted and on-device models, and develop the robust local-model support that empowers customers to run chat, agent loops, and more entirely on their devices, including the underlying support that Griptape Studio and other platform components will depend on.

• Remain agile in response to two streams of feedback. New models are released nearly every week, and artist feedback is continuous. Cultivate the skills and systems necessary to quickly translate both into delivered enhancements.

• Integrate AI into our development processes. Utilize Claude, Cursor, Griptape Nodes itself, and any other tools that facilitate progress. We expect our engineers to leverage AI to expedite shipping and deepen reasoning, not to work against it.

• Maintain high quality standards. Design, implement, test, and document features that align with the workflows in studios. Review code meticulously, provide honest estimates, and collaborate with Customer Support when field issues arise.

⛳️ Requirements

• Proficient in Python, with solid engineering practices—type hints, tests, packaging, and dependency management are essential in your code. You should be capable of owning a complex feature from start to finish.

• A degree in computer science is required.

• Possess customer empathy and intuition. You can develop validation, error messages, and defaults that translate technical realities into actionable information for artists—without needing to consult them for guidance.

• Familiarity with the contemporary model ecosystem, including foundation models, diffusion, video and audio generators, model hubs (Hugging Face and others), and the differences between running models locally versus via a hosted API.

• Practical experience with local inference tools—such as Ollama, llama.cpp, vLLM, MLX, transformers, or similar. You should have successfully run models on someone's laptop.

• Understanding of generative AI principles—diffusion models, LLMs and agents, fine-tuning, MCP, evaluation metrics, prompt engineering. Enough knowledge to troubleshoot workflows when they encounter issues.

• A proven history of effectively using AI tools (Claude, Cursor, Copilot, agent frameworks) to genuinely enhance your productivity, rather than as a novelty.

• Strong written communication skills—clear design documentation, informative PR descriptions, and code comments that will benefit you in the future.

• Comfortable working across Windows, Linux, and macOS environments.

• ****Nice to have, eager to learn:****

• Experience in deploying AI/ML integrations within a product setting.

• Familiarity with media and entertainment workflows and formats—OpenEXR, USD, ACES, OpenColorIO, common containers and codecs.

• Contributions to open-source ML or AI tools.

• Understanding of model quantization, LoRA fine-tuning, or production model evaluation.

• Background in node-based, dataflow, or visual programming environments.

• Experience integrating with DCC tools (Nuke, Maya, Houdini, Blender).

🏝️ Benefits

• Health Savings Account & 401K Plan

• Medical, Dental and Vision plans

• Bonus scheme

• Anniversary day off

• Passion Days

• Annual personal learning & development time