San Diego, California, United States · On-site
Protogon Research is a small, VC-backed team based in San Diego, CA, led by serial entrepreneur Rafael Cosman, co-founder of Archblock and the TrueFi DeFi protocol. We design autonomous AI systems and deploy them directl…
Skills: Machine Learning, Engineering Leadership, Python, PyTorch, Deep Learning
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The Engineering Lead will oversee the entire engineering organization, driving technical strategy and the end-to-end development of production AI systems. They will spend approximately 70% of their time hands-on with research, model training, and coding, while managing the engineering team and setting technical direction.
Candidates must have 5–8 years of applied ML/AI experience and at least 3 years of engineering leadership experience managing full teams. Proficiency in Python, PyTorch, and modern ML techniques is required, along with a track record of shipping production-grade ML systems.
Protogon Research is a small, VC-backed team based in San Diego, CA, led by serial entrepreneur Rafael Cosman, co-founder of Archblock and the TrueFi DeFi protocol. We design autonomous AI systems and deploy them directly into financial markets through proprietary trading. This is where research meets the real world, and where models must perform, adapt, and improve continuously.
Financial markets provide clear feedback and real consequences, which gives us several key advantages:
We're seeking a talented Engineering Lead (ML Research Focus) to help us build impactful technology and drive innovation. This role is central to our technical strategy: you will lead the entire engineering team, set the direction for our models, infrastructure, and software systems, and oversee the end-to-end development of production AI systems. You will also guide our ML research and translate promising ideas into models that perform in live environments. We work primarily in person and are looking for candidates based in or willing to relocate to the San Diego area.
This role is expected to be primarily hands-on, with the majority of time spent researching, building, training, and deploying models, while providing leadership to the entire engineering team.
Superintelligence through Trading
Protogon Research builds autonomous AI systems and deploys them directly into financial markets through proprietary trading. This is where research meets the real world. Models must perform, adapt, and improve continuously. Financial markets provide clear feedback and real economic consequences, making progress measurable and weaknesses immediately visible. That pressure pushes systems beyond pattern recognition or emulating human behavior toward superhuman understanding and performance. Strong results in both backtests and live trading reinforce the effectiveness of our approach. Long term, we believe our technology combined with the competitive pressures of market trading can help us build some of the most intelligent AI systems on the planet.
Offices: San Diego, California, US
View all jobs at Protogon ResearchSuperintelligence through Trading
Protogon Research builds autonomous AI systems and deploys them directly into financial markets through proprietary trading. This is where research meets the real world. Models must perform, adapt, and improve continuously. Financial markets provide clear feedback and real economic consequences, making progress measurable and weaknesses immediately visible. That pressure pushes systems beyond pattern recognition or emulating human behavior toward superhuman understanding and performance. Strong results in both backtests and live trading reinforce the effectiveness of our approach. Long term, we believe our technology combined with the competitive pressures of market trading can help us build some of the most intelligent AI systems on the planet.
Offices: San Diego, California, US
View all jobs at Protogon Research