Head of AI

About Backflip
Backflip (backflip.ai) is a generative AI startup revolutionizing how engineers and designers create for the physical world. Founded by the team behind Markforged, we're building AI-first tools that make 3D CAD as intuitive and fast as sketching on paper.
Backed by Andreessen Horowitz and NEA, we’ve raised a $30M Series A and built a deeply technical, mission-driven team of 15. Our goal: empower one engineer to work at the speed of a hundred.

The Role
We’re looking for a Head of AI—a hands-on technical leader and expert modeler—to own our generative CAD engine and lead a small, senior team of ML engineers and researchers. You’ll set the AI strategy with the CTO, move fast from research to production, and deliver magical workflows for 3D design.

What You’ll Do

• Define and execute the AI roadmap with the CTO, spanning LLMs, diffusion, and retrieval-augmented approaches for CAD creation and editing.

• Lead the architecture for multimodal systems that understand sketches, drawings, and design intent—and translate them into robust CAD structures.

• Build and lead a small, high-performing team (hiring, mentoring, leveling, feedback) while staying hands-on across research and production.

• Own the AI stack end-to-end: data strategy/pipelines, training/evaluation, model optimization, and low-latency inference.

• Partner cross-functionally with product, design, and engineering to deliver user-visible wins on tight loops; instrument, A/B test, and iterate.

• Establish best practices in ML engineering, experimentation, model lifecycle, safety/guardrails, observability, and deployment.

• Drive the scope from zero-to-one: prototype, de-risk, and productionize novel AI capabilities that redefine 3D design.

What We’re Looking For

• 5–10 years in deep learning / generative AI (startup or founding-team experience a plus).

• Deep expertise in multimodal and generative modeling (e.g., transformers, diffusion, autoregressive).

• Proven leadership: you’ve led small, senior teams and shipped production-grade systems at pace.

• Strong Python + PyTorch; comfortable across training, infra, and product surfaces.

• Track record of bridging research and product, and making pragmatic trade-offs.

Bonus
Experience with CAD, 3D geometry, graphics, differentiable programming, or AI for the physical world.

Why Backflip
Repeat founders in 3D printing/CAD with a prior $2.1B exit; backed by a16z and NEA. In-person in SF with a tight-knit, world-class team building the future of 3D design.