Hammerhead AI Logo

Hammerhead AI

Reinforcement Learning Engineer

Posted 3 Days Ago
Be an Early Applicant
In-Office
Redwood City, CA, USA
Mid level
In-Office
Redwood City, CA, USA
Mid level
Design, train, and deploy reinforcement learning agents that optimize power and compute resources across physical data centers. Develop multi-agent, model-based, and deep RL systems; build simulations; transition models into stable production deployments; improve strategies for peak shaving, workload shifting, and thermal management; and collaborate with platform engineers on APIs, telemetry, and infrastructure.
The summary above was generated by AI
About Hammerhead

We're unleashing AI with intelligent orchestration while addressing one of the most pressing bottlenecks for AI access to Power. Our cutting-edge platform optimizes data center power infrastructure to maximize AI token generation within existing electrical limits, without requiring new power plants or grid expansions. Our team has optimized over 8 gigawatts of mission-critical power globally, and we're addressing a $64 billion-per-year market opportunity while dramatically reducing the environmental footprint of AI infrastructure.

At Hammerhead, you will:
⚡ Work at the intersection of AI, energy, and compute creating the next generation AI infrastructure
🤝 Collaborate with colleagues that are experts in modern RL and AI, IoT and IIoT software, and infrastructure technologies
🌎 Contribute to building a more efficient and sustainable future for AI compute.
🚀 Join a company at the cutting edge of modern data center design and operation
💰 Receive competitive compensation, equity, and benefits in a high-growth, mission-driven environment.

🚀Learn from an experienced team that has built and sold startups before

Learn more about Hammerhead
  • These AutoGrid alums want to change how data centers use power

  • How Hammerhead Wants to Rewrite the Economics of AI

  • News & Blogs

Role Description

As a Reinforcement Learning Engineer, you will be the architect of the core intelligence for Hammerhead’s ORCA platform. Reporting to the Head of AI / Reinforcement Learning Engineering, you will design, train, and deploy the Orchestrated RL Control Agents that form the brain of our system, making real-time decisions to optimize power and compute resources across physical data centers. This role is for a hands-on expert who is passionate about applying cutting-edge RL research to complex, real-world industrial systems. You will be instrumental in developing the models that control physical assets like cooling systems and power distribution units to unlock massive efficiency gains in AI workloads.

Key Responsibilities
  • RL Model Development: Design and implement advanced reinforcement learning algorithms (e.g., multi-agent RL, model-based RL, deep RL) for real-time control of data center infrastructure.

  • Simulation and Training: Build and train RL agents that can generalize to real-world, physical systems.

  • From Lab to Production: Lead the transition of RL models from research and simulation to live deployment within the ORCA platform, ensuring stability and performance on mission-critical hardware.

  • System Optimization: Analyze agent performance to continuously improve control strategies for tasks like peak shaving, workload shifting, and thermal management.​

  • Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with platform engineers to define the APIs, data telemetry, and infrastructure needed to support and scale our RL agents across a global portfolio of data centers.

Qualifications
  • RL Expertise: Proven experience developing and implementing reinforcement learning algorithms, demonstrated through publications in top conferences (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR), open-source contributions, or shipped products.

  • Industry Experience: 3+ years of experience applying RL to real-world problems, preferably in industrial automation, robotics, autonomous vehicles, energy systems, or other physical systems. Experience from a leading industrial or academic RL lab is highly desirable.

  • Technical Skills: Deep proficiency in Python and modern ML frameworks such as PyTorch, Jax, or TensorFlow. Experience with simulation platforms and RL libraries (e.g., Ray RLlib, Isaac Gym) is a plus.

  • Educational Background: MS or PhD in Computer Science, Robotics, Operations Research, or a related field with a focus on machine learning or control theory.

  • Problem Solver: You possess a strong theoretical background but are driven by practical application, with an ability to bridge the gap between RL theory and the constraints of physical, real-world systems.

What We Offer
  • Competitive salary, bonus, 401(k) plan and equity in a rapidly growing startup

  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage

  • Opportunity to apply the latest AI technologies working with an experienced team

Join our team to shape the foundation of tomorrow’s AI infrastructure

Visit our Careers page at (hammerheadco dot ai / careers) to apply

Similar Jobs

14 Days Ago
Hybrid
2 Locations
197K-246K Annually
Senior level
197K-246K Annually
Senior level
Fintech • Machine Learning • Payments • Software • Financial Services
Lead development of responsible, scalable AI systems, including foundation-model training, LLM inference, similarity search, guardrails, evaluation, governance, experimentation, and observability. Optimize production AI systems for scalability, latency, throughput, hardware utilization, and cost. Partner with engineering, research, program management, and product teams while shaping the technical vision and roadmap for foundational AI platforms.
Top Skills: AWSAws UltraclustersAzureC#C++GoGCPHugging FaceJavaLlmsNemo GuardrailsPythonPyTorchReinforcement LearningScalaSimilarity SearchVectordbs
21 Days Ago
Hybrid
2 Locations
230K-286K Annually
Senior level
230K-286K Annually
Senior level
Fintech • Machine Learning • Payments • Software • Financial Services
Lead the design, development, deployment, and support of foundational AI systems, including LLM training and inference, similarity search, guardrails, evaluation, governance, and observability. Develop optimization techniques that improve scalability, cost, latency, throughput, and hardware utilization. Partner with engineering, research, product, and program teams while contributing to AI platform strategy, technical vision, and long-term roadmaps.
Top Skills: AWSAws UltraclustersAzureC#C++GoGCPHugging FaceJavaLarge Language ModelsNemo GuardrailsPythonPyTorchReinforcement LearningScalaVectordbs
7 Days Ago
In-Office
Sunnyvale, CA, USA
312K-389K Annually
Senior level
312K-389K Annually
Senior level
Artificial Intelligence • Transportation
Lead reinforcement learning development for end-to-end autonomous driving models. Responsibilities include designing offline and off-policy RL methods, improving reward models, building large-scale training and evaluation workflows, diagnosing distribution shift and optimization failures, validating policies through simulation and on-road testing, productionizing successful methods, and mentoring engineers. The role also leads development of learned emergency trajectory models for safety-critical maneuvers such as evasive steering and emergency braking.
Top Skills: Behavior CloningC++Closed-Loop SimulationCudaDistributed TrainingImitation LearningOffline Reinforcement LearningPreference LearningPythonPyTorchReinforcement LearningReward ModelingTransformer Models

What you need to know about the San Francisco Tech Scene

San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area attracts more startup funding than any other region in the world. Home to Stanford University and UC Berkeley, leading VC firms and several of the world’s most valuable companies, the Bay Area is the place to go for anyone looking to make it big in the tech industry. That said, San Francisco has a lot to offer beyond technology thanks to a thriving art and music scene, excellent food and a short drive to several of the country’s most beautiful recreational areas.

Key Facts About San Francisco Tech

  • Number of Tech Workers: 365,500; 13.9% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
  • Major Tech Employers: Google, Apple, Salesforce, Meta
  • Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, consumer technology, software
  • Funding Landscape: $50.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
  • Notable Investors: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins
  • Research Centers and Universities: Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of San Francisco; Santa Clara University; Ames Research Center; Center for AI Safety; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Sign up now Access later

Create Free Account

Please log in or sign up to report this job.

Create Free Account