Applied Research Engineer

Higharc is a VC-backed startup changing how new homes are designed and built. The Applied Research Engineer will turn spatial AI research into product capabilities by training and adapting models, building supporting pipelines, and shipping reliable components for Higharc's generative floor plan engine. The role also involves optimizing latency and cost, extending research capabilities, partnering on MLOps and deployment, and mentoring team members.

Responsibilities:

• Build the component layer around our layout synthesis engine: a documented API contract, a service the product can call, and an evaluation gate that runs on every change
• Turn model retraining into a one-command job, with benchmarks built in and results the whole team can read
• Own the latency and cost budgets for learned capabilities
• Extend core research into new capabilities, such as multi-story plans and real-time editing
• Partner with infrastructure engineers on MLOps and deployment, and mentor researchers and interns on engineering practices
• Share your work in writing through weekly status updates, clear pull requests, and design notes before big changes