About the job
About Faire
Faire is a cutting-edge online wholesale marketplace driven by the belief that the future is local. Independent retailers around the world generate more revenue than giants like Walmart and Amazon combined, yet individually, they often struggle against these behemoths. At Faire, we harness the power of technology, data, and machine learning to connect this vibrant community of entrepreneurs globally. Imagine your favorite local boutique; we empower them to discover and sell exceptional products from around the world. With the right tools and insights, we aim to level the playing field, allowing small businesses to compete effectively with large retail chains and e-commerce platforms.
By fostering the growth of independent businesses, Faire is making a positive economic impact in local communities worldwide. We’re in search of intelligent, resourceful, and passionate individuals to join us in driving the shop-local movement. If you share our belief in community, we would love to welcome you to ours.
About this Role:
We are on the lookout for a Principal ML / AI Engineer to serve as a company-wide technical thought leader and practitioner in shaping the future of Data and AI at Faire. This unique opportunity allows you to influence broad technical strategies across data, engineering, and product while engaging directly with pioneering AI research and applications. This role will report directly to the CTO of Faire.
Your Responsibilities:
- Shape the AI Vision – Collaborate with product, design, strategy & analytics, machine learning, and the wider engineering leadership to define how AI can unlock transformational value for Faire’s retailers and brands. Provide thought leadership to guide company-wide priorities, particularly focusing on product strategy and key investment areas.
- Prototype and Unblock – Lead the development and implementation of AI systems (such as LLM fine-tuning, RLHF, agent frameworks, etc.) that illustrate what’s achievable and promote adoption across teams. Act as a “super individual contributor” who can delve deeply into technical challenges, enabling the engineering organization to advance quickly with AI and amplify both development and impact.
- Architect the AI-Ready Stack – Design Faire’s technical ecosystem, encompassing event logging, data warehouses, feature stores, and model serving, to ensure our infrastructure is AI-ready, scalable, and optimized for rapid experimentation.

