Senior Software Engineer, AI Team

Role Summary

Volley is a leader in the voiceactivated entertainment space with AI at the core powering voicedriven games for our users including speech recognition and proprietary systems that build upon Natural Language Understanding (NLU). We are pioneers in leveraging generative AI for gaming with 20 Questions being one of the first LLMpowered experiences on connected platforms and we are actively expanding our portfolio.

Were looking for a software engineer to join our AI Team and play a pivotal role in developing AIpowered games and systems. In this role you will be responsible for building robust scalable systems that support model training evaluation deployment and observability.

Our AI team is at the forefront of our R&D efforts ensuring that were leveraging the advances in AI technology to deliver the best experiences for our users. We are building oneofakind new games and enhancing user engagement in existing titles with cuttingedge AI technologies. You will play a pivotal role in enabling and scaling AIpowered game systems building infrastructure that supports both experimentation and production ML workflows.

You will join a multidisciplinary team of engineers and scientists working on both experimental prototypes and productionscale machine learning systems. Our AI team is a hub of innovation ensuring we capitalize on the latest in AI to create joyful safe and engaging user experiences.

This job opportunity offers a hybrid work arrangement and we are specifically seeking candidates who are comfortable with onsite attendance in our Bay Area office three times per week and are either currently residing in or near the Bay Area or willing to relocate for onsite work.

What Youll Do at Volley

• Build and scale our AI frameworks including speech recognition model evaluation inference and deployment.
• Design scalable ground truth engineering pipelines for training data generation and transformation.
• Enable realtime and batch inference systems that operate at low latency and high throughput
• Drive researchbacked development by integrating and experimenting with the latest academic and industry innovations.
• Work closely with crossfunctional partners (e.g. product UX) to define system performance metrics and improvement goals.

Stuff You May Have Done Before

• Built and scaled dataintensive pipelines in production environments.
• Used LLMs or other foundational models to solve realworld problems.
• Worked on reinforcement learning multiturn dialogue systems or voice assistants.
• Operated in environments with fast development cycles focused on rapid product iteration.
• Worked with audio voice or other emerging technologies.

Musthaves

• Bachelors degree or equivalent experience in a quantitative discipline such as Mathematics Statistics Physics Economics Computer Science or Engineering.
• 4 years of professional coding experience for production systems with data intensive applications.
• Working knowledge of statistical methods for model evaluation (hypothesis testing crossvalidation experiment design etc.).
• Some experience in Machine Learning or Generative AI.
• Creative problem solver that can drive execution and lead through ambiguity.

Our Stack

• Languages/Frameworks: Python TypeScript
• Data/Infra: Redis DynamoDB PostgreSQL AWS Aurora
• Deployment: Docker Kubernetes
• Evaluation: ASR toolkits Retool dashboards internal metrics platforms

The Hiring Process

• Stage 1: (Preliminary Video Call) with a member of our recruitment team
• Stage 2: Technical Screen with one of our Engineers Behavioral Screen with one of our Engineering Managers
• Stage 3: Inperson onsite with various partners and team members
• Stage 4: Offer
• Stage 5: Founders Chat

Your First 90 Days

• Onboard into Volleys ML infrastructure and ASR systems.
• Design and ship an endtoend ASR evaluation pipeline.
• Take ownership of Volleys ground truth engineering pipeline.
• Collaborate on at least one AI agent initiative.
• Launch improvements that impact conversion retention or satisfaction in our live games.

Whats In It For You

• Your medical dental and vision insurance is 100% covered by Volley for yourself and all dependents and we match 401k!
• We offer a flexible hybrid workfromhome and inoffice work model.
• We offer 4 weeks of paid time off (enforced 2week minimum) 16 paid holidays 40 hours of bereavement leave and unlimited sick days.
• Our generous parental leave policy includes 24 weeks at 100% pay for birthing parents and 12 weeks at 100% pay for nonbirthing parents.
• We offer visa support for eligible candidates making relocating for the job smoother and more streamlined.
• A full breakdown of our benefits ishere!

For Pay Transparency: The base salary range for this position is $144000 $216000 annually based on a local (San Francisco) hire. The final offer amount may depend on experience education skills and location. Base pay is one part of the total package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work.

About Us

Volley is the leading developer of AIpowered games for smart TVs Amazon Alexa and mobile devices. Our games attract millions of users every month. Popular Volley games include Song Quiz Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.

We believe voice interfaces will become the main way people access entertainment in their living rooms kitchens bedrooms and cars. Were building a bundled subscription product similar to Netflix or Spotify for the emerging category of AIpowered games.

Volley was founded by Max Child and James Wilsterman in 2016. Were headquartered in downtown San Francisco in the historic Phelan Building! Were a quickly growing team that truly enjoys working together. If you think you would enjoy creating joyful games on top of a rapidly evolving AI technology stack please get in touch!

Volley believes in an inclusive workplace and is committed to building a team from a variety of backgrounds. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process perform essential job functions and receive the other benefits and privileges of employment.

Underrepresented candidates and candidates from nontraditional backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply!