Lead Applied AI Engineer

About Fetch

Fetch is revolutionizing how modern pet owners provide top-notch care through a unified app combining insurance, health, and care services. Backed by Series A funding from Lightspeed and Airtree, Fetch boasts a 4.9-star Google rating and leading recognition by CHOICE, with rapid growth underway.

The company aims to harness AI to deeply understand pet health by integrating extensive pet health data with veterinary expertise, powering a smarter care experience for pets and their families.

Role Overview

We are looking for a hands-on Senior Lead Applied AI Engineer to define and build Fetch's AI capabilities in pet health understanding. This leadership role involves selecting and creating AI models, rigorously evaluating their effectiveness, and deploying these solutions into real products that support pet parents, vets, and insurance automation.

You will lead the development of Fetch’s intelligence layer that interprets complex pet health data and improve AI product offerings. Collaboration is key, working closely with co-founders, engineers, product managers, veterinarians, and vet nurses in a fast-paced, flat organizational culture.

Primary Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain Fetch’s pet health AI platform that interprets complex longitudinal medical data.
• Manage end-to-end model lifecycle including data curation, benchmarking, selection, fine-tuning, and monitoring.
• Create robust evaluation frameworks with clear success metrics and failure analysis.
• Innovate with domain-specific AI solutions using proprietary veterinary data and expert insights.
• Build multimodal AI systems handling records, images, documents, and future inputs such as video.
• Ensure that AI deployments are safe, clinically valid, and compliant by collaborating with vets and compliance teams.
• Drive product strategy with deep AI integration, influencing direction beyond simply executing existing roadmaps.
• Establish and expand a high-caliber AI team focused on pet health intelligence.

Candidate Profile

• Minimum 3 years experience building and shipping machine learning or AI-based production systems.
• Expertise in cutting-edge large language models (LLMs) and applied AI technologies.
• Proficient in constructing evaluations and using results to enhance model performance and reliability.
• Hands-on with post-training methods such as fine-tuning, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), structured output design, and tool integration.
• Strong instincts for training data quality, organization, and refinement strategies.
• Ability to engineer prototypes into scalable production-ready AI systems.
• Sound judgement in selecting suitable AI approaches—whether front-line proprietary models, open-source alternatives, or hybrid methods.
• A solid product mindset, focused on practical user outcomes rather than abstract benchmark improvements.
• Comfort collaborating with domain experts to translate specialized knowledge into AI models and validation protocols.

Experience in healthcare, veterinary medicine, or insurance domains is advantageous but not mandatory. Academic qualifications such as a PhD are not prerequisites; practical accomplishments and learning agility carry more weight.

Ideal Attributes

• Passionate about AI’s potential to positively impact the world.
• Keen to experiment immediately with the latest models and AI advancements.
• Optimistic curiosity about future AI capabilities and applications.
• Empirical and data-driven approach, preferring experiments over theoretical debate.
• Fast execution and iterative improvement mindset.
• Comfortable with calculated risks and exploring unproven methods.
• Desires significant influence over product and technical decisions.
• Enjoys building foundational AI capabilities prior to team expansion.
• Values working with highly talented multidisciplinary colleagues.
• Loves pets and is motivated by their well-being.

Less Suitable Traits

• Primary interest in management rather than hands-on building.
• Needs extensive theoretical validation before experimentation.
• Views success as ending when models run correctly in research environments only.
• Strong attachment to specific AI models, platforms, or techniques.
• Prefers extended research cycles to fast shipping and iteration.
• Needs a fully defined roadmap rather than shaping it themselves.
• Prefers strict role boundaries over interdisciplinary collaboration.

Culture and Environment

Fetch is an ambitious, intelligent, and considerate team where ideas quickly progress to real-world impact. You will engage directly with founders and shape product and company strategies. Access to exclusive pet health datasets and veterinary professionals supports rich AI development. The engineering environment encourages quick adoption of new AI tools and techniques with minimal bureaucracy.

Additional Perks

• Competitive salary aligned with Series A stage plus significant equity stakes.
• Flexible hybrid work arrangement requiring three days per week in the Sydney office.
• Top-tier hardware including the latest MacBook Pro and workstation setup.
• Unlimited access to AI tools to support innovation.
• Two team retreats annually for collaboration and camaraderie.
• Office dogs for comfort and light-hearted moments.
• Bean-to-cup coffee, unlimited fresh fruit and snacks, and Toblerone available at all times.
• Inclusive parental leave policies.
• Five weeks of paid annual leave.