Senior Independent AI Engineer / Architect in Columbus
Career & Market Insight
This represents a premium tier opportunity in the AI consulting space. At $120-170/hr ($250K-$350K annually at full utilization), compensation significantly exceeds most senior AI engineer salaries, even at FAANG companies. The "invite-only network" model suggests highly selective admission but provides access to Fortune 500 and unicorn-level projects.
Career development strengths: Direct C-suite exposure, ownership of technical decisions, and experience across multiple company stages and industries. Working in small teams (3-5 people) on 0→1 products develops both technical depth and business acumen—highly valued skills for future CTO roles.
Considerations: Income instability between projects, lack of traditional benefits, and need for continuous business development. The "no small gigs" approach suggests longer commitments but also gaps between missions. Best suited for senior engineers ready to transition from employee to strategic technical partner, with 6+ months runway for the application and matching process.
Senior Independent AI Engineer / Architect
Remote | Americas, Europe, or Israel
Most AI engineers can find work.
Finding work worth doing is harder.
A.Team is an invite-only network of senior AI engineers, ML engineers, and AI architects building production AI systems for startups, enterprises, and global companies.
Since 2020, builders in the network have earned more than $200M working with companies including Lyft, Google X, HCA, Unilever, Sightful, D-ID, and others.
The Work
You'll join small teams solving real problems.
Not demos.
Not proof-of-concepts that never ship.
Not another thin wrapper around an API.
Recent work has included:
- AI-native products built from 0→1
- Agent architectures and orchestration systems
- Enterprise AI deployments
- Retrieval, evaluation, and reliability infrastructure
- LLM-powered workflows and products
- Machine learning platforms operating at scale
You'll work directly with founders, CTOs, and product leaders, helping shape both technical direction and execution.
Why Builders Join
The best opportunities rarely make it to the open market.
A.Team exists to solve that.
No bidding.
No prospecting.
No race to the bottom.
Just ambitious companies, difficult problems, and experienced peers.
Who Thrives Here
People who have already shipped.
Engineers who have deployed AI systems into production, understand the tradeoffs behind the hype, and know how to turn technical complexity into business value.
What matters is a track record of building and shipping.
The Details
- Typical rates: $120-$170/hr
- Remote
- You keep 100% of your rate
Not a Fit
- Early-career engineers
- People without production AI experience
- Small gig seekers
- Developers focused primarily on simple AI wrappers or templated implementations
Apply
Tell us what you've built.
We'll take it from there.
