Hire an LLM Engineer
Engineers who take language models from prototype to production: fine-tuning, evaluation, and inference that holds up under real traffic.
At a glance
- Dedicated
- From $1,499 / month
- Direct hire
- From 15% of first-year salary
- Trial
- Two weeks, risk-free
- Replacement
- Free within 90 days
- Notice
- 30 days, month-to-month
No upfront cost. Exact rates are confirmed in writing before anything is charged.
Start Hiring01What they do
The work this role actually takes on.
- 01Fine-tuning and adapting open and hosted models to your domain
- 02Building evaluation sets so model changes can be measured, not guessed at
- 03Inference architecture: batching, caching, streaming and cost control
- 04Guardrails and fallbacks for the cases where the model gets it wrong
02Tools & stack
What they work with.
- Python
- PyTorch
- Hugging Face
- OpenAI & Anthropic APIs
- vLLM
- Weights & Biases
Indicative, not a checklist. We match on the stack you actually run. Tell us yours in the brief.
03How we vet
You only interview people we would hire ourselves.
Technical depth
A working interview on the substance of the role, not a quiz on syntax.
A live build
A work sample or build task, so the skill is demonstrated rather than described.
Communication
English fluency, and the ability to explain a decision to people who did not make it.
Identity & references
Verification and reference checks, so the person you interview is the person who starts.
04Common questions
LLM Engineer, answered.
What separates an LLM engineer from a general backend engineer?
The evaluation discipline. Anyone can call an API; an LLM engineer builds the test sets, measures regressions between model versions, and knows when a failure is a prompt problem, a retrieval problem or a model problem.
Can they work with our existing model provider?
Yes. We match on the stack you already run, whether that is a hosted API, an open-weight model you host yourself, or a mix of both.
How quickly can we start?
Most teams see an interview-ready shortlist within 48 hours to 3–5 business days, and finalise a hire within one to two weeks. The pace mostly comes down to how quickly you can review profiles and run interviews.
What does it cost?
Dedicated talent starts from $1,499/month per hire and scales with seniority and whether the role is part-time or full-time. Direct-hire placement is a one-time fee from 15% of first-year salary. Both are quoted in writing before you commit, with no upfront cost and no setup fee.
What if the hire is not right?
Dedicated hires carry a two-week risk-free trial and a free replacement within 90 days. Direct-hire placements carry a replacement window of 60 to 180 days depending on seniority. The full terms are on our Refund Policy page.
Need a llm engineer?
Tell us the role and the outcome you are after. We come back within one business day, and if we are not the right fit, we will say so.