Technical Lead, ML Systems

Acrylic Robotics
Acrylic Robotics

Software Engineering, IT, Data Science · Full-time

Montreal, QC, Canada

Posted on May 5, 2026

→ Apply here: ‣

Full-time | In-person (Montreal)

About the Role:

At Acrylic, we care deeply about art, creativity, and expression. Our goal is to bring physical art to everyday people, helping them connect with artists, develop taste, and hang something meaningful on their walls.

Our technical team builds systems that turn imagination into reality. There’s no single model that solves this. We combine generative and recommendation AI, digital illustration pipelines, and robotics into one integrated stack that moves from idea to finished painting.

We’re looking for a technical leader for our ML team, someone who wants to build at the frontier of AI creativity and ensure AI remains a tool and medium, not a replacement for artists.

This is a player-coach role. You’ll be hands on, fine-tuning generative models, shaping image to painting pipelines, and shipping controllable AI systems while also defining technical direction hiring and mentoring early engineers, and helping build the foundation of the company’s technical leadership.

You’ll work alongside the Head of Engineering as a true partner, setting direction, translating ambition into shipped systems, and raising the technical bar of the team. Success isn’t about completing checklists; it’s about delivering meaningful results that materially improve our product

What Will You Do:

  • Work with the head of engineering to define product and team roadmaps, and then execute on them with minimal oversight.
  • Take ownership of technical objectives, using your own product intuition and expertise to steer development.
  • Build and ship artistic machine learning systems that influence how artists, creatives, and everyday people use generative AI in their lives.
  • Build and ship recommendation systems that enable people to connect and understand the arts.
  • Depending on your skill and interests examples include;
  • Fine-tuning generative models to align with buyer style preferences and aesthetic
  • Developing foundational models that emphasize creativity in their workflow
  • Developing creative illustration platforms
  • Integrating LLMs or multimodal systems into creative workflows
  • Client-facing portals and generative engines

    • Who You Are:

    You are someone who leads by example

  • You like to move fast
  • You take on hard, ambiguous problems
  • You have strong opinions
  • You follow work through to completion
  • You know how to lock in

    • You are a force multiplier for people

  • You hold yourself to the highest standards
  • You give clear direction and context
  • You challenge ideas directly and fairly
  • You are generous with your time and attention
  • You invest in people’s growth

    • What Success Looks Like

  • You Get Shit Done
  • and have a good time doing it

    • Why You Might Love Working Here

  • You’ll have real ownership, and the room to define a visual world from scratch
  • You’ll be part of a small team working on a big vision, with fast feedback loops
  • You’ll shape not just what we look like, but how we think, feel, and show up. We want you to be authentic
  • You’ll be surrounded by ambitious people who care deeply about creativity and pushing boundaries

    • Why You Might Not Love It Here

  • Priorities shift quickly, if you need a stable roadmap or fixed structure, this might not be the place
  • You’ll be working in-person, we value the energy of shared space and build physical products
  • We expect high ownership, if you need lots of direction, this likely won’t be the right fit
  • This is not a static role; you’ll be asked to develop and leverage new skills as our priorities and products change.

    • We move on a rolling basis and tailor the process to the role and the person, our goal is to get to know you, not put you through a hiring gauntlet.

    How to Apply

    We’re reviewing applications on a rolling basis.

    → Apply here: https://form.typeform.com/to/Is2Ipo9z

    → Questions? Email careers@acrylicrobotics.com

    See more open positions at Acrylic Robotics