Senior AI Data Engineer

Fora is the modern travel agency, redefining what it means to be a travel advisor in today's world. We're a next-generation platform that provides a comprehensive, business-in-a-box solution—combining cutting-edge technology, personalized training, a vibrant community, and exclusive industry partnerships—all designed to empower anyone with a passion for travel to turn that passion into a thriving business. Whether you're a travel enthusiast or an experienced professional, Fora equips you with everything needed to launch and scale a successful travel advisory business, making it the ultimate way to align work with your lifestyle.

At the heart of Fora is our mission: to enable 100,000 entrepreneurs to transform their love for travel into a fulfilling full-time or part-time career, offering unparalleled flexibility, autonomy, and support. We believe that everyone, from seasoned travel professionals to first-time entrepreneurs, can build a career that's both profitable and aligned with their passions.

Our platform combines innovative technology with the human touch, offering:

• Best-in-class training programs to help agents develop expert knowledge, no matter their starting point.
• A powerful suite of tools for booking, client management, and marketing, ensuring agents can focus on delivering exceptional travel experiences.
• Access to an engaged community of fellow advisors, fostering collaboration, support, and shared learning.
• Exclusive partnerships with top travel brands, providing access to competitive rates, perks, and experiences that elevate advisors' offerings.

Since our founding in 2021 by experienced travel entrepreneurs Henley Vazquez, Jake Peters, and Evan Frank, Fora has experienced rapid growth, expanding to a team of 70+ full-time employees based in downtown New York City. We are proud to be backed by an incredible group of investors, including Forerunner Ventures, Insight Partners, and Heartcore Capital, whose support underscores our commitment to building a platform that not only revolutionizes the travel industry but also creates meaningful opportunities for individuals everywhere.

Fora is a mission-driven company that believes in the power of entrepreneurship, community, and passion. As we continue to grow, we are looking for more talented and like-minded individuals to join our team - people who are excited about transforming the travel space and helping us scale our vision globally.

Our Values

We're forging our own path

Fora has always been about driving change within the industry. We're not interested in maintaining the status quo.

We're stronger together

Community is our cornerstone and collective power is our strength. We believe we can all go further when we operate together, using our combined leverage to unlock better opportunities and outcomes for our advisors, partners, and travelers.

We believe in technology

We believe technology is an answer to some of the most fundamental challenges the travel industry faces. We believe advancements in AI, bold investments in our platforms, and a world-class data infrastructure will transform the work of our advisors and our partners, while creating better travel experiences for travelers.

We're here to serve

We operate in service of our community and believe that when they're empowered to focus on what they do best, we all win. It's why we relentlessly advocate for our advisors and prioritize their best interest every step of the way.

We mean business

Fora is equal parts fun, meaningful work and serious travel business. We're unlocking opportunities for thousands of travel entrepreneurs, delivering a stream of high-quality guests at scale for our partners, and providing a superior travel experience for our travelers. It's a better equation for the future of our industry.

Fora is seeking a product-oriented Senior AI Data Engineer to serve as a technical authority for existing and new AI products. As Fora's first AI Data Engineer, you will have a critical role in shaping our data infrastructure for all of our products, leveraging it by building new concepts and building new AI products, pushing the boundaries of what's possible.

Reporting to the VP of Engineering, and working closely with Product, Growth, and Engineering teams, you will help us turn novel ideas into AI solutions that make our users 10x more productive.

This role is perfect for someone who thrives on solving challenging problems and is eager to develop production-grade AI products that drive real impact for our customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead development, scaling, monitoring, and maintenance of all AI products
• Partner with Product to impact sizing, scoping, and prioritization
• Build MVPs quickly to prove or disprove product hypotheses in days
• Build custom data pipelines that support all AI product initiatives that are scalable and easy to maintain (Airflow, AirByte)
• Collaborate closely with the Product, Growth, and Engineering teams
• Continually refine existing AI products - leverage new models, new tools, and new prompting techniques
• Manage and oversee the evals process

• 6+ years of software engineering
• 3+ years of ML experience
• Operate with high energy, good at frequent context switching and making progress on multiple projects at once
• Experience building AI prototypes or shipped AI products to users (send us examples that we can try)
• Expertise building production-grade RAG & agentic pipelines (hybrid search, evals, etc.)
• Extreme ownership and ruthless prioritization
• Experience building and optimizing data pipelines (AirFlow, AirByte, et.c)
• Experience using Pinecone (or other vector DBs), Llama Index, Langchain
• Fluent in Python and Typescript (experience using Cursor is a huge plus)
• Clear understanding of when to apply various prompt engineering techniques: COT, emotional reasoning, few-shot, etc.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to initiate and drive projects proactively and accurately

Salary Range: $185-220k + equity. Other benefits include:

• Unlimited vacation
• Ability to book travel for yourself, friends and family and earn the commission like an advisor
• Hybrid work environment, with two fully remote weeks encouraged
• Regular travel-related team events
• Health Insurance (including an option completely covered by Fora HQ)
• Dental & Vision Insurance
• ClassPass Memberships
• 401k plan
• Commuter Benefits
• Stock Options

This role is based in New York City with a hybrid WFH & office schedule (Monday, Tuesday and Thursday are our Tribeca in-office days, with flexibility for Wednesday and Friday at your preference).

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WORK AUTHORIZATION

You must have authorization to work in the United States. Fora is unable to assist applicants with obtaining work authorization.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Fora is committed to an equitable hiring process and an inclusive work environment. BIPOC and traditionally underrepresented candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. We will not discriminate and will take action to ensure against discrimination in employment, recruitment, advertisements for employment, compensation, termination, upgrading, promotions, and other conditions of employment against any employee or job applicant on the bases of race, color, gender, national origin, age, religion, creed, disability, veteran's status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or any other characteristic protected by law.