Devlyn AI · AI/ML
AI/ML pods, owned by us. Embedded with you.
Senior AI/ML engineers under one retainer, with AI-augmented workflows that compress 100 hours of typical work to 25. Deployed in 24 hours.
Where $AI/ML fits
AI/ML pods typically ship LLM-powered application backends including RAG pipelines with hybrid search (semantic plus keyword retrieval), agentic systems with tool-calling and multi-step reasoning loops, vector-database integrations with chunking strategy design and embedding pipeline optimisation, model fine-tuning workflows using LoRA and QLoRA on domain-specific datasets, evaluation harnesses with automated regression detection and golden-dataset management, production inference services with GPU autoscaling and per-request cost monitoring, and AI-native product features like document analysis, conversation summarisation, code generation, and intelligent search. Devlyn engineers ship AI/ML with LangChain or LlamaIndex for orchestration, vector stores (Pinecone, Weaviate, pgvector, Qdrant) for retrieval, multi-provider model routing across OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, and open-source models via vLLM, and guardrails infrastructure for output safety and hallucination mitigation.
AI-augmented AI/ML workflows lean on Cursor and Claude Code for evaluation-harness scaffolding with golden-dataset management and assertion frameworks, prompt-version management with A/B rollout infrastructure and rollback safety, deterministic test wrapping of stochastic systems using seed-controlled and assertion-bounded strategies, RAG pipeline configuration with chunking-strategy tuning and retrieval-quality metrics, and API endpoint scaffolding for inference services — all under senior validation that owns architecture decisions, model-provider selection based on quality-cost-latency tradeoffs, inference-cost review tracking token spend per user session, guardrails and safety-filter design, and the increasingly critical AI compliance posture covering EU AI Act risk classification, NIST AI RMF, and model-card disclosure obligations. Compression shows up strongest in evaluation harness buildout, retrieval-pipeline configuration, and inference-endpoint scaffolding.
AI/ML engagements at Devlyn typically run as one senior ML engineer plus shared backend infrastructure for $5,500–$10,000/month, covering RAG pipeline architecture, model integration, and evaluation harness design. This scales to a two- or three-engineer pod when the roadmap splits across model training and fine-tuning (GPU compute management, dataset curation, training-run orchestration), production inference serving (autoscaling, model-version routing, latency optimisation), and evaluation and safety-testing (prompt regression suites, adversarial testing, compliance posture). The pod structure is especially critical in AI/ML where training, serving, and evaluation workflows have fundamentally different compute profiles and deployment cadences.
Where AI/ML pods land today
Six combinations that show up most often in the last few quarters of AI/ML discovery calls — vertical, geography, and the named-risk pattern each engagement designed around.
AI/ML · AI Startup · San Francisco
AI/ML for AI Startup in San Francisco
The most common 2026 AI-startup engineering trap is shipping LLM-powered features without deterministic-test wrapping of stochastic systems, creating quality regressions that are invisible until users report hallucinations or incorrect outputs at scale. AI/ML pods compress the work — ai/ml pods typically ship llm-powered application backends including rag pipelines with hybrid search (semantic plus keyword retrieval), agentic systems with tool-calling and multi-step reasoning loops, vector-database integrations with chunking strategy design and embedding pipeline optimisation, model fine-tuning workflows using lora and qlora on domain-specific datasets, evaluation harnesses with automated regression detection and golden-dataset management, production inference services with gpu autoscaling and per-request cost monitoring, and ai-native product features like document analysis, conversation summarisation, code generation, and intelligent search. On the Pacific (PT) calendar, fte hiring in sf has slowed structurally since 2024 layoffs but compensation expectations have not.
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AI/ML · AI Startup · London
AI/ML for AI Startup in London
The most common 2026 AI-startup engineering trap is shipping LLM-powered features without deterministic-test wrapping of stochastic systems, creating quality regressions that are invisible until users report hallucinations or incorrect outputs at scale. AI/ML pods compress the work — ai/ml pods typically ship llm-powered application backends including rag pipelines with hybrid search (semantic plus keyword retrieval), agentic systems with tool-calling and multi-step reasoning loops, vector-database integrations with chunking strategy design and embedding pipeline optimisation, model fine-tuning workflows using lora and qlora on domain-specific datasets, evaluation harnesses with automated regression detection and golden-dataset management, production inference services with gpu autoscaling and per-request cost monitoring, and ai-native product features like document analysis, conversation summarisation, code generation, and intelligent search. On the GMT / BST calendar, london fte hiring runs 3–5 months for senior fintech and ai roles, with offers regularly contested by us tech giants opening uk offices.
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AI/ML · Healthtech · Boston
AI/ML for Healthtech in Boston
The most common 2026 healthtech engineering trap is shipping a clinical feature that has not been reviewed against HIPAA BAA requirements or FDA SaMD classification boundaries, creating regulatory exposure that can halt the entire product. AI/ML pods compress the work — ai/ml pods typically ship llm-powered application backends including rag pipelines with hybrid search (semantic plus keyword retrieval), agentic systems with tool-calling and multi-step reasoning loops, vector-database integrations with chunking strategy design and embedding pipeline optimisation, model fine-tuning workflows using lora and qlora on domain-specific datasets, evaluation harnesses with automated regression detection and golden-dataset management, production inference services with gpu autoscaling and per-request cost monitoring, and ai-native product features like document analysis, conversation summarisation, code generation, and intelligent search. On the Eastern (ET) calendar, boston fte pipelines run 4–6 months for senior backend roles.
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AI/ML · AI Startup · Paris
AI/ML for AI Startup in Paris
The most common 2026 AI-startup engineering trap is shipping LLM-powered features without deterministic-test wrapping of stochastic systems, creating quality regressions that are invisible until users report hallucinations or incorrect outputs at scale. AI/ML pods compress the work — ai/ml pods typically ship llm-powered application backends including rag pipelines with hybrid search (semantic plus keyword retrieval), agentic systems with tool-calling and multi-step reasoning loops, vector-database integrations with chunking strategy design and embedding pipeline optimisation, model fine-tuning workflows using lora and qlora on domain-specific datasets, evaluation harnesses with automated regression detection and golden-dataset management, production inference services with gpu autoscaling and per-request cost monitoring, and ai-native product features like document analysis, conversation summarisation, code generation, and intelligent search. On the CET / CEST calendar, paris fte pipelines run 3–5 months for senior backend roles.
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AI/ML · AI Startup · Tel Aviv
AI/ML for AI Startup in Tel Aviv
The most common 2026 AI-startup engineering trap is shipping LLM-powered features without deterministic-test wrapping of stochastic systems, creating quality regressions that are invisible until users report hallucinations or incorrect outputs at scale. AI/ML pods compress the work — ai/ml pods typically ship llm-powered application backends including rag pipelines with hybrid search (semantic plus keyword retrieval), agentic systems with tool-calling and multi-step reasoning loops, vector-database integrations with chunking strategy design and embedding pipeline optimisation, model fine-tuning workflows using lora and qlora on domain-specific datasets, evaluation harnesses with automated regression detection and golden-dataset management, production inference services with gpu autoscaling and per-request cost monitoring, and ai-native product features like document analysis, conversation summarisation, code generation, and intelligent search. On the Israel (IST, UTC+2/+3) calendar, tel aviv fte pipelines run 3–5 months for senior backend roles.
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AI/ML · Fintech · New York
AI/ML for Fintech in New York
The most common 2026 fintech engineering trap is shipping a feature that depends on a partner-bank integration that has not been contractually signed or technically certified, creating a rollback scenario that wastes months of engineering effort. AI/ML pods compress the work — ai/ml pods typically ship llm-powered application backends including rag pipelines with hybrid search (semantic plus keyword retrieval), agentic systems with tool-calling and multi-step reasoning loops, vector-database integrations with chunking strategy design and embedding pipeline optimisation, model fine-tuning workflows using lora and qlora on domain-specific datasets, evaluation harnesses with automated regression detection and golden-dataset management, production inference services with gpu autoscaling and per-request cost monitoring, and ai-native product features like document analysis, conversation summarisation, code generation, and intelligent search. On the Eastern (ET) calendar, fte-only paths to scale engineering in nyc routinely run 2–3 quarters behind the roadmap.
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What AI/ML depth at Devlyn looks like
Common use cases
AI/ML pods typically ship LLM-powered application backends including RAG pipelines with hybrid search (semantic plus keyword retrieval), agentic systems with tool-calling and multi-step reasoning loops, vector-database integrations with chunking strategy design and embedding pipeline optimisation, model fine-tuning workflows using LoRA and QLoRA on domain-specific datasets, evaluation harnesses with automated regression detection and golden-dataset management, production inference services with GPU autoscaling and per-request cost monitoring, and AI-native product features like document analysis, conversation summarisation, code generation, and intelligent search. Devlyn engineers ship AI/ML with LangChain or LlamaIndex for orchestration, vector stores (Pinecone, Weaviate, pgvector, Qdrant) for retrieval, multi-provider model routing across OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, and open-source models via vLLM, and guardrails infrastructure for output safety and hallucination mitigation.
AI-augmented angle
AI-augmented AI/ML workflows lean on Cursor and Claude Code for evaluation-harness scaffolding with golden-dataset management and assertion frameworks, prompt-version management with A/B rollout infrastructure and rollback safety, deterministic test wrapping of stochastic systems using seed-controlled and assertion-bounded strategies, RAG pipeline configuration with chunking-strategy tuning and retrieval-quality metrics, and API endpoint scaffolding for inference services — all under senior validation that owns architecture decisions, model-provider selection based on quality-cost-latency tradeoffs, inference-cost review tracking token spend per user session, guardrails and safety-filter design, and the increasingly critical AI compliance posture covering EU AI Act risk classification, NIST AI RMF, and model-card disclosure obligations. Compression shows up strongest in evaluation harness buildout, retrieval-pipeline configuration, and inference-endpoint scaffolding.
Engagement shape & pricing
AI/ML engagements at Devlyn typically run as one senior ML engineer plus shared backend infrastructure for $5,500–$10,000/month, covering RAG pipeline architecture, model integration, and evaluation harness design. This scales to a two- or three-engineer pod when the roadmap splits across model training and fine-tuning (GPU compute management, dataset curation, training-run orchestration), production inference serving (autoscaling, model-version routing, latency optimisation), and evaluation and safety-testing (prompt regression suites, adversarial testing, compliance posture). The pod structure is especially critical in AI/ML where training, serving, and evaluation workflows have fundamentally different compute profiles and deployment cadences.
Ecosystem fluency
AI/ML ecosystem depth covers the full modern surface: LangChain for agent and chain orchestration with tool-calling, LlamaIndex for data-connector-rich RAG with hybrid search, Pinecone and Weaviate for managed vector search, pgvector for Postgres-native embedding storage, Qdrant for self-hosted high-performance vector search, OpenAI and Anthropic APIs for frontier models, Cohere for embeddings and reranking, Hugging Face Transformers and Inference API for open-source models, vLLM and Ollama for self-hosted inference, Ragas and Promptfoo for RAG and prompt evaluation, Modal and Replicate for serverless GPU compute, Weights and Biases for experiment tracking, and Cloudflare Workers AI for edge inference. Devlyn engineers operate fluently across this entire surface with production-hardened patterns for cost monitoring, quality evaluation, and safety guardrails.
Real outcomes
Calenso · Switzerland
4× productivity
5,000+ integrations on the platform after AI-augmented engineering replaced manual workflows.
Creator.ai
6 weeks → 1 week
6× faster delivery, 2× output per engineer, 50% leaner team.
Klaviss · USA
$4,800/mo pod
Two engineers + PM + shared DevOps. Real-estate platform overhaul shipped in 8 weeks.
Haxi.ai · Middle East
AI engagement at scale
Real-time, context-aware AI conversations across platforms — spec to production by one pod.
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Verticals where AI/ML ships well
AI/ML pods most often run engagements in the verticals below. Each links through to a vertical-level hub with named risks, compliance posture, and key metrics.
Metros where AI/ML pods deploy
Hand-picked cities where AI/ML engagements show up most. Each city has its own time-zone alignment and hiring-climate notes on the metro hub.
Common questions about AI/ML engagements
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What does a AI/ML pod actually own end-to-end?
Architecture, security review, and the AI/ML-specific patterns that production-grade work requires. AI/ML pods typically ship LLM-powered application backends including RAG pipelines with hybrid search (semantic plus keyword retrieval), agentic systems with tool-calling and multi-step reasoning loops, vector-database integrations with chunking strategy design and embedding pipeline optimisation, model fine-tuning workflows using LoRA and QLoRA on domain-specific datasets, evaluation harnesses with automated regression detection and golden-dataset management, production inference services with GPU autoscaling and per-request cost monitoring, and AI-native product features like document analysis, conversation summarisation, code generation, and intelligent search. Devlyn engineers ship AI/ML with LangChain or LlamaIndex for orchestration, vector stores (Pinecone, Weaviate, pgvector, Qdrant) for retrieval, multi-provider model routing across OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, and open-source models via vLLM, and guardrails infrastructure for output safety and hallucination mitigation.
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How does AI-augmented AI/ML differ from a single contractor using AI tools?
AI-augmented AI/ML workflows lean on Cursor and Claude Code for evaluation-harness scaffolding with golden-dataset management and assertion frameworks, prompt-version management with A/B rollout infrastructure and rollback safety, deterministic test wrapping of stochastic systems using seed-controlled and assertion-bounded strategies, RAG pipeline configuration with chunking-strategy tuning and retrieval-quality metrics, and API endpoint scaffolding for inference services — all under senior validation that owns architecture decisions, model-provider selection based on quality-cost-latency tradeoffs, inference-cost review tracking token spend per user session, guardrails and safety-filter design, and the increasingly critical AI compliance posture covering EU AI Act risk classification, NIST AI RMF, and model-card disclosure obligations. Compression shows up strongest in evaluation harness buildout, retrieval-pipeline configuration, and inference-endpoint scaffolding. The 4× compression comes from pod-level workflow design, not from individual tool adoption.
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What does a AI/ML engagement typically cost?
AI/ML engagements at Devlyn typically run as one senior ML engineer plus shared backend infrastructure for $5,500–$10,000/month, covering RAG pipeline architecture, model integration, and evaluation harness design. This scales to a two- or three-engineer pod when the roadmap splits across model training and fine-tuning (GPU compute management, dataset curation, training-run orchestration), production inference serving (autoscaling, model-version routing, latency optimisation), and evaluation and safety-testing (prompt regression suites, adversarial testing, compliance posture). The pod structure is especially critical in AI/ML where training, serving, and evaluation workflows have fundamentally different compute profiles and deployment cadences.
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Which AI/ML ecosystem libraries does Devlyn cover?
AI/ML ecosystem depth covers the full modern surface: LangChain for agent and chain orchestration with tool-calling, LlamaIndex for data-connector-rich RAG with hybrid search, Pinecone and Weaviate for managed vector search, pgvector for Postgres-native embedding storage, Qdrant for self-hosted high-performance vector search, OpenAI and Anthropic APIs for frontier models, Cohere for embeddings and reranking, Hugging Face Transformers and Inference API for open-source models, vLLM and Ollama for self-hosted inference, Ragas and Promptfoo for RAG and prompt evaluation, Modal and Replicate for serverless GPU compute, Weights and Biases for experiment tracking, and Cloudflare Workers AI for edge inference. Devlyn engineers operate fluently across this entire surface with production-hardened patterns for cost monitoring, quality evaluation, and safety guardrails.
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How fast can the pod start?
Within 24 hours of greenlight after a 3-day free trial. The trial runs against a real scoped task, so you see the engineering depth before you sign anything. Replacement is free within 14 days if the fit is wrong.
When the next move is a conversation
Book a 30-minute discovery call. We will scope a AI/ML pod against your roadmap and timeline. No contracts. No commitment. Or run the Pod ROI Calculator against your current vendor's burn first.