Skin Intelligence Engineer

Ester Health is building a next-generation health technology platform focused on skin health and is seeking a Founding Skin Intelligence Engineer to own the long-term intelligence layer behind its skin analysis, recommendations, and personalization platform. This role can be 100% remote, or if preferred, hybrid with some presence in our LA office (Westside).
Ester is venture-backed by Austere Moose, the healthcare technology studio founded by the team behind GoodRx (Trevor Bezdek and Doug Hirsch), and is led by Brian Ree, founder of DailyLook, acquired by Victoria's Secret. The team has a proven track record of building and scaling category-defining consumer health products.
Ester is partnering with an established vendor for its initial skin intelligence capabilities, allowing this engineer to focus on building what comes next: the proprietary systems that will make the platform increasingly intelligent over time.
You'll define what gets measured, how it gets validated, and how Ester learns from longitudinal scan data, skincare routines, product usage, and real-world outcomes. This is a rare opportunity to architect a proprietary learning system from the ground up.
What You'll Do
Own the technical foundation for Ester's skin analysis, scoring, and recommendation systems.
Define metric semantics, quality standards, validation methods, and failure modes for consumer-facing skin insights.
Build evaluation frameworks and data workflows that learn from longitudinal scans, skincare routines, product usage, and outcomes.
Develop the foundation for personalized product and routine recommendations based on skin analysis, user goals, and observed results.
Make practical architectural decisions across computer vision, machine learning, recommender systems, longitudinal modeling, and related approaches.
Partner closely with product, engineering, and scientific advisors to ensure rigorous validation, safe consumer claims, and clear user-facing explanations.
What We're Looking For
Strong applied machine learning and/or computer vision experience with real-world image systems.
Excellent engineering execution and strong instincts around data quality and evaluation.
Ability to define metrics, benchmarks, validation strategies, and failure modes from first principles.
Strong product judgment around confidence, calibration, explainability, and recommendation quality.
Comfortable owning ambiguous, end-to-end technical systems with significant autonomy.
Experience or interest in recommendation systems, personalization, longitudinal modeling, or treatment-effect measurement.
Preferred experience includes:
Dermatology or skin imaging
Consumer health or beauty technology
Data labeling and benchmark development
Model monitoring and experimentation frameworks
Why This Role
Ester's long-term advantage depends on building world-class skin intelligence internally. Controlled scans, skincare routines, product usage, and measurable skin outcomes create a unique signal that compounds into a proprietary competitive advantage.
Success in this role means establishing trusted standards for which insights are ready for users, building practical validation systems for accuracy and repeatability, and creating the roadmap for first-party computer vision and machine learning that becomes increasingly valuable over time.
What We Offer
Competitive salary, benefits, and meaningful equity
100% remote structure or hybrid if preferred (office on the west side of Los Angeles)
High-growth, venture-backed startup with significant ownership and impact
Access to leading skincare advisors and domain experts
Opportunity to build foundational technology in an entirely new category

Work arrangement
Yes