Careers FAQ: 11 most asked questions during Silo AI's hiring process

To date, the Silo AI team has already happily welcomed over 300 incredibly talented colleagues. If you are interested in working at Silo AI, here are insights in the form of 11 most frequently asked questions that we have received while interviewing new Silopolis members!

1. Are you an AI service company or a product company, or both?

At Silo AI we have both: Our origin is in the services business (a.k.a. consulting) and Silo has been successfully helping companies with their AI needs already since 2017. In 2023 we created SiloGen, the generative AI product unit of Silo AI, which focuses on building large language models as a service. As a candidate you are welcome to apply to open positions on both sides of the business, but if you do, it’s good to indicate which type of work you are primarily interested in. We will internally make sure that we coordinate the discussions with candidates on different positions and will also proactively inform candidates during the recruitment process, if we think that another position might be even more suitable for them.

2. Which AI technologies do you work with at Silo AI?

On the services side, we have deep expertise especially in AI: machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing. On top of these, we need experts to help create the actual solutions, so we also have great expertise in Data, Cloud, & Embedded technologies. Our team of AI experts helps our clients in building AI solutions in multiple different industries. Read more about our client projects that we have made for example for Maritime Industry, CleanTech and Manufacturing.

Our product business focuses on developing both open source large language models (read more about our first model Poro's release here) and the SiloGen platform through which we offer commercial, fine-tuned large language models as a service. Our technical team includes AI engineers & AI scientists who focus on developing the models, DevOps engineers who build and maintain the needed infrastructure & tooling as well as full-stack software engineers, who develop all the customer-facing elements such as our API and UI functionalities.

3. What does your current team look like?

We’re a growing team of exceptional professionals spread between five offices in Finland and international locations in Stockholm, Copenhagen, the Netherlands, and Vancouver. Our current team represents 46 different nationalities and we speak tens of different languages.

Most people define themselves as AI Scientists, AI Engineers, Software Developers, Solution Architects, Designers, you name it. What our people have in common is their interest in solving real-life problems with AI, Data and creating functional solutions. And don’t worry, we do have sales, marketing & comms, people and operations teams to keep everything running smoothly.

4. What is the difference between AI Scientist and AI Engineer roles at Silo AI?

Our AI Scientists and AI Engineers both build technical solutions to challenging AI or related fields’ problems. AI Scientists have a strong academic background and a PhD degree. AI Engineers are the ones that make models work in the production environment, and this position requires more of a MLOps, DevOps, Cloud or Data background. AI Scientists and AI Engineers work closely together in our project teams and the title is more descriptive of the background. After all, at Silo one can develop their skills and the title doesn’t confine anyone!

5. How do you support learning?

What is common for all Silopolis members is the ongoing hunger to learn and develop. Keep Learning is actually one of our core values and to serve that as an example, we have created a concept called Learning Lab. It consists of four different areas: research activities, group workshops, on-demand in-house talent coaching, and internal communications. Learning Lab further develops our best and most important quality: our expertise and permits us to share knowledge and learn together. Silonauts also have a self-development budget to support their own individual learning goals  – whether they want to get a certificate on a certain skill, participate in a conference or take a course on something they deem useful. It’s up to you to determine your career, we provide the guidance and support.

6. How is compensation determined at Silo AI?

Compensation at Silo AI is internally transparent and we have a role and salary range framework defined for each country and role. On the consulting side we have two different compensation models available: Fixed monthly salary & Project based salary. Fixed salary is suitable for all but Project Based is possible for people who are more senior or in longer projects and is based on a revenue-share model in projects.

On top of salary, we also offer extensive benefits including occupational healthcare, additional services for mental wellbeing, and flexible working arrangements. Silonauts also have a self-development budget to support their own individual learning goals  – whether they want to get a certificate on a certain skill, participate in a conference or take a course on something they deem useful. In addition we offer an opportunity for a limited equity purchase from the employee pool.

7. How flexible is Silo AI, is remote work supported?

We’re working in a hybrid way, which means that everyone can choose whether to work mainly remotely or mainly from the office. In practice, this means that everyone chooses between working: Mainly at the Silo AI or client offices or mainly remotely - it’s always a combination. These are the available Silo ways of working and the client's requirements are always prioritized and opportunities discussed with our employees.

A fully remote option, where you would not have an obligation to visit the team, office or client if needed, is not available due to the nature of our work. Build Bonds is one of our values and sometimes your presence is needed.

8. Do you have other options for employment or only full-time positions?

Yes, we do have other options! We are flexible when it comes to finding different employment options. You can either be a full-time Silo AI employee or work as an hourly-based employee to flexibly accommodate your other commitments (which usually imply academic endeavors or other life situations). On a case-by-case basis, we also involve freelancers in our projects. For academics, like professors and postdocs, we can also set up shared part-time positions between Silo AI and universities.

9. How is onboarding done at Silo AI?

Silo onboarding is a 6-month long journey, parallel to your trial period. We think it's the period when the employee and the company are getting to know each other, exploring if they are a good match, and learning about each other.

During your onboarding, you will learn about Silo AI as a company, how Silopolis is as a workplace, some people who might be useful to know immediately at the start, and there are also different tasks to complete during your first days and weeks.

Learn more about our Onboarding journey.

10. I’m at the beginning of my career, can I apply to Silo AI? Do you offer internship opportunities?

Unfortunately, we are currently not considering taking interns or offering thesis opportunities. The situation might change in the future, as well as permanent positions might become an option as you gain more experience. You can find our open positions here. Remember to check them out on a regular basis!

11. What does your hiring process look like for a technical role?

As a first step, we have an intro discussion, where we go through your current situation, wishes for the future and what you are passionate about. You would also hear more about Silo AI, our culture, and our ways of working. The most important part is to understand whether or not Silo AI is an interesting company for you and for us to see if we are able to provide matching opportunities. This is an open conversation to learn about one another.

The second step is the skill validation which begins with the technical interview. The technical interview is your chance to get to know your future colleagues better and to see those people who are doing similar work at Silo AI. In the technical interview you will dive deeper into your core technical expertise with one of our technical experts. This step might also include other interviews (when applying for consulting jobs you might have an interview with a customer too) and sometimes a technical test. We want to understand your skills so it depends on your expertise and our interviewers how many steps are needed. We aim to have a smooth & non-laborious process.

The third step depends on which type of work you are applying for: 

• For consulting roles, during this step we are looking for opportunities and concrete projects for you. This step can sometimes be really fast or sometimes take a bit of time as in the service business it depends on our project situation. We will discuss possible projects with you and what options we have for the process openly.
• For product roles, during this final step we will finalize your role description with your future team lead. Our product business is still in an early stage startup phase, which means that you can expect all the roles to evolve quite dynamically over time as we grow, but we will make sure that you have a clear understanding on what your key responsibilities will be in the beginning and what you will be working on. 

As the final and fourth step, we will then go through the offer with you and welcome you as a new member of Silopolis. Then onboarding and your colleagues would await your starting day!‍

We can run our hiring process 100 % remotely depending on your location, but it can also be run as a hybrid process where you get to visit your local office. 

You can see all our open roles here. If you want to get an insider view for hidden jobs, I recommend subscribing to our newsletter, you'll find it in the footer.