Services
$390 / month
Start free, decide later
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1
Free intro call
No card needed to book. -
2
Ongoing calls + chat
2 × 30-min calls per month, unlimited Q&A. Replies in 2 days. -
3
No lock-in
Month to month, no contract.
MentorCruise summary
Chris is a Director of AI and former machine learning research scientist and founder. He has more than 10 years of experience across machine learning research, industry, and leadership, including directing a 30-person ML organization. He helps software engineers move into ML and AI engineering, ML engineers structure applied research, and technical leaders step into staff or engineering management roles.
Based on 16 verified mentee reviews
- Reviewers often praise his machine learning knowledge, clear explanations of complex concepts, and useful resources.
- Mentees value guidance that starts with their goals and leads to concrete tasks, roadmaps, or learning practices.
- Several reviewers describe him as patient, supportive, and responsive when they are stuck or have questions.
About
As a mentor with a background in both research and industry, II bring 10+ years of experience across ML research, industry, and leadership. I help experienced software engineers transition into ML and AI engineering, support ML engineers in applied research, and guide the move into staff+ and engineering management roles. My technical mentoring covers eval-driven development, agentic data science, and LLM workflows: defining meaningful success criteria, designing rigorous experiments, diagnosing failures, and building reliable production systems at scale. We also work on technical strategy, team leadership, and aligning research with product priorities.
In addition to my expertise in machine learning, I am also available to discuss topics such as product-market-fit, validation, business models, start-up fundraising, and road development, and prioritization. Here, I draw from my experience both as a founder as well as the director of a 30+ person ML org.
Throughout my career, I have held a number of roles that have allowed me to build a diverse skill set. These include machine learning research scientist, Ph.D./postdoc in machine learning for software engineering and network analysis. I have also completed data science consulting projects, managed teams as well as teams of teams and leads of leads as director of an entire department.
What mentees say
4 out of 5 stars
I enjoyed working with Chris, but I feel I could not get the most out of the mentorship and I expected more from it.
Antonio
Lite Plan • 11 months
5 out of 5 stars
Chris has been a great mentor to work with! Before starting, I already worked as a data scientist, but was looking to deepen my understanding, create a continuous learning practice for myself, and be more confident in the enormous field of ML/DL. Chris really excelled at providing accountability, being a sounding board to create that practice, and in helping create more confidence in myself about the deeply technical parts of ML/DL. We started by outlining areas of ML that I would want to expand my knowledge in and Chris helped encourage me to write up my readings in each subfield and ultimately helped create a practice of reading papers and really internalizing what was being communicated. Once I became more confident in engaging with literature, I began to want to explore the practice of research. I came up with a problem and Chris acted as a great sounding board and mentor in this capacity to focus my idea. He lent his expertise in academia to help me understand how to progress on my ideas and I'm now working towards publishing my work. I really can't thank Chris enough for his help and mentorship over this journey. While I'm sure Chris could help anyone just starting out, I also think he would be a perfect fit for anyone who's already in the field, but is looking to go a lot deeper in their understanding and broaden their perspective on the field as a whole.
Andrew
Standard Plan • 9 months
5 out of 5 stars
Working with Chris has been fantastic. He's super knowledgeable about machine learning, and has mentored tons of people before, so he knows the right resources to recommend and how to unblock you when you're stuck. I highly recommend working with Chris if you get the chance.
Cam
Standard Plan • 5 months
Get to know Chris
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Article 5 min readChris Hammerschmidt – Meet the Mentor
Chris is a former machine learning research scientist who co-founded a company and now spends a lot of time between …
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![Video: Communication and Soft Skills in Tech Careers [Webinar]](https://cdn.mentorcruise.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=400,height=225,format=auto/https://cdn.mentorcruise.com/richmedia/communication-and-soft-skills-in-tech-careers-webinar3116a90d-8f40-45c1-b708-1e2b74c79.jpg)
VideoCommunication and Soft Skills in Tech Careers [Webinar]
What to Expect:Chris will lead us into the essential elements of career development, technical skill enhancement, effective communication, leadership, and …
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What happens when you start
You tell Chris your goals. They see exactly what you want to work on before session one.
You meet within days. Chris reviews your application and books your first session, usually within a day or two.
You leave with a plan. Concrete next steps and a weekly rhythm from your very first week.
