Staff AI Engineer

As a Staff AI Engineer, you’ll shape the technical direction of the intelligence layer—defining the architecture, standards, and roadmap required to build highly reliable AI agents for enterprise environments.This role is designed for an experienced engineer who combines deep technical judgment, strong product instincts, and organizational influence. You’ll work across the engineering organization to drive technical decisions and build systems that create compounding impact over time.Location: San Francisco, CA — HybridCompensation: Up to $310,000 base + equityWhat You’ll OwnDefine and Drive Technical DirectionSet the architectural direction for agentic systems and the broader intelligence layerIdentify and resolve systemic gaps that limit reliability, scalability, or product velocityMake high-leverage technical bets and drive them through implementationEstablish evaluation standards, observability infrastructure, and reliability frameworks at scaleBuild and Ship High-Impact SystemsOwn complex, cross-cutting product areas end-to-endDesign agent orchestration and retrieval systems capable of handling enterprise-grade complexityLead the evolution of LLM infrastructure, including models, prompts, guardrails, evaluations, and feedback loopsPrototype, validate, and harden novel approaches before scaling them across the engineering organizationDrive Organizational LeveragePartner with Engineering leadership, Product, and Design to shape the AI roadmapCreate reusable platforms, patterns, and tooling that multiply engineering velocityMentor and develop the next generation of senior engineersTranslate long-term product vision into concrete technical strategiesRepresent and Advance the FieldStay at the frontier of LLMs, agents, and applied AI research, rapidly evaluating and adopting technologies that can create meaningful impactBuild internal knowledge and shared understanding around AI system designHelp establish the organization as a technical leader in enterprise and vertical AIWho You AreYou’re a senior technical leader who has built your skills for an AI-native world. These principles resonate with you:Technical depth with organizational influence: You lead through expertise and technical credibility rather than authoritySystems thinker: You understand second-order effects and design systems with the bigger picture in mindStrong product judgment: You prioritize ruthlessly while keeping customer outcomes at the centerMultiplier: You make engineers and teams around you more effectivePrincipled pragmatism: You know when to push technical boundaries and when to ship what worksEnd-to-end ownership: You take responsibility for outcomes, not simply deliverablesExperienceWe care more about capability and trajectory than years on a resume, but strong candidates will typically bring:8+ years of production software engineering experience, including 3+ years leading complex AI/ML systemsDeep expertise in TypeScript, Python, and distributed systemsProven experience shipping LLM-powered products at enterprise scaleExperience defining evaluation infrastructure and reliability standards for AI systemsDeep knowledge of retrieval architectures, RAG, vector databases, and embedding pipelinesHands-on experience with modern LLM APIs and agent frameworks, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, LangGraph, or similar technologiesExperience influencing technical direction across multiple teams or product areasTrack record of mentoring senior engineers and strengthening engineering cultureWhat Should Excite YouEnterprise-grade reliability: Building AI systems professionals can depend onHuman-in-the-loop design: Understanding when to automate and when expert judgment should remain involvedNuanced evaluation: Creating evaluation systems for workflows where judgment and context matterExplainability: Making AI outputs and agent reasoning transparent and trustworthyComplex domains: Solving difficult problems involving compliance and enterprise rigor while maintaining speedShipping daily value: Building agent experiences customers actively rely onBenefitsComprehensive health and wellness benefitsFlexible time off and work schedulesTechnology reimbursements401(k) planTwice-yearly in-person offsites across the U.S.Wellness benefits starting on your first day