Staff Software Engineer (SF/NY)
Senior/Staff Software Engineer builds end-to-end AI products for clients, spending 75% time coding and 25% with stakeholders like CTOs. Requires 8+ years experience shipping products, applying software engineering to AI systems with high ownership.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Own end-to-end technical outcomes on a small team (2–5 engineers and a PM) building AI products for clients.
- Set technical direction, write code (75% of time), and solve hard problems.
- Work directly with clients (25% of time), including CTOs, to understand problems, discuss tradeoffs, and ensure solutions meet needs.
Requirements
- 8+ years of engineering experience with deep care for the craft.
- Shipped multiple complete products end-to-end and write elegant, production-ready code across multiple disciplines.
- Specific interest in applying software engineering fundamentals to AI systems, balancing frontier model capabilities with good system design.
- Comfort talking with senior technical stakeholders and navigating conversations skillfully.
- High ownership mindset: jump in without instruction, embrace "no job too big, no job too small," shape strategy and culture.
- Low ego, high integrity: help others, ask for help, hold high bar for honesty.
Nice-to-Haves
- Experience as former engineering leaders (IC or EM) or founders.
- Interest in Applied AI engineering practices.
Compensation & Benefits
- Competitive compensation package aligned with experience and skills.
- 401k with matching.
- Unlimited PTO.
- Exceptional medical, dental, and vision coverage.
- Health FSA.
- Commuter benefits.
- Life insurance.
- Team events and activities.
Skills
Python, LLMs, Ai Systems, System Design, Production Ai, Eval Frameworks, API Integrations, Data Curation, Kubernetes
Similar jobs
ML Engineering jobs
Harvey
San Francisco, CA
Leads the design and operation of reliable, scalable model infrastructure powering AI inference across multiple providers. Requires 7+ years of distributed-systems engineering experience, strong programming skills, and expertise in production reliability and cloud infrastructure.
Shield AI
San Mateo, CA
Leads the design, implementation, integration, and field validation of tactical autonomy and multi-agent coordination capabilities for unmanned platforms. Requires 7+ years of relevant experience, production C++, technical leadership, and eligibility for a U.S. Secret clearance.
Snowflake
Bellevue, WA
Leads the roadmap and technical vision for Snowflake Feature Store, building reliable, high-performance machine learning platform capabilities and supporting technical execution across partner teams. Requires 10+ years of experience with data-serving infrastructure or ML platforms, plus Java and Python expertise.
Shield AI
Washington, DCLeads development and integration of advanced maritime autonomy for USVs, UUVs, and cooperating UAVs, including motion planning, localization, safety, and multi-agent coordination. Requires staff-level technical leadership, substantial robotics experience, C++ and Python proficiency, and eligibility for a SECRET clearance.
Ironclad
San Francisco, CA
Leads architecture and technical direction for agentic search systems combining LLMs, retrieval, and content-understanding pipelines for contract intelligence. The role requires 10+ years building production systems, deep search or LLM expertise, and strong cross-team technical leadership.