# Staff Software Engineer

**Company:** [Standard Template Labs](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/standard-template-labs)
**Location:** New York, NY
**Role:** AI Research
**Salary:** $160k – $230k/yr
**Experience:** 7+ years
**Skills:** LLMs, Embeddings, Vector Databases, retrieval pipelines, ai agent frameworks, Distributed Systems, cloud-native architecture, API Design, Go, Python, Rust, Java, Kubernetes, event-driven systems, CI/CD
**Posted:** 2025-09-09

> Leads hands-on development of AI-native, distributed systems that integrate LLMs, retrieval, and graph intelligence into enterprise IT workflows. Requires 7+ years of software engineering experience, strong architecture and API expertise, modern programming skills, and experience mentoring engineers.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities

### AI-Driven Systems Engineering
- Design and develop AI-native architectures that embed LLMs and intelligent automation into ITSM and CMDB workflows.
- Leverage LLMs, embeddings, and retrieval pipelines to power natural-language interfaces, knowledge synthesis, and reasoning within the platform.
- Collaborate with product, design, and data teams to infuse AI into backend systems and user-facing features.

### Technical Ownership
- Own complex systems end-to-end, including design, architecture, deployment, and production reliability.
- Drive architectural decisions balancing near-term speed with long-term scalability and maintainability.
- Help define the AI-first engineering stack and patterns for prompt orchestration, model integration, and continuous learning.

### Hands-On Engineering
- Write clean, scalable, and testable code for AI-enabled systems.
- Design and optimize distributed, event-driven systems and APIs that handle data and inference at scale.
- Conduct deep-dive code reviews and performance tuning across high-traffic production environments.

### Leadership and Mentorship
- Lead by example, improve code quality, foster experimentation, and mentor engineers in AI-augmented workflows.
- Champion adoption of AI tooling such as Cursor, Windsurf, and Claude.

## Requirements
- 7+ years of professional software engineering experience delivering large-scale, high-impact systems.
- Deep expertise in distributed systems, cloud-native architecture, and API design.
- Hands-on experience with or strong interest in LLMs, vector databases, embeddings, or AI agent frameworks.
- Familiarity with prompt engineering, fine-tuning, and AI-powered developer tools.
- Experience mentoring engineers and guiding cross-functional teams toward technical excellence.
- Strong proficiency in one or more modern programming languages, such as Go, Python, Rust, or Java.
- Knowledge of Kubernetes, event-driven systems, and CI/CD best practices.
- A builder’s mindset and eagerness to explore, prototype, and ship quickly.

## Compensation and Benefits
- Competitive compensation, equity, and benefits package.
- Estimated yearly salary: **$160,000–$230,000 USD**.
- Build foundational product features for an AI-first enterprise platform.
- Own critical systems intended to scale to millions of users.
- Work onsite five days a week from the Flatiron District, Manhattan office.

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**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/4c84e7cf-1c2f-4494-baf4-844d61d775ad
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/4c84e7cf-1c2f-4494-baf4-844d61d775ad