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Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer

fast-scaling AI startup San Diego, CA Direct Hire $165,000 - $225,000

Job Summary

We are seeking a Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer to serve as the technical backbone of our San Diego engineering team. This hybrid role combines deep expertise in building complex production AI systems with executive presence to engage C-level stakeholders. You will own end-to-end AI implementations, mentor a small team of forward deployed engineers, and partner with leadership to elevate technical standards across diverse client projects.

Essential Functions

  • Build and own end-to-end production AI systems including voice agents, RAG pipelines, LLM orchestration, and third-party integrations
  • Join client calls with solutions leaders to translate complex technical concepts to C-level executives and maintain project momentum under pressure
  • Mentor and coach a team of forward deployed engineers by reviewing client interactions, validating technical work, and developing both technical and client-facing capabilities
  • Act as a thought partner to the Head of Engineering by identifying process improvements, surfacing better technical approaches, and helping raise the overall engineering standard
  • Triage incoming work and delegate appropriately to enable focus on the most complex client challenges while developing junior team members through hands-on ownership

Required Qualifications

  • 5-10 years of experience as a forward-deployed or customer-facing software engineer
  • Proven track record driving architecture decisions and building client-facing AI systems such as agentic workflows, RAG pipelines, document processing, and production automation
  • Strong software engineering skills with experience delivering complete end-to-end production systems
  • At least 1 year formally mentoring or managing engineers with demonstrated success in developing talent
  • Experience building voice agents that deliver measurable business outcomes
  • Hands-on production cloud deployment experience with AWS, GCP, or Azure including monitoring and maintaining live client systems
  • BS in Computer Science, Engineering, or related STEM field

Preferred Qualifications

  • Experience with Anthropic Claude models and related AI technologies
  • Background in diverse technologies and client-facing project delivery
  • Proven ability to thrive in dynamic, fast-paced environments with shifting priorities
  • Strong executive presence and communication skills with C-level stakeholders

Technical Skills

  • Python
  • Anthropic Claude
  • OpenAI API
  • LLM Orchestration
  • RAG Pipelines
  • Agentic Workflows
  • Vector Search and Embeddings
  • Prompt Engineering
  • AWS, GCP, or Azure production deployment
  • Document Processing Pipelines
  • REST APIs
  • Agent Frameworks such as LangChain or LlamaIndex
  • Voice Agents
  • Salesforce Integrations

Education & Certifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related STEM field is required.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary range of $165,000 to $225,000 depending on experience and qualifications. This is a hybrid role based in San Diego.

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