Lead Software Engineer, AI

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Define the technical strategy and architecture for AI-driven product experiences within the learner and content-authoring ecosystem.

• Design, develop, and deploy full-stack systems utilizing TypeScript, Vue.js, Node.js, PostgreSQL, and Azure.

• Lead intricate, cross-functional projects from the initial problem definition to delivery, adoption, and continuous improvement.

• Create reusable patterns for retrieval-augmented generation, agentic workflows, model orchestration, prompt management, and human-in-the-loop experiences.

• Design and uphold evaluation frameworks, quality metrics, observability, and feedback loops for features powered by large language models (LLMs).

• Integrate model APIs from providers such as Anthropic, OpenAI, and others.

• Oversee the technical direction for AI-driven content authoring and management functionalities.

• Collaborate with product, platform, design, data, and engineering teams to convert ambiguous challenges into technical plans and deployable systems.

• Identify architectural risks, clarify trade-offs, and balance speed, quality, maintainability, and long-term leverage.

• Enhance engineering standards through design reviews, code reviews, technical documentation, operational standards, and development practices.

• Mentor and develop engineers across teams, especially in AI-assisted development, context engineering, evaluation design, system reliability, and agentic workflows.

• Utilize agentic coding tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, or comparable tools for planning, implementation, testing, and review.

• Ensure systems are scalable, observable, secure, accessible, and economically sustainable when in production.

• Contribute to discussions across engineering regarding responsible AI adoption, technical standards, platform capabilities, and organizational priorities.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 10 years of experience in building and operating customer-facing software products.

• Proven impact as a technical leader, staff engineer, principal engineer, tech lead, or in a similar role.

• Strong foundations in full-stack engineering, including browser technologies, TypeScript, Node.js, PostgreSQL, cloud infrastructure, and distributed systems.

• Experience in designing and delivering AI-powered products using LLMs, retrieval systems, evaluation frameworks, agentic workflows, or related technologies.

• History of leading complex initiatives that span multiple teams, systems, or organizational boundaries.

• Ability to set technical direction without formal authority and achieve alignment among engineers, product leaders, designers, and other stakeholders.

• Strong architectural judgment and the capability to communicate complex trade-offs clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Experience in creating durable engineering patterns, platforms, or capabilities that facilitate faster progress for other teams.

• Product sensibility with a focus on user experience, quality, speed, and measurable outcomes.

• Comfort in navigating ambiguous environments.

• Strong ownership mentality across strategy, architecture, implementation, and operational follow-through.

• Experience in mentoring engineers and enhancing engineering practices within a team or organization.

• Commitment to developing reliable, secure, observable, and cost-effective AI systems.

• Ability to thrive in a remote, async-first environment.

• Experience in a startup or organization with a high engineering standard and a focus on meaningful, measurable impact.

• Must reside and perform work within the United States.

• Must be willing and able to travel as required.

• Expected to be on camera during meetings unless exceptional circumstances arise.

• Successful completion of applicable pre-employment screening requirements.

• Completion of employment eligibility verification using Form I-9.

🏝️ Benefits

• Medical insurance.

• Dental insurance.

• Vision insurance.

• Flexible spending.

• Generous paid time off.

• Sponsored volunteer opportunities.

• 401(k) with a company match.

• Free access to all of Penn Foster Group's online programs.

• Occasional travel for team meetings, company events, conferences, summits, and similar activities.