Director of AI Engineering, AI Labs

Ekho Dealer (YC S22); New York (NY); On-site; USD 275,000 - 325,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401K matching

Free medical plans

Catered lunch on Wednesdays

Job summary

Via is seeking a Director of AI Engineering in New York, NY, to lead their AI Labs technical team. In this role, you'll manage a small group of senior engineers while maintaining hands-on involvement in AI product development. The position requires significant leadership experience along with expertise in AI products end-to-end.

You'll be responsible for technical direction, engineering execution, and collaboration with city leaders to drive innovative solutions in public transportation. The role offers a competitive salary and benefits package.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in AI/ML product development.
• Expertise in LLMs, predictive modeling, and data infrastructure.
• Strong backend engineering skills with scalable API design.

Responsibilities

• Lead and inspire a team of AI engineers.
• Ensure delivery of production-grade AI products.
• Contribute to architecture decisions and backend systems.
• Collaborate with city leaders to solve local challenges.
• Drive a varied AI development roadmap.

Skills

AI/ML product development

Backend engineering

Leadership and team management

API design

Scalable systems

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

Via is on a mission to create public transportation systems that provide far greater access to jobs, healthcare, and education. Our platform serves as the technology backbone for modern transit networks, transforming antiquated and siloed public transportation systems into smart, data-driven, and efficient digital networks. With hundreds of agency partners around the world, Via is recognized as the leading transportation technology and service provider globally.

We're now launching AI Labs - an incubator-style team operating like a startup within the company - to expand our reach and provide cutting-edge technical solutions to cities in areas beyond transit.

Director of AI Engineering

As Director of AI Engineering at Via, you'll lead the AI Labs technical team, with a mandate to move fast, experiment boldly, and build AI-powered products that can fundamentally change how Via and our partner cities operate. This is a rare opportunity to be both a hands‑on technical leader and a people leader, managing a small team of exceptional senior engineers while remaining deeply embedded in the work yourself. You'll have real autonomy, direct access to leadership, and the backing of a company already at scale - without the constraints that usually come with it. If you've built AI products end-to-end and you're energized by the idea of doing that in an entrepreneurial, fast-paced mode, with a blank canvas and a world-class team around you, this is the role for you.

About the Role

• Lead, develop, and inspire a small team of highly skilled AI engineers — setting technical direction, creating space for deep work, and building a culture of ownership, experimentation, and rigorous engineering from the ground up.
• Own the engineering execution of the AI Labs roadmap — ensuring your team ships production‑grade AI products reliably, from problem framing and data pipeline design through to deployment and iteration in live environments.
• Stay hands‑on — contributing directly to architecture decisions, backend systems, and the code that powers AI‑driven features at scale.
• Work closely with our customers in a forward‑deployed manner to deeply understand problems and constraints and iterate quickly on scalable agentic solutions.
• Lead technical scoping workshops, directly interfacing with city leaders to solve challenging local problems with agentic workflows.
• Drive engineering across a varied roadmap — spanning data consolidation, predictive modelling, real‑time decision‑making, and LLM‑powered experiences.
• Collaborate directly with product, data science, and operations teams to identify and prioritize the highest‑impact AI opportunities across the business.
• Stay close to the frontier of AI development and bring new ideas, tools, and approaches into the team proactively.

About You

• You have 10+ years of hands‑on experience building and shipping AI‑powered products end‑to‑end, with deep expertise across the AI/ML stack — including LLMs, predictive modelling, and production data infrastructure.
• Experienced in leading senior engineering talent — you know how to set a high bar, give direct feedback, and get the best out of people who are already excellent.
• You're a strong backend engineer at your core — comfortable designing scalable APIs, working with distributed systems, and writing code that is clean, maintainable, and built to last.
• You're energized by ambiguity and early‑stage environments — you create clarity for your team even when things are moving fast, and you take ownership without being asked.
• A strong communicator and cross‑functional collaborator — able to work fluidly with city partners, product leadership, and fellow engineers.
• Comfortable with travel to collaborate on‑site with partners and customers — being close to the user and problem is part of how you lead.

Compensation and Benefits

• Final salary will be determined by the candidate’s experience, knowledge, and skills. Salary reflected does not include equity or variable pay, where applicable.
• Salary Range: $275,000 - $325,000
• We are proud to offer a generous and comprehensive benefits package, including free medical plans, 401K matching, catered lunch on Wednesdays, and many other perks.

There has never been a more exciting time to be on the cutting edge of public mobility. Ready to join the ride?

Via is an equal opportunity employer.