Head of AI Engineering

Harnham; United States; Remote; USD 240,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading AI strategy firm seeks a Founding Head of AI Engineering to scale their engineering capabilities. This role involves defining technical direction, leading a high-performing team, and delivering sophisticated AI solutions to enterprise clients. Candidates should possess strong leadership skills, software engineering experience, and expertise in AI technologies.

Benefits

Medical insurance

Vision insurance

401(k)

Paid maternity leave

Qualifications

• 2+ years in a leadership or senior technical role.
• Strong experience in software or AI engineering.

Responsibilities

• Define, Architect, and own the full technical stack.
• Lead hiring for the US engineering team.
• Collaborate across AI, product, and design.

Skills

Python

Leadership

DevOps

Communication

Tools

Docker

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

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This range is provided by Harnham. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Base pay range

$240,000.00/yr - $260,000.00/yr

Direct message the job poster from Harnham

Placing the Top AI and Machine Learning Talent (NYC)

Head of AI Engineering (founding)

$240,000 – $260,000 base + Bonus

Remote (US Only – East Coast Preferred)

Consulting Organization

The Company

We’re working with a global AI strategy and technology firm that’s helping industry leaders unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence. With a decade of experience delivering transformative AI solutions across sectors, this team blends deep technical expertise with a sharp focus on business outcomes.

Now, they’re looking for a Founding Head of AI Engineering to help scale their impact and build the engineering capability from the ground up.

The Role

This is a rare opportunity to take complete ownership of engineering services and leadership at a company delivering sophisticated AI solutions to enterprise clients. You’ll define technical direction, ship scalable systems, and lead the buildout of a high-performing, cross-functional team — while staying hands-on and close to the tech.

• Define, Architect, and own the full technical stack — front-end, back-end, infrastructure
• Lead hiring for the whole US engineering team, starting with a Full-Stack Engineer, an AI Application Engineer, and a Data Engineer.
• Write and review scalable, production-level code across core AI platforms
• Set up deployment pipelines and environments (local, staging, prod) from scratch
• Deploy LLM-based workflows, including prompt engineering, embeddings, and vector search
• Establish engineering best practices across DevOps, CI/CD, and documentation
• Build and lead a high-impact team across AI, full-stack, and data engineering
• Implement lightweight, agile processes to drive speed and quality
• Collaborate across AI, product, and design to ship real-world enterprise AI products
• Shape the engineering roadmap and ensure technical excellence at every stage
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and high trust

Your Experience

• Strong experience in software or AI engineering, with 2+ years in a leadership or senior technical role
• Expertise in backend or full-stack development and modern API architecture
• Strong Python skills, with hands-on experience building with LLMs (OpenAI, Hugging Face, etc.)
• Familiarity with vector search, RAG workflows, LangChain, or related tools is a plus
• Strong understanding of DevOps fundamentals — Docker, CI/CD, cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure)
• Experience in client delivery, consulting, or startup-like environments
• Strong communicator and natural team builder who thrives in a cross-functional, remote-first setup

Keywords: Head of Engineering, AI Strategy, LLM, RAG, LangChain, Python, Cloud, ML Infrastructure, Remote, AI Consulting, Backend, AI Deployment, Start-up, Leadership

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Executive

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Consulting, Engineering, and Information Technology

• Industries

  Business Consulting and Services, Technology, Information and Media, and Engineering Services

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Inferred from the description for this job

Medical insurance

Vision insurance

401(k)

Paid maternity leave

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