Lead AI Engineer – Enterprise, Data & AI

Zoox; Foster City (CA); On-site; USD 230,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

RSUs

Stock Appreciation Rights

Health insurance

PTO

Job summary

Zoox is seeking a hands-on Lead AI Engineer to spearhead end-to-end development and deployment of our Enterprise Gen AI and LLM initiatives, building agentic workflows, integrating enterprise data sources across Procurement, Supply Chain, Legal, Finance, HR and MES.

You will design and deploy production-grade LLM applications and intelligent agents, enforce identity-aware security, and collaborate with cross‑functional teams to enable secure, code-driven AI automation across the business.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in Data/Software Engineering with production GenAI/LLMs experience.
• Strong Python and integration capabilities with AI tooling.
• Experience building enterprise data/tool integrations and security guardrails.

Responsibilities

• Design and deploy production-grade LLM applications and intelligent agents.
• Architect enterprise data/tool integrations with standardized connectors.
• Enforce security guardrails, authentication, logging and policy compliance.
• Implement identity inheritance via SSO and ensure proper permissions.
• Collaborate with Security on access control and observability standards.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to build secure AI automation.

Skills

Python proficiency

LangChain / LlamaIndex

MCP server frameworks

AI gateway security

SSO / identity federation

Cloud AI services

Vector databases

Tools

MCP servers

Claude Agent SDK / OpenAI Assistants SDK

Cloudflare AI Gateway

SSO protocols (SAML / OIDC / OAuth)

MongoDB

Pinecone

Weaviate

Milvus

OpenSearch

Job description

Zoox is seeking a highly motivated, hands‑on Lead AI Engineer to spearhead the end‑to‑end development and deployment of our Enterprise Gen AI and LLM initiatives, building agentic workflows, integrating enterprise data sources, and enforcing identity‑aware security, that transform operations across Procurement, Supply Chain, Legal, Finance, HR and Manufacturing (MES).

In This Role, You Will

• Design and deploy production‑grade LLM applications and intelligent agents capable of complex reasoning, secure tool usage and autonomous multi‑step workflows.
• Architect enterprise data/tool integrations using MCP servers, establishing standardized, reusable connectors across Procurement, Supply Chain, Legal, Finance, HR and Manufacturing (MES).
• Enforce security guardrails via AI gateways - authentication, rate‑limiting, logging and policy compliance for all model/agent traffic.
• Implement identity inheritance via SSO, ensuring agents act strictly within the requesting user's permissions & privileges (no privilege escalation, no standing overreach).
• Work with the Information Security team on access control (RBAC/ABAC) for agentic systems and establish observability standards for agent behavior and data access.
• Partner with cross‑functional teams to build secure, code‑driven AI automation.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in Data/Software Engineering, with 2+ years deploying GenAI/LLMs in production.
• Deep Python proficiency; experience with LangChain, LlamaIndex or provider‑native orchestration (e.g., Claude Agent SDK, OpenAI Assistants/Agents SDK or hand‑rolled).
• Hands‑on experience building/integrating MCP servers or comparable connector frameworks.
• Experienced in AI gateway solutions (e.g., Cloudflare AI Gateway) for governing agent traffic.
• Working knowledge of SSO/identity federation (SAML, OIDC, OAuth 2.0) and propagating identity through agentic tool calls.
• Experience with cloud AI services (AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI) and vector databases (MongoDB, Pinecone, Weaviate, Milvus, OpenSearch).

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience building AI solutions for corporate functions like Finance, Legal (e.g. contract analysis), HR (e.g. policy retrieval), Supply Chain (e.g. forecasting efficiency) or Manufacturing (e.g., MES data integration, production/quality analytics)
• Familiarity with AI platform vendor evaluations (Bedrock, Vertex, Cortex, etc.)
• Experience defining enterprise IAM integration patterns (Okta, Entra ID, Ping) for AI systems and establishing AI governance frameworks or centers of excellence
• Previous experience in the autonomous vehicle, robotics or high‑tech manufacturing sectors.

$230,000 - $300,000 a year

Base Salary Range

There are three major components to compensation for this position: salary, Amazon Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), and Zoox Stock Appreciation Rights. A sign‑on bonus may be offered as part of the compensation package. The listed range applies only to the base salary. Compensation will vary based on geographic location and level. Leveling, as well as positioning within a level, is determined by a range of factors, including, but not limited to, a candidate's relevant years of experience, domain knowledge, and interview performance. The salary range listed in this posting is representative of the range of levels Zoox is considering for this position.

Zoox also offers a comprehensive package of benefits, including paid time off (e.g. sick leave, vacation, bereavement), unpaid time off, Zoox Stock Appreciation Rights, Amazon RSUs, health insurance, long‑term care insurance, long‑term and short‑term disability insurance, and life insurance.

About Zoox

Zoox is developing the first ground‑up, fully autonomous vehicle fleet and the supporting ecosystem required to bring this technology to market. Sitting at the intersection of robotics, machine learning, and design, Zoox aims to provide the next generation of mobility‑as‑a‑service in urban environments. We’re looking for top talent that shares our passion and wants to be part of a fast‑moving and highly execution‑oriented team.

Follow us on LinkedIn

Accommodations

If you need an accommodation to participate in the application or interview process please reach out to [email protected] or your assigned recruiter.

A Final Note

You do not need to match every listed expectation to apply for this position. Here at Zoox, we know that diverse perspectives foster the innovation we need to be successful, and we are committed to building a team that encompasses a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skills.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.