Lead AI Engineer - NBA

Ladders; United States; Remote; USD 129,000 - 178,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) retirement plan

Paid time off

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Wellness opportunities

Job summary

Ladders is seeking a Lead AI Engineer to drive AI-powered workflows in a regulated healthcare setting. You will both contribute code and lead a small team, shaping production-grade AI systems across product, frontend, and engineering teams.

Remote in the US, candidates must have strong Python skills, LLM experience, and the ability to lead contractors while upholding high standards for reliability and compliance.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in software or ML engineering with focus on production AI.
• Hands-on experience building multi-step AI pipelines and agentic systems.
• Experience with retrieval augmented generation (RAG) patterns and vector search.
• Strong Python skills for production-grade AI applications.
• Experience integrating LLM APIs into real platforms.
• Proven ability to lead small teams and contractors.
• Sound judgment applying AI in regulated environments.
• Effective communicator for technical and non-technical audiences.
• Familiarity with Claude and Copilot as productivity tools.

Responsibilities

• Design and deliver AI agent workflows for analysis and automation.
• Act as a hands-on contributor writing production code.
• Architect multi-step AI pipelines with data layers and outputs.
• Integrate LLMs into platform workflows with a focus on prompts.
• Collaborate with frontend and product teams for AI experiences.
• Build evaluation frameworks ensuring output quality and reliability.
• Manage AI engineering contractors, set expectations, review work.
• Model best practices for AI-enabled development across teams.

Skills

6+ years software/ML engineering

LLM integration

Agentic systems

RAG patterns & vector search

Python production AI

LLM APIs integration

Leadership experience

Communication skills

Regulated context judgement

Tools

Claude

Copilot

Job description

For our client, we are seeking a Lead AI Engineer - NBA to join the team of a leader in the Healthcare space. This role will shape and deliver AI-powered workflows that improve intelligent analysis, automation, and user‑facing experiences across a regulated care environment. You will be both a hands‑on contributor and technical leader, building production‑grade AI systems while partnering closely with product, frontend, and engineering teams. The position also includes guiding small teams and contractors, establishing evaluation standards, and modeling practical, high‑quality AI development practices across the organization.

Location: Remote - US based candidates only, no visa sponsorship available

Compensation: $129,300 – $177,800 annually

Responsibilities

• Design and deliver AI agent workflows for intelligent analysis and automation
• Actively write and ship production code as a key contributor
• Architect multi‑step AI pipelines integrating with data layers and decision outputs
• Integrate large language models into platform workflows, focusing on prompt engineering
• Collaborate with frontend and product teams to enhance user‑facing AI experiences
• Build evaluation frameworks to ensure AI output quality and reliability
• Manage AI engineering contractors, setting expectations and reviewing work
• Model best practices for AI‑assisted development across the engineering organization

Qualifications

• 6+ years in software or ML engineering, with 1‑2 years in LLM integration or AI product engineering
• Hands‑on experience with production agentic systems and multi‑step pipelines
• Proficient in RAG patterns and vector search for retrieval‑augmented systems
• Strong Python skills for building production‑grade AI systems
• Experience integrating LLM APIs into real applications
• Proven leadership in managing small teams and contractors
• Strong judgment on AI applicability in regulated contexts
• Clear communicator for technical and non‑technical audiences
• Deep familiarity with AI productivity tools like Claude and Copilot

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits
• 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Paid time off, including personal holidays and parental leave
• Short‑term and long‑term disability insurance
• Life insurance and additional wellness opportunities

Our client is an equal opportunity employer.