Lead Applied AI Engineering

General Matter; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock options

Medical, vision & dental

401(k)

Job summary

General Matter is seeking an experienced Applied AI leader in Los Angeles to spearhead an AI-first engineering initiative. The role combines management with hands-on development, exploring LLMs, AI agents, and tool-use to redefine engineering workflows across licensing, safety, and manufacturing teams.

You will drive technical direction, hire and mentor engineers, and ensure scalable practices while delivering high-impact AI-enabled solutions that accelerate product and defense-grade workflows.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of professional software engineering or applied AI experience.
• 2+ years of experience managing, mentoring, or growing software or applied AI engineers.
• Demonstrated experience building and shipping software using LLMs, AI agents, or other modern AI techniques.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals and proficiency in Python.
• BS or higher in engineering, physics, chemistry, applied math, computer science, or a related technical field.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow the Applied AI team: Hire, develop, and retain engineers while setting a high technical bar.
• Own technical direction and prioritization: Identify the highest-leverage engineering problems and decide where the team should invest its time.
• Stay hands-on: Review architecture, solve difficult technical problems, and contribute to implementation when appropriate.
• Partner with engineering teams across General Matter: Work directly with licensing, safety, design, manufacturing, and other technical teams to understand their workflows and identify opportunities for AI-driven leverage.
• Build scalable engineering practices: Establish the processes for project selection, prototyping, evaluation, and production handoff that allow the team to grow without losing speed.
• Represent Applied AI across the company: Communicate technical direction, progress, and tradeoffs to company leadership and cross-functional partners.

Skills

Applied AI experience

People management

Python proficiency

Engineering leadership

Code review & architecture

Education

BS or higher in engineering/CS/physics/math

Tools

LLMs & AI agents

Python

Job description

General Matter is seeking an experienced Applied AI leader in Los Angeles to spearhead an AI-first engineering initiative. The role combines management with hands-on development, exploring LLMs, AI agents, and tool-use to redefine engineering workflows across licensing, safety, and manufacturing teams.

You will drive technical direction, hire and mentor engineers, and ensure scalable practices while delivering high-impact AI-enabled solutions that accelerate product and defense-grade workflows.