Lead Forward Deployed Engineer

Elios AI; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Benefits

Job summary

Elios AI seeks a senior software engineer to lead production AI engagements from scoping to deployment. You will architect LLM-powered systems, guide a small, hands-on engineering team, and serve as the technical voice trusted by clients.

You will own delivery quality, establish observability and evals, and drive cost-aware, secure, scalable implementations across Python, TypeScript, React, and modern backend frameworks.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of production software engineering experience, with substantial LLM-focused work.
• Proven track record in leading client-facing delivery that ships and runs reliably.
• Deep knowledge of production AI patterns, including retrieval metrics, hallucination mitigation, latency and cost optimization.
• Strong full-stack capability across Python, TypeScript, React and modern backend frameworks.

Responsibilities

• Lead delivery of production AI engagements end-to-end from scoping through deployment.
• Architect LLM-powered systems including multi-agent platforms and hybrid RAG pipelines.
• Present technical recommendations to stakeholders and deliver on them.
• Guide and review engineers while staying hands-on with code.
• Establish evals, observability, and quality bars for real-world usage.
• Direct coding tool usage with intent and ownership of output.

Skills

Production software engineering

Leadership in client delivery

LLM-focused work

Full-stack development

Tools

Python

TypeScript

React

Job description

Location: Washington, DC | Type: Full Time | Setup: Hybrid | Experience: 7+ years

About the Role

You'll lead client engagements building production AI systems, owning delivery from the first scoping conversation through deployment. You stay hands-on with the architecture and the code while guiding a small team of engineers and serving as the technical voice clients trust.

Our client is an organization putting AI into production at enterprise scale, where engagements succeed on both engineering quality and stakeholder communication. Building the right thing matters as much as building the thing right.

This role is for engineers who lead from the front: still shipping, still reviewing code, still fluent in current tooling, while carrying the client relationship.

What You'll Do

• Lead delivery of production AI engagements end to end, from scoping through deployment
• Architect LLM-powered systems: multi-agent platforms, hybrid RAG pipelines, and integrations with cost controls and fallback strategies
• Present technical recommendations to stakeholders and then deliver on them
• Guide and review the work of other engineers without stepping out of the code yourself
• Establish evals, observability, and quality bars so what ships holds up under real usage
• Direct agentic coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) with intent, owning every line that goes out

Qualifications

• 7+ years of production software engineering, including substantial LLM-focused work
• A track record of leading client-facing delivery, with projects that shipped and ran reliably
• Deep experience with production AI patterns: retrieval metrics, hallucination mitigation, latency and cost optimization
• Full-stack capability across Python, TypeScript, React, and modern backend frameworks
• Able to lead a team while remaining a hands-on technical contributor

Why Join Us

You'll own meaningful engagements with real authority over how they're delivered, alongside practitioners who build the same systems daily. Competitive compensation and benefits.