Lead Full-Stack AI Engineer

New-York-Life; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 124,000 - 177,000; Full time

Job summary

New York Life's Tech, Data, AI and Ventures organization is seeking a Lead Full-Stack Engineer to shape and evolve our enterprise AI platform, delivering agentic AI solutions and scalable production systems. You will mentor engineers while staying hands-on across design, development, deployment, and operations.

You will partner with stakeholders to enforce enterprise standards, drive MLOps/LLMOps, and influence architecture decisions.

Qualifications

• 5-8+ years of software engineering experience.
• Experience building enterprise platforms, cloud-native systems, or distributed applications.
• Hands-on expertise with generative AI technologies, agentic architectures, RAG, memory systems, retrieval solutions, and enterprise AI applications.
• Experience mentoring engineers and driving engineering best practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and implementation of enterprise AI platform capabilities (agent runtimes, lifecycle services, orchestration frameworks, governance, tooling).
• Build agentic AI solutions using multi-agent architectures, knowledge systems, planning frameworks, and enterprise integrations.
• Architect retrieval and knowledge management using RAG, knowledge graphs, semantic search, embeddings, and retrieval approaches.
• Design scalable cloud-native AI infrastructure on GCP, Kubernetes, IaC, observability, and identity services.
• Lead MLOps and LLMOps practices including deployment, evaluation, monitoring, governance and cost optimization.
• Partner with architecture, security, legal, risk, and business stakeholders to meet enterprise standards.
• Drive engineering excellence through reviews, reusable frameworks, mentorship, and operational best practices.
• Champion AI-assisted software engineering and establish patterns to accelerate delivery and quality.

Skills

5-8+ years of software engineering

Enterprise platforms

Cloud-native systems

Distributed applications

Generative AI technologies

Agentic architectures

RAG & memory systems

MLOps & LLMOps

GCP & Kubernetes

CI/CD & Infrastructure as Code

Observability tooling

Leadership & mentoring

Tools

Google Cloud Platform

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Infrastructure as Code

Observability tooling

Job description

Location Designation: Hybrid - 3 days per week

Technology, Data, AI and Ventures

Within the Tech, Data, AI, Ventures (TDAV) organization, our work is guided by a shared vision: deploying the power of technology, data, AI and ventures to accelerate sustainable competitive advantage for New York Life's businesses. We build solutions that power how we serve policy owners, agents, advisors and employees while delivering measurable business outcomes.

Across technology, data, AI, cyber, product, digital experience, architecture and infrastructure, TDAV combines the scale and investment of an industry leader, access to leading-edge technologies and the opportunity to help shape how a world-class financial services company competes in the AI era - all backed by the stability and purpose of a mutual company built to last.

Role Overview

As a Lead Full-Stack Engineer, you will play a key role in shaping and evolving New York Life's enterprise AI platform while building scalable agentic AI solutions that drive business transformation. You will collaborate closely with business stakeholders to lead technical initiatives, shape architecture decisions, and mentor engineers, while remaining highly hands‑on in the design, development, deployment, and operation of production AI systems.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the design and implementation of enterprise AI platform capabilities, including agent runtimes, lifecycle services, orchestration frameworks, memory services, governance systems, and developer tooling.
• Build and deliver complex agentic AI solutions using multi‑agent architectures, knowledge systems, planning frameworks, and enterprise integrations.
• Architect enterprise retrieval and knowledge management capabilities using RAG, knowledge graphs, semantic search, embeddings, and advanced retrieval approaches.
• Design scalable cloud‑native AI infrastructure using Google Cloud Platform, Kubernetes, Infrastructure as Code, observability frameworks, and enterprise identity services.
• Lead implementation of MLOps and LLMOps practices including deployment, evaluation, monitoring, governance, cost optimization, and production operations.
• Partner with architecture, security, legal, risk, and business stakeholders to ensure solutions meet enterprise standards.
• Drive engineering excellence through architecture reviews, reusable frameworks, technical mentorship, and operational best practices.
• Champion AI‑assisted software engineering and help establish engineering patterns that accelerate delivery and quality.

What You’ll Bring

• 5-8+ years of software engineering experience.
• Strong experience building enterprise platforms, cloud‑native systems, or distributed applications.
• Hands‑on expertise with generative AI technologies, agentic architectures, RAG, memory systems, retrieval solutions, and enterprise AI applications.
• Experience implementing MLOps and LLMOps capabilities in production environments.
• Strong cloud engineering experience with Google Cloud Platform, Kubernetes, CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, and observability tooling.
• Proven ability to lead complex technical projects and influence architecture decisions.
• Experience mentoring engineers and driving engineering best practices.

Why This Role

• Build across the full AI stack. Work on both the enterprise platform and the intelligent solutions built on top of it.
• Solve meaningful business problems. Develop production agentic AI systems that transform how work is performed across New York Life.
• Join a senior engineering team. Work alongside experienced engineers in a high‑autonomy, high‑ownership environment with minimal bureaucracy.
• Shape enterprise AI. Help define the engineering standards, governance patterns, and technical foundation that will enable AI across the organization.
• Build for the long term. This is a strategic platform investment focused on scalable, production‑ready capabilities—not short‑lived experiments.

Location

We are committed to attracting exceptional talent and will consider flexible work arrangements for the right candidate.

Job Level

LEVELPF4

Pay Transparency

Salary Range: $124,000-$177,000

Overtime eligible: Exempt

Discretionary bonus eligible: Yes

Sales bonus eligible: No

Actual base salary will be determined based on several factors but not limited to individual’s experience, skills, qualifications, and job location. Additionally, employees are eligible for an annual discretionary bonus. In addition to base salary, employees may also be eligible to participate in an incentive program.

Company Overview

At New York Life, our 180-year legacy of purpose and integrity fuels our future. As we evolve into a more technology‑, data‑, and AI‑enabled organization, we remain grounded in the values that drive lasting impact.

Our diverse business portfolio creates opportunities to make a difference across industries and communities - inviting bold thinking, collaborative problem‑solving, and purpose‑driven innovation. Here, you'll find the rare balance of long‑standing stability and forward momentum, supported by an inclusive team that honors tradition while embracing progress.

As a Fortune 100 mutual company, we offer a place to grow your skills, contribute to meaningful work, and deliver solutions that matter. Your ideas drive what's next, and your growth powers it.

Our Benefits

We provide a full package of benefits for employees - and have unique offerings for a modern workforce, including leave programs, adoption assistance, and student loan repayment programs. Based on feedback from our employees, we continue to refine and add benefits to our offering, so that you can flourish both inside and outside of work.

Our Commitment to Inclusion

At New York Life, fostering an inclusive workplace is fundamental to who we are and how we serve our communities. We have a longstanding commitment to creating an environment where individuals can contribute their best and succeed together. This foundation is rooted in our core values of humanity and integrity, ensuring that every employee feels valued and supported. By embracing a broad range of perspectives and experiences, we achieve greater success and fulfill our promise of providing financial security and peace of mind to families across all communities.

About New York Life

Recognized as one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies, New York Life is committed to improving local communities through a culture of employee giving and volunteerism, supported by the Foundation. We're proud that due to our mutuality, we operate in the best interests of our policy owners.