Lead Software Engineer (LLM Products)

Blue Rose Research; Oregon; Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental

Vision

401k match

Parental leave (20 weeks)

Fertility support

Unlimited PTO

Job summary

Blue Rose Research is seeking a Software Engineering Lead to set the technical direction for AI-powered products, including conversational interfaces and autonomous research agents. You will lead a team of engineers, stay hands-on, and partner with researchers, data scientists, and product stakeholders.

Remote-first with an NYC office, East Coast hours, and a competitive benefits package including 20 weeks parental leave and 401k match.

Qualifications

• 8+ years as a software engineer
• 2+ years as a tech lead or engineering lead
• Hands-on experience building products on top of LLMs
• Strong product instincts
• Mentors others and improves team processes
• Able to turn ambiguous problems into clear plans

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of engineers building end-to-end AI-powered products.
• Own technical direction and architecture for LLM-powered systems.
• Stay hands-on: write production code, review designs, unblock PRs.
• Set engineering quality, testing, observability, and AI output evaluation standards.
• Define how the team uses AI tools and coding agents to move fast with quality.
• Collaborate with researchers, data scientists, and engineers to translate problems into plans.
• Mentor engineers and help hire new team members.
• Plan sequencing of work to ensure readiness before deadlines.
• Dive into political strategy domain to align systems with user goals.

Skills

LLM experience

Technical leadership

Mentorship

Product instincts

Hands-on coding

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

About us

Blue Rose Research builds data and AI tools that help Democrats win elections and advance progressive causes. We forecast races, test ads at scale, and use AI to track what's breaking in the news, then help campaigns respond fast with messages that actually move voters. Our work has guided how hundreds of millions of dollars are spent by the country's top campaigns and progressive organizations. We're a small, mission-driven team of engineers, data scientists, and political strategists who build fast, experiment boldly, and care deeply about using technology for good.

Software Engineering Lead (LLM Products)

The 2028 cycle starts the day after the midterms, and a wide-open Democratic presidential primary will begin almost immediately. With a crowded field and a fragmented media environment, campaigns will need to understand what's reaching and persuading voters faster than ever, and our tools will be at the center of that work from the first days of the primary through the general election. We're hiring a Software Engineering Lead to set the technical direction for a new generation of AI-powered products: conversational interfaces, autonomous research agents, and tools that turn large amounts of data into information a person can act on in seconds. You'll lead a team of engineers building these systems, making the architecture calls, raising the bar on quality, and growing the people around you, while staying hands-on in the code. You'll partner closely with our political research team, data scientists, and product stakeholders to decide what to build and how to build it well. You'll be joining at the start of the cycle, with time to build systems and a team that are ready before the pressure peaks rather than scrambling to catch up.

You will:

• Lead a team of engineers building end-to-end products where agents and humans work together, from early prototypes through production.
• Own the technical direction and architecture for our LLM-powered systems: agents, retrieval, evaluation, and the infrastructure that keeps them reliable and fast.
• Stay hands-on: write production code, review designs and pull requests, and unblock the team on the hardest problems.
• Set the engineering bar for the team, including code quality, testing, observability, and how we evaluate AI output so people can actually trust it.
• Establish how the team uses AI tools and coding agents to move fast without compromising quality, and know when polish matters versus when it doesn't.
• Work closely with political researchers, data scientists, and other engineers to turn ambiguous problems into clear plans and simple, usable software.
• Mentor and grow engineers through feedback, pairing, and code review, and help hire the people who will join the team.
• Plan and sequence work across the cycle so our systems are ready before the pressure peaks, and make the call on tradeoffs when deadlines get tight.
• Dive head first into the world of political strategy to build systems that encode a deep understanding of the user's goals and thought processes.

Our ideal candidate likely:

• Has 8+ years of experience as a software engineer, including 2+ years as a tech lead or engineering lead, with a track record of shipped products you can point to.
• Has hands-on experience building products on top of LLMs.
• Has strong product instincts.
• Has made engineers around them better through mentorship, thoughtful processes, and clear technical writing.
• Is energized by ambiguous problems and can turn them into a plan a team can execute.
• Is motivated by Blue Rose Research's mission and interested in learning the progressive political ecosystem. Prior political or civic-tech experience is welcome but not required.

Join us!

We are a remote-first company with an office in NYC and regular team meetups. We primarily work East Coast hours.

The salary range for this position is $[TBD] - $[TBD] annually, commensurate with experience.

We offer medical, dental, vision, 401k match, 20 weeks paid parental leave, fertility and family-building support through Maven Clinic, and unlimited PTO.

You don't need to meet every qualification to apply. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds.

Candidates must be authorized to work lawfully in the United States.