Manager, AI Engineering - Analytics

Drata; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 197,800 - 267,600; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary

Stock equity

100% employer-paid medical premiums

401(k) plan

Job summary

Drata is seeking an experienced AI Engineer to lead a small team focused on shaping the AI and data direction of our analytics and reporting experience. This role demands strong software engineering skills, particularly in AI/ML, to develop innovative solutions and enhance product value.

The ideal candidate will possess 6+ years of experience, including deployment of AI systems to production, and have the ability to mentor team members while driving technical projects. We offer a competitive salary range and generous benefits.

Qualifications

• 6+ years software engineering experience, 2+ focused on AI/ML.
• Experience shipping production software and leading projects.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead a small team and shape AI and data direction.
• Write code, design systems, and review pull requests.
• Define technical direction for AI-driven analytics.

Skills

Software engineering experience

AI/ML experience

Strong SQL skills

Project leadership

Communication skills

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Job description

We are looking for a player‑coach AI engineer who will lead a small team and shape the AI and data direction for our in‑product analytics and reporting experience.

Responsibilities

• Write code, design systems, and review pull requests.
• Own critical paths and pair with engineers on the hardest parts of the product.
• Keep close to the codebase and the customer experience while the team scales.
• Set engineering quality standards through own work.
• Lead a small focused team, run 1:1s, give feedback, and hire as needed.
• Set goals, run management basics (performance, career growth, health) and partner with leadership.
• Define the technical direction for AI‑driven analytics and data foundation.
• Make pragmatic decisions across the stack from data modeling to agent design.
• Develop and maintain multi‑tenant data access patterns for customer‑scoped data at scale.
• Stay current on applied AI developments and bring relevant ideas to the team.
• Build natural‑language data experiences, grounding AI responses, ensuring accuracy and trust.
• Build evals, telemetry, and testing loops; establish eval‑driven development and metrics.
• Partner with product on scope, sequencing, and trade‑offs; ship iterative releases.
• Establish metrics that prove product value, instrument adoption, and learn from real usage.

Qualifications

• 6+ years software engineering experience, 2+ focused on AI/ML or applied AI.
• At least one end‑to‑end AI system (agent/LLM) deployed to production.
• Hands‑on experience building and using evals to measure and improve AI quality.
• Strong SQL skills, experience with modern data warehouses, data modeling.
• Experience shipping production software on small teams and full stack.
• Track record of leading projects, mentoring engineers, and driving technical direction.
• Strong written and verbal communication.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field or equivalent experience.

Bonus Qualifications

• Customer‑facing data product or embedded analytics experience.
• Experience with semantic modeling layers or modern BI infrastructure.
• Integrating AI agents with structured data sources.
• Background in compliance, security, GRC or regulated SaaS verticals.
• Prior tech lead or team lead experience.
• Experience at high‑growth SaaS companies.

Benefits & Compensation

• Competitive base salary with a range of $197,800–$267,600.
• Stock equity to share in company growth.
• Maximum 100% employer‑paid premiums for medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents.
• 401(k) plan, life and disability insurance, tax‑advantaged accounts, and other financial benefits.
• Paid parental leave and fertility benefits.
• Generous development stipend and internal learning opportunities.
• Flexible vacation policy, paid holidays, and time‑off perks.
• Opportunities to contribute to a mission‑driven culture focused on trust, speed, and growth.