Senior AI Developer

robotsandpencils; United States; On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Robots & Pencils seeks a Senior AI Engineer to design, build, and deliver production AI/ML systems. You will own features end-to-end, contribute to architectural decisions, and ensure reliability, performance, and scalability in production.

You will work with a cross-functional team to design models, build data pipelines, and deploy systems in production environments, shaping how AI capabilities scale across client projects.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of software engineering experience, with hands-on AI/ML in production.
• Proven ability to design and ship AI/ML systems with end-to-end ownership.
• Strong Python background and software craftsmanship.
• Experience with AI safety, data pipelines, and observability for LLM apps.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and deploy AI/ML models end-to-end from concept to production.
• Build data pipelines and training workflows around models.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and data teams to align AI work with business goals.
• Participate in code reviews and design discussions, providing constructive feedback.

Skills

Python

AI/ML in prod

AWS experience

Containerization

Docker

Kubernetes

RAG pipelines

LLM tooling

Code reviews

Agentic systems

Observability tools

Prompt safety

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS

Job description

We're looking for a Senior AI Engineer to design, build, and deliver production AI/ML systems. This role is ideal for an engineer with several years of experience who can confidently own features end-to-end, contribute to architectural decisions, and bring strong technical judgment to the problems they take on.

In this role, you will work as a key contributor on a cross-functional team, designing and implementing models, building the data pipelines and training workflows around them, and deploying systems to production environments. You'll be joining real, in-flight work where reliability, performance, and scalability matter. You'll collaborate with experienced engineers to enhance existing systems, deliver new capabilities, and contribute to the technical decisions that shape how our AI work scales over time.

Why This Role Matters

At Robots & Pencils, we design AI systems for a human world. Our name says it all. Robots and pencils means engineering paired with creativity, because every agent we ship has to work for real people in real workflows. That balance is baked into how we operate.

Every role here contributes directly to that mission. Here, you shape how AI systems integrate into enterprise operations, how teams move at real velocity, and how products create measurable impact for clients and the people they serve. We ship production-ready AI in 30 to 45 days. That pace demands people who take ownership, lead with craft, and care deeply about what they put their name on.

What You'll Do

Craft & Delivery

Design, implement, and deploy ML/AI models end-to-end, from concept through production, including data pipelines, training workflows, and optimization for performance, accuracy, and efficiency.

Maintain and evolve AI systems in production, monitoring for drift, debugging issues, and driving ongoing improvements to reliability and scalability.

Bring an AI-forward coding mindset to your daily work, using tools like Claude and Cursor to ship higher-quality work at pace.

Collaboration & Communication

Partner closely with product, engineering, and data teams to align AI work with broader product and business goals.

Translate technical tradeoffs, model behavior, and constraints into terms non-specialists can act on.

Participate actively in code reviews and design discussions, raising concerns and offering constructive feedback.

Leadership & Influence

Contribute to AI architecture decisions with thoughtful perspective on tradeoffs and long-term implications.

Take ownership of meaningful work end-to-end, including the unglamorous parts of getting AI into production.

Raise the bar on engineering practices through your own work and by supporting more junior engineers when opportunities arise.

What You’ll Bring

• 4+ years professional software engineering experience, with 2+ years focused on AI/ML systems in production and hands-on experience with generative AI development
• Strong software engineering background (Python or similar)
• Working knowledge of cloud platforms, preferably with in-depth understanding of AWS services and AWS GenAI offerings
• Proven ability to design and ship agentic systems
• Experience with AI frameworks and orchestration tools
• Experience with evaluation frameworks, and observability tools for LLM apps
• Understanding of AI safety, responsible AI principles, prompt injection defenses, and PII handling
• Hands-on experience building RAG pipelines: chunking strategies, embedding models, vector databases
• API development experience, including designing and integrating with internal and third-party services
• Cost optimization expertise: token economics, caching strategies, model routing, quantization
• Working knowledge of Docker and Kubernetes for containerized deployments
• Demonstrable, day-to-day usage and knowledge of AI-forward coding tools such as Claude Code and Cursor
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to navigate ambiguous technical challenges with sound judgment

Helpful Extras and Unique Skills

You’ll Do Well Here if You Are

• A doer. You see something broken and fix it. You'd rather move on clarity than wait for certainty.
• A fast learner who knows you don't know everything. The AI landscape changes weekly. You're senior enough to know better and curious enough to keep learning anyway.
• Direct in a way that makes the work better. You give honest feedback. You'd rather have the hard conversation than blow smoke.
• Obsessed with craft. You know genius is in the details. You ship exceptional, not perfect, and you don't put your name on work you wouldn't stand behind.
• Built for ownership. You honor commitments, admit mistakes fast, and back your teammates when a decision costs something. No handoffs, no finger-pointing.
• All in. You treat clients' businesses like your own. You take the work seriously without taking yourself seriously.
• Resourceful when the budget, timeline, or team is tight. Constraints don't slow you down. They sharpen you.

Glad to be in the room wit