Senior AI Engineer

Daniel Street Group; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Daniel Street Group in Boston is seeking a Senior AI Engineer to architect and build the backend for a multi-year engagement, leveraging distributed databases, machine learning, and production agentic systems. Architectural decisions made early will define the technical foundation for the program's lifecycle.

You will lead data and retrieval layer design, agentic core development, and collaborate with a co-founder and the forward‑deployed engineering team to translate client requirements into a

Qualifications

• Experience designing and operating production data systems at scale.
• Production ML and agentic architectures experience a must.
• Ability to balance latency, reliability and cost in large-scale systems.

Responsibilities

• Architect data and retrieval layer end-to-end for production systems.
• Design agentic core—model selection, retrieval pipelines, tool routing, evaluation harnesses, and production controls.
• Lead foundational technical decisions shaping long‑term architecture and engineering direction.
• Collaborate with co-founders and forward-deployed team to deliver scalable production systems.

Skills

Distributed DBs

Machine learning

Agentic systems

Data architecture

Production systems

Job description

The Senior AI Engineer will architect and build the agentic backend fora multi-year engagement requiring substantial expertise acrossdistributed databases, machine learning, and production agentic systems.Architectural decisions established in the early phase of the engagementwill define the technical foundation of the program for the duration ofits lifecycle.

Responsibilities

• Architect the data and retrieval layer end-to-end, including schemadesign, indexing, query planning, evaluation, and observability forsystems operating under significant production load.
• Design and implement the agentic core, including model selection,retrieval pipelines, tool routing, evaluation harnesses, and theproduction controls required for reliable operation at scale.
• Lead foundational technical decisions that establish the long-termarchitecture and engineering direction of the program.
• Partner closely with a co-founder and the forward-deployed engineeringteam to translate client requirements into a robust, scalableproduction system.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in databases and data systems. Demonstratedexperience designing and operating production data systems at scale,including query planners, indexing strategies, distributed storage,and performance tuning. Proven track record diagnosing and resolvingissues that emerge at high scale.
• Senior-level machine learning and agentic systems experience.Production experience with retrieval pipelines, evaluationframeworks, and agentic orchestration, with sound judgment regardingthe appropriate application of each.
• Infrastructure-grade engineering rigor. Disciplined considerationof latency, reliability, cost, and failure modes throughout thedesign and implementation process. Experience with large-scalesystems where correctness and performance are equally critical,suchas search infrastructure, large-scale data platforms, or comparabledomains.
• Seven or more years of senior engineering experience, includingownership of production systems relied upon by other teams andstakeholders.
• Experience operating in ambiguous, foundational engineeringenvironments. Ability to decompose complex, novel technicalproblems into clear workstreams and deliver against them.