Senior AI Engineer

Robots and Pencils; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 188,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid time off

Medical/dental/vision insurance

401(k)

Job summary

Robots and Pencils is seeking a Senior AI Engineer to design, build, and deliver production AI/ML systems. You will own features end-to-end, contribute to architecture decisions, and bring strong technical judgment to complex problems.

You’ll join a cross-functional team developing models, data pipelines, and training workflows, deploying robust systems to production with emphasis on reliability, performance, and scalability.

Qualifications

• 4+ years professional software engineering experience, with 2+ years focused on AI/ML systems in production
• Strong software engineering background (Python or similar)
• Cloud platforms experience, preferably AWS GenAI
• Proven ability to design and ship agentic systems
• Experience with AI frameworks and orchestration tools
• Observability tools for LLM apps
• Understanding of AI safety and prompt defenses

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and deploy ML/AI models end-to-end, including data pipelines and training workflows
• Maintain and evolve AI systems in production, monitoring drift and debugging issues
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and data teams to align AI work with goals
• Translate tradeoffs and model behavior into non-specialist terms
• Participate in code reviews and design discussions
• Contribute to AI architecture decisions and end-to-end ownership

Skills

Python

AI/ML systems

Cloud platforms (AWS)

Docker & Kubernetes

AI tooling (Claude, Cursor)

API development

Observability & evalu. frameworks

AI safety & responsible AI

Code reviews & collaboration

Ownership of end-to-end features

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Claude

Cursor

AWS GenAI offerings

Job description

We’relooking for aSeniorAI Engineer to design, build, and deliverproductionAI/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 datapipelinesand training workflows around them, and deploying systems to production environments.You’llbe joining real, in-flight work where reliability, performance, and scalability matter.You’llcollaborate 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 fora humanworld. Our name says it all. Robots and pencilsmeansengineering paired with creativity, because every agent we shiphas towork 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 to45 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 optimizationfor 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
• 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 productionand hands-on experience with generative AI development
• Strong software engineering background (Python or similar)
• Working knowledge of cloud platforms, preferablywith in-depth understanding of AWS servicesandAWS 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
• API development experience, including designing and integrating with internal and third-party services
• Working knowledge of Docker and Kubernetes for containerized deployments
• Demonstrable, day-to-day usage and knowledge of AI-forward coding tools such as ClaudeCodeand Cursor
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to navigate ambiguous technical challenges with sound judgment

You’ll Do Well Here if You Are

• A doer. You see something broken and fix it.You'drather move on clarity than wait for certainty.
• A fast learner who knows youdon'tknow everything. The AI landscape changes weekly.You'resenior 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'drather havethehard conversation thanblowsmoke.
• Obsessed withcraft. You know genius is in the details. You shipexceptional, notperfect, and youdon'tput your name onworkyouwouldn'tstand behind.
• Built for ownership. You honor commits, 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. Constraintsdon'tslow you down. They sharpen you.
• Glad to be in the room with people who care as much as you do. Our teams average fifteen-plus years of experience. We hire people who push each other to do better work.

The below range reflects the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range. This range may be modified in the future. An employee's position within the salary range will be based on several factors including, but not limited to, relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, seniority, geographic location, performance, shift, travel requirements, sales or revenue-based metrics, any collective bargaining agreements, and business or organizational needs. The salary range for this role is $139,750-$188,125 USD.

We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off, medical/dental/visioninsuranceand 401(k) to eligible employees.

An offer of employment may be conditional upon successful completion of a background checkin accordance withlocal legislation and ourcandidateprivacy notice. Your current employer will not be contacted without your permission. We are committed to ensuring equal employment opportunities for all job applicants and employees. Employment decisions are based upon job-related reasons regardless of an applicant's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, marital status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by law.