Staff AI Engineer

Robots & Pencils; California (MO); On-site; USD 125,558 - 173,239; Full time

Job summary

Robots & Pencils is seeking a Staff AI Engineer to lead AI/ML systems design and delivery, owning architecture end-to-end on a cross-functional team. You'll drive model development, deploy scalable pipelines, ensure reliability, security, and cost considerations, and raise the bar on engineering standards for AI products used by real users.

Ideal candidates bring 7+ years in software engineering with 4+ years in production AI/ML, strong Python design skills, and deep cloud expertise (AWS GenAI).

Qualifications

• 7+ years software engineering with 4+ years in production AI/ML.
• Python or similar language with scalable systems design.
• Deep cloud expertise and AWS GenAI understanding.
• Proven track record shipping complex AI systems.
• mastery of AI frameworks and orchestration tools.
• Experience with evaluation frameworks and observability for LLM apps.
• Understanding of AI safety, responsible AI, and PII handling.
• Experience building RAG pipelines and vector databases.
• API design and integration at scale.
• Cost optimization for AI workloads.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end design and delivery of complex ML/AI systems.
• Build and evolve scalable ML platforms and pipelines.
• Set AI engineering standards and guide adoption of tools.
• Mentor junior engineers and drive cross-team collaboration.
• Own high-stakes work from research to production with reliability and cost control.

Skills

AI/ML system design

Python development

Cloud platforms (AWS)

Agentic systems

RAG pipelines

API design

Observability

Cost optimization

Code reviews

Mentoring

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Claude Code

Cursor

AWS GenAI

Job description

We’re looking for a Staff AI Engineer to lead the design and delivery of AI/ML systems. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who thrives on architectural decisions, can confidently own systems end‑to‑end, and contributes to technical leadership across the team.

In this role, you will work as a key technical leader on a cross‑functional team, defining AI architecture, leading model development and optimization, and solving challenging integration problems. You’ll be joining real, in‑flight work where reliability, security, and scalability are critical. You’ll establish engineering standards, raise the bar on how we build AI systems, 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

• Lead the design and implementation of complex ML/AI systems end‑to‑end, owning architecture decisions and driving solutions from research through production at scale
• Build and evolve scalable ML platforms, pipelines, and infrastructure that support reliable, repeatable model development and deployment across teams
• Set the standard for AI‑forward engineering, using tools like Claude and Cursor with sophistication and helping the team adopt them effectively

Collaboration & Communication

• Partner with product, engineering, and leadership to shape AI strategy and align technical direction with business outcomes
• Translate complex AI tradeoffs, risks, and opportunities into clear narratives that drive decision‑making across technical and non‑technical stakeholders
• Lead design reviews and technical discussions, raising the bar for engineering rigor and constructive challenge across the team

Leadership & Influence

• Define AI architecture and engineering standards, bringing depth on tradeoffs, long‑term implications, and responsible AI practices
• Mentor and grow junior and mid‑level engineers, multiplying impact through coaching, code reviews, and pairing on hard problems
• Take ownership of the most ambiguous and highest‑stakes pieces of work, driving them through to production with care for reliability, cost, and safety

What You’ll Bring

• 7+ years professional software engineering experience, with 4+ years focused on AI/ML systems in production and deep hands‑on experience with generative AI development
• Expert software engineering background (Python or similar) with strong design sensibilities for scalable, maintainable systems
• Deep expertise with cloud platforms, including in‑depth understanding of AWS services and AWS GenAI offerings
• Proven track record designing and shipping complex agentic systems in production environments
• Mastery of AI frameworks and orchestration tools
• Strong experience with evaluation frameworks and observability tools for LLM apps, including building these capabilities where they don’t yet exist
• Deep understanding of AI safety, responsible AI principles, prompt injection defenses, and PII handling
• Extensive experience building RAG pipelines: chunking strategies, embedding models, vector databases, and advanced retrieval techniques
• API design experience, including architecting and integrating with internal and third‑party services at scale
• Advanced cost optimization expertise: token economics, caching strategies, model routing, quantization
• Strong working knowledge of Docker and Kubernetes for containerized deployments
• Demonstrable, day‑to‑day usage and expert knowledge of AI‑forward coding tools such as Claude Code and Cursor

Salary Range: $176,612 – $243,680 CAD