Staff AI Engineer

Harnham; New York (NY); On-site; USD 230,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Harnham is seeking a Staff AI Engineer in New York, onsite, to lead the development of production-grade AI systems and LLM-based applications. You will own architecture, drive delivery, and collaborate with data scientists and stakeholders to deliver measurable value.

This deeply hands-on role emphasizes ownership, low bureaucracy, and the ability to ship impactful AI tooling in close partnership with senior stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering background, Python preferred.
• Experience building production AI systems (LLM apps).
• Knowledge of prompt design, embeddings, RAG, evaluation & monitoring.
• Experience deploying AI products for non-technical users.
• Able to set direction while remaining a hands-on builder.

Responsibilities

• Design and build LLM-based applications, including retrieval-augmented generation and agent-style workflows.
• Own end-to-end system architecture, performance, and scalability.
• Develop AI tools to support research, monitoring, knowledge discovery, and decision support.
• Establish evaluation and quality frameworks to ensure AI outputs meet reliability standards.
• Review code, set engineering standards, and mentor other engineers.
• Partner with non-technical users to translate complex workflows into AI products.

Skills

Python

Production AI

Prompt design

Embeddings & vectors

RAG architectures

Model evaluation & monitoring

Deploying AI products

Technical leadership

Non-technical stakeholder impact

Job description

Staff AI Engineer

(Hands-on, LLM Platforms, Technical Lead)

Location: New York
Working model: On-site
Package: $250,000 + Equity + Bonus

The Opportunity

An established, technology-driven organisation is building a central AI engineering capability to support complex, data-intensive decision-making across the business.

This is a high-impact individual contributor role for a Senior AI Engineer who enjoys operating close to the commercial core. You'll take ownership of critical AI systems from architecture through to deployment, working within a small, trusted technical group with direct access to senior stakeholders.

The environment suits someone who thrives in low-bureaucracy, high-autonomy settings, where AI is expected to deliver real, measurable value, not experiments for experimentation's sake.

The Role

You will act as the technical lead for advanced AI tooling, owning system design and delivery across a range of internal use cases.

Responsibilities include:

• Designing and building LLM-based applications, including retrieval-augmented generation and agent-style workflows
• Owning end-to-end system architecture, performance, and scalability
• Developing AI tools to support research, monitoring, knowledge discovery, and decision support
• Establishing evaluation and quality frameworks to ensure AI outputs meet high reliability standards
• Reviewing code, setting engineering standards, and supporting the development of other engineers
• Partnering closely with non-technical users to translate complex workflows into intuitive AI products
• Assessing third-party tooling and platforms where appropriate

This is a deeply hands-on role with real ownership.

What We're Looking For

Core requirements:

• Strong software engineering background (Python preferred)
• Proven experience building production AI systems, particularly modern LLM applications
• Solid understanding of:
  • Prompt design and iteration
  • Embedding pipelines and vector databases
  • RAG architectures and tool-use patterns
  • Model evaluation and monitoring
• Experience deploying AI products used by non-technical stakeholders
• Comfortable setting technical direction while remaining a builder

Nice to have:

• Exposure to complex analytical or commercial domains
• Experience working in small, senior engineering teams
• Background in cloud-native environments

Why Join?

• Ownership of mission-critical AI systems
• Direct visibility of impact, your work will be used day-to-day
• Modern AI stack with freedom to make technical decisions
• Long-term scope to shape and grow the AI engineering function

Desired Skills and Experience

VP, AI Engineer