Staff AI Engineer

Remote; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 160,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-First Company

Unlimited PTO

Flexible & remote location

Healthcare Coverage (Medical, Dental,

Vision)

401k & bonus

Registered Dietitian Sessions

Job summary

Foodsmart is seeking a Staff AI Engineer to shape architecture and delivery of AI-powered systems. You’ll operate at the intersection of backend engineering and ML, designing resilient infrastructure, deploying advanced models, and mentoring engineers across teams.

You will set strategy, elevate engineering standards, and drive AI innovation into scalable, real-world impact across the organization.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• 2+ years at Staff Engineer level or equivalent.
• 4+ years backend development with TypeScript/Node.js and SQL RDBMS.
• 1+ years deploying ML/AI models to production with fine-tuning.
• Strong knowledge of cloud infrastructure (AWS) and scalable APIs.
• Experience with data pipelines and model deployment practices.
• Proven leadership in setting technical direction.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture and implementation of distributed backend systems for ML models.
• Lead design for AI integration across product lines with real-time & batch inference.
• Fine-tune and deploy pre-trained models for healthcare, finance, or operations.
• Evaluate build-vs-buy options and integrate external AI services as needed.
• Define platform-wide standards for backend, MLOps, governance, and observability.
• Mentor engineers to improve system design and code quality across teams.
• Collaborate with product, ML research, data engineering and DevOps.
• Influence AI strategy and roadmap; explore emerging technologies.

Skills

8+ years software engineering

Staff Engineer leadership

Backend, TypeScript/Node.js

ML model deployment in production

Cloud architecture & AWS

Data pipelines & orchestration

Cross-team collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS/Engineering

Tools

TypeScript

Node.js

PostgreSQL

MySQL

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

dbt

Dagster

Job description

| About us:

Foodsmart is the leading Foodcare platform in the U.S., built to deliver nutrition-driven healthcare at scale. Powered by a national network of Registered Dietitians, Foodsmart combines personalized clinical nutrition care, behavior change tools, and food benefits to improve member health outcomes while lowering healthcare costs.

Our platform is designed to foster healthier food choices, drive lasting behavior change, and deliver sustainable health outcomes. Through our highly personalized, digital platform, we guide more than 3 million members—including those in employer-sponsored health plans, regional and national Medicaid managed care organizations, Medicare Advantage plans, and commercial insurers—on a tailored journey to eating well while saving time and money.

Foodsmart seamlessly integrates dietary assessments and nutrition counseling with online food ordering and cost-effective meal planning for the entire family, optimizing ingredients both at home and on the go. We partner with national and regional retailers across the U.S., many of whom accept SNAP/EBT, making healthier food more accessible. Additionally, we assist members with SNAP enrollment and management, providing tangible access to nutritious food. In 2024, Foodsmart secured a $200 million investment from TPG’s Rise Fund, which supports entrepreneurs dedicated to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. This investment helps us expand our reach, particularly to low‑income workers who are disproportionately affected by diet‑related diseases.

At Foodsmart, our mission is to make nutritious food accessible and affordable for everyone, regardless of economic status. We are committed to a set of core values that shape our culture and work environment:

• Customer First - You start with the member and work backwards.
• Make It Happen - You act with urgency, use data, and hold high standards.
• One Team - You collaborate with respect and commit as a group.

Whether you're a dietitian, a commercial leader, or a technologist, working at Foodsmart means being part of a team that is passionate, supportive, and driven by a shared purpose. Join us in transforming the way people access and enjoy healthy food.

| About the role:

Foodsmart is seeking a Staff AI Engineer who will play a critical leadership role in shaping the architecture and delivery of AI‑powered systems across the organization. You’ll operate at the intersection of backend engineering and applied machine learning—designing resilient infrastructure, deploying cutting‑edge models, and mentoring engineers across teams. This role goes beyond building software: it’s about setting strategy, elevating engineering standards, and turning AI innovation into scalable, real‑world impact.

You will

• Own the architecture and implementation of distributed, high‑scale backend systems and APIs that serve machine learning models in production.

• Lead technical design for AI integration across product lines, enabling real‑time and batch inference workflows using LLMs, transformers, and classification models.

• Drive the fine‑tuning and deployment of pre‑trained models (e.g., from Hugging Face or OpenAI) for mission‑critical business use cases in domains such as healthcare, finance, or operations.

• Integrate external AI services where appropriate and evaluate trade‑offs for build vs. buy decisions.

• Define and evolve platform‑wide standards for backend engineering, MLOps, model governance, and observability.

• Mentor and support senior and mid‑level engineers, both within your team and across functions, to elevate system design and code quality.

• Collaborate with cross‑functional leaders in product, ML research, data engineering, and DevOps to align technical initiatives with business goals.

• Influence AI strategy and roadmap, evaluating emerging technologies and frameworks for future adoption.

• Lead root‑cause analyses and performance tuning to ensure systems remain reliable, efficient, and scalable.

You are

• A senior technical leader with a demonstrated ability to architect, build, and scale AI‑backed systems in production environments.

• Comfortable operating across layers—from backend API services to AI Services and ML model lifecycle management—while driving architectural clarity and system‑level thinking.

• Experienced in bridging the gap between research and production, with a strong focus on reliability, maintainability, and business outcomes.

• Skilled at leading cross‑team initiatives, guiding technical direction, and fostering a high‑trust engineering culture.

• Able to influence without authority, collaborating across teams to align on complex technical trade‑offs.

• Deeply invested in engineering excellence, with a strong bias toward automation, observability, and security.

You have

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 2+ years at the Staff Engineer level or equivalent

• 4+ years of experience with backend development in TypeScript, Node.js, and SQL‑based RDBMS (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL)

• 1+ years deploying ML/AI models to production, with hands‑on experience fine‑tuning LLMs or transformer‑based models

• Deep understanding of system architecture, cloud infrastructure (AWS), and scalable API design

• Strong experience with Data Pipeline tooling (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes, dbt, Dagster) and model deployment practices

• Proven leadership in setting technical direction, mentoring engineers, and driving cross‑team projects to completion

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field

| About our benefits and perks:

• Remote‑First Company
• Unlimited PTO
• Flexible & remote location
• Healthcare Coverage (Medical, Dental, Vision)
• 401k & bonus
• Registered Dietitian Sessions

Foodsmart is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It is our firm policy to extend equal employment and advancement opportunity to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, national origin, citizenship status, religious creed, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth and/or breastfeeding), gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, marital status, disability (physical or mental) and/or a medical condition, genetic information, ancestry, veteran status or service in the uniformed services, and any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local law.