Staff Engineer, Applied AI

collectorsuniverse; United States; Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Collectors is seeking a Staff Applied AI Engineer to join the Applied AI function. This embedded, build-first role offers portfolio-level ownership: you own a domain, decide AI problems to tackle, and ship end-to-end solutions. You’ll prototype fast, prove value commercially, and scale patterns beyond your own builds.

You’ll report to the Head of Applied AI. Remote or hybrid candidates are welcome as we value in-person collaboration for the right work.

Responsibilities

• Own a business domain and map the AI opportunity across an entire lane, e.g. Operations, Marketplace, or Finance.
• Build the hardest use cases yourself, taking them from prototype through production, adoption and impact.
• Turn one-off wins into reusable patterns by extracting common assets for the team.
• Define success up front and prove it at the portfolio level with measurable value.
• Design for earned autonomy with traces, evals, and human‑in‑the‑loop gates.
• Operate as a power user of frontier AI, using Claude, OpenAI, and our orchestration platform daily.

Tools

Claude

OpenAI

Job description

Collectors is the leading creator of innovative technology that provides value-added services for collectors worldwide. We grade, authenticate, vault, and sell millions of record-setting collectibles, all while modernizing and digitalizing the process to further our mission of helping collectors pursue their passions. We're always on the lookout for talented people to join our growing team.

Our services span collectible trading cards, autographs, comic books, coins, video games, event tickets, and memorabilia. Our subsidiaries include PSA, PCGS, Beckett, SGC, and Card Ladder.

Since our founding in 1986, we have graded and authenticated millions of items. We employ more than 3000 people across our headquarters in Santa Ana, California and offices in New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Japan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Canada, Mexico, Germany, the UK, and France.

As part of our interview process, we request that candidates have their cameras on during video interviews. This helps foster meaningful conversation and allows us to create an experience that closely resembles our standard working environment. Certain interview steps may take place by phone. For remote roles, and at our discretion, candidates may be asked to participate in an on-site interview as part of the final stages of the process.

We understand there may be occasional circumstances requiring accommodation and are happy to discuss them as needed. Your recruiter will be able to clarify expectations and answer any questions you have.

We're transforming the collecting experience with technology that brings authentication, grading, and trading into the modern era. Our products are equalizing the playing field by providing tools that make complex research analytics (including pricing, scarcity reports, and historic sales data) accessible to every collector, old or new. Our engineering mission is to democratize technology while promoting innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning throughout the organization.

We're looking for a Staff Applied AI Engineer to join the Applied AI function at Collectors. This is an embedded, build-first role with portfolio-level ownership: you'll own a full business domain, decide which problems in it are worth solving with AI, and build and ship the solutions end-to-end. You'll still prototype fast and prove value in business terms, but your impact compounds beyond your own builds: the patterns you establish, the assets you make reusable, and the roadmap you shape become the way the whole team ships in your lane.

This is not a traditional software engineering role, and it's not an architecture-only role either. We're looking for a product-minded builder who leads through shipped work: someone who can walk into an unmapped business domain, earn the trust of its leaders, build the first few wins personally, and then turn those wins into a durable portfolio.

You’ll report to the Head of Applied AI. Remote or hybrid candidates will also be considered. We believe that there is significant value in in‑person collaboration.

What You’ll Do

Own a business domain, not just a use case. You’ll be accountable for the AI opportunity across an entire lane (for example Operations, Marketplace, or Finance): mapping the workflows, sizing the opportunities, and deciding what gets built, in what order, and why.

Build the hardest use cases yourself. You spend the majority of your time hands‑on. You take the first, riskiest, or most technically demanding builds in your lane from prototype through production, adoption, and measured impact.

Turn one‑off wins into reusable patterns. You notice when three builds share a shape, extract the common asset (a connector, an eval harness, a workflow pattern), and make it something every builder on the team can pick up.

Define success up front and prove it at portfolio level. You instrument outcomes before you build, and you can stand in front of the domain’s leadership and account for the cumulative value your lane has delivered.

Design for earned autonomy. You build agents with the traces, evals, and human‑in‑the‑loop gates that let them graduate to more autonomy on evidence, not on elapsed time, and you help set that standard for others.

Operate as a power user of frontier AI. Use Claude, OpenAI, and our orchestration platform daily as your primary tools, and bring a strong, current point of view on models, harnesses, and tooling that informs the team’s platform choices.

Win trust at the leadership level. Your stakeholders are function leaders, not just operators. You navigate competing priorities, secure sponsorship, and keep skeptical partners engaged through delivery.

Multiply the builders around you. You review designs and code, unblock senior and mid‑level engineers, raise the hiring bar as an interviewer, and make the people around you measurably better.

Build production‑grade applications around AI systems. You can design and implement the application layer around agents and AI work