Staff Software Engineer, AI Enablement & Platform Strategy

Root Inc.; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 189,000 - 265,000; Full time

Job summary

Root Inc. is transforming auto insurance through AI-enabled platforms and a strong engineering culture.

As a Staff Software Engineer on the AI Enablement Squad, you will set cross-team direction for AI adoption, tie real workflows to AI Platform strategy, and drive initiatives to turn learnings into reusable capabilities. You will partner with product and technical leaders to scale AI-native practices, mentor engineers, and measure adoption impact across the company.

Qualifications

• 7+ years as a software engineer.
• 3+ years leading software teams or major technical initiatives.
• Ability to set technical direction and deliver results across multiple teams or a meaningful functional domain.
• Deep fluency with AI tools, technologies, and application patterns, including judgment about responsible and scalable use.
• Strong product, systems-thinking, and problem-framing skills in ambiguous, cross-functional environments.
• Experience turning user needs and experiments into reusable products, platforms, or operating models.
• Ability to align senior stakeholders, drive cross-team decisions, and communicate complex AI concepts clearly.
• A record of identifying strategic technical investments, unblocking large initiatives, and developing engineers beyond an immediate team.
• Excellent collaboration and influence skills with technical and non-technical leaders.

Responsibilities

• Define how Root discovers, adopts, and scales AI-native ways of working across teams.
• Lead strategic embedded engagements connecting company priorities, real user workflows, and the reusable capabilities AI Platform should build next.
• Turn patterns from the field into platform strategy, architecture, and technical investments that create value across initiatives.
• Design scalable engagement and adoption models that help more teams learn faster while reducing repeated effort.
• Align engineering and business leaders on the opportunities, tradeoffs, outcomes, and responsible practices that matter most.
• Unblock multi-team initiatives and establish clear ways to measure whether AI adoption is changing how Root works for the better.
• Develop engineers and technical leaders through mentorship, systems thinking, and a clear example of user-centered technical leadership.

Skills

Software engineering

Team leadership

AI tools

Systems thinking

Stakeholder management

Collaborative leadership

Product mindset

Technical strategy

Mentorship

Job description

Root Inc. is transforming auto insurance through AI-enabled platforms and a strong engineering culture.

As a Staff Software Engineer on the AI Enablement Squad, you will set cross-team direction for AI adoption, tie real workflows to AI Platform strategy, and drive initiatives to turn learnings into reusable capabilities. You will partner with product and technical leaders to scale AI-native practices, mentor engineers, and measure adoption impact across the company.