Description
Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer
We're looking for a Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer to lead the design, delivery, and adoption of AI/ML systems directly within client environments. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who thrives on architectural decisions, can own systems end-to-end, and drives real outcomes at the intersection of technical depth and client partnership.
In this role, you will embed with clients as a key technical leader, defining AI architecture, leading model development and optimization, and solving challenging integration problems in live enterprise environments. You'll parachute into in-flight work where reliability, security, and scalability are critical — and you'll be the person who makes it land. You'll raise the bar on how we build and deploy AI systems and help clients actually adopt and scale what we ship.
#
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 within client environments, owning architecture decisions and driving solutions from research through production at scale
- Build, deploy, and evolve scalable ML platforms, pipelines, and infrastructure that support reliable, repeatable model development and deployment — often within existing client constraints
- Diagnose and unblock integration challenges in live systems, adapting quickly to unfamiliar codebases, cloud environments, and organizational contexts
- Set the standard for AI-forward engineering, using tools like Claude and Cursor with sophistication and helping both our team and client teams adopt them effectively
Collaboration & Client Partnership
- Embed directly with client teams, earning trust quickly and translating their business problems into AI system designs that actually work in their environment
- Partner with product, engineering, and leadership — ours and the client's — to align technical direction with business outcomes
- Translate complex AI tradeoffs, risks, and opportunities into clear narratives for technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Lead design reviews and technical discussions, raising the bar for engineering rigor across both R&P and client teams
Leadership & Influence
- Define AI architecture and engineering standards for each engagement, bringing depth on tradeoffs, long-term implications, and responsible AI practices
- Drive client adoption of AI systems post-delivery — identifying gaps in understanding, building enablement materials, and upskilling client engineers where needed
- 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, including within client or enterprise constraints
- 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
- Comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-moving client environments — adapting quickly, communicating clearly, and earning trust at the engineering level
Our salary range is $177,375 – $209,625 USD
Similar jobs
Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer We're looking for a Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer to lead the design, delivery, and adoption of AI/ML systems directly within client environments. This role is ideal for an experie…
Company Overview Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and ship AI co-workers that integrate into enterprise operations and deliver measurab…
Est. 175,000 USD
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 c…
Est. 205,500 USD
Principal AI Engineering Architect We're looking for a Principal AI Engineering Architect to lead the design and delivery of complex, multi-domain systems spanning cloud, data, and AI — with deep, hands-on mastery of mul…
Est. 175,000 USD
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 c…
Est. 150,000 USD
Staff Platform Engineer Location: This position is a remote role based in the US Company Overview Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and…
Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and ship AI co-workers that integrate into enterprise operations and deliver measurable results for ou…
Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and ship AI co-workers that integrate into enterprise operations and deliver measurable results for ou…
Location: Lviv, Ukraine Company Overview Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and ship AI co-workers that integrate into enterprise operati…
Company Overview APPLICATIONS FROM OUTSIDE COLOMBIA AND ARGENTINA WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS ROLE Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design…
Est. 80,000 EUR
Our client is a fast-growing European fintech company in the business spend management space. We're looking for a Senior Applied AI Engineer to design, build and ship customer-facing AI features end-to-end. Responsibilit…
Est. 165,000 USD
Robots & Pencils is seeking a seasoned AWS AI Solutions Architect to lead the design and delivery of complex, enterprise-grade generative and agentic AI systems built on Amazon Web Services. You will architect scalab…
APPLICATIONS FROM OUTSIDE COLOMBIA WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS ROLERobots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and ship AI co-workers that int…
Est. 120,000 EUR
N-iX is a global software development company founded in 2002, connecting over 2,400+ tech professionals across 40+ countries. We deliver innovative technology solutions in cloud computing, data analytics, AI, embedded s…
Est. 166,000 USD
84.51° Overview: 84.51° is a retail data science, insights and media company. We help The Kroger Co., consumer packaged goods companies, agencies, publishers and affiliates create more personalized and valuable experienc…
Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and ship AI co-workers that integrate into enterprise operations and deliver measurable results for ou…
Company Overview Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and ship AI co-workers that integrate into enterprise operations and deliver measurab…
Est. 180,000 USD
About Us SharkNinja is a global product design and technology company, with a diversified portfolio of 5-star rated lifestyle solutions that positively impact people’s lives in homes around the world. Powered by two trus…
Est. 141,000 USD
This position will be onsite in Houston 50% of the time. 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…
Est. 144,000 USD
Location: United States – RemoteClearance: Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust LTS is seeking a Senior Agentic AI Software Engineer to build the intelligence behind the platform—the autonomous agents, orchestra…
Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and ship AI co-workers that integrate into enterprise operations and deliver measurable results for ou…
Position Title: AI Builder Work Location: BGC, Taguig City. (2 x onsite per week hybrid set up) Job Description: As an AI Builder, a full-stack AI software engineer, you will drive the engine of our core AI innovation, a…
Est. 215,000 USD
Who We Are Lightning AI is the company behind PyTorch Lightning. Founded in 2019, we build an end-to-end platform for developing, training, and deploying AI systems—designed to take ideas from research to production with…
Est. 140,000 USD
Location: United States – RemoteClearance: Ability to obtain and maintain a Public Trust LTS is seeking a highly skilled Senior Applied AI Engineer to focus on continuously improving the intelligence behind the platform.…
Est. 185,000 USD
Who We Are Lightning AI is the company behind PyTorch Lightning. Founded in 2019, we build an end-to-end platform for developing, training, and deploying AI systems—designed to take ideas from research to production with…
Est. 166,000 USD
84.51° Overview: 84.51° is a retail data science, insights and media company. We help The Kroger Co., consumer packaged goods companies, agencies, publishers and affiliates create more personalized and valuable experienc…
About Nebius: Nebius is leading a new era in cloud infrastructure for the global AI economy. We are building a full-stack AI cloud platform that supports developers and enterprises from data and model training through to…
About Nebius: Nebius is leading a new era in cloud infrastructure for the global AI economy. We are building a full-stack AI cloud platform that supports developers and enterprises from data and model training through to…
Robots & Pencils is an applied AI engineering firm building the next frontier of business architecture. We design and ship AI co-workers that integrate into enterprise operations and deliver measurable results for ou…
Est. 127,500 USD
Who We Are Lightning AI is the company behind PyTorch Lightning. Founded in 2019, we build an end-to-end platform for developing, training, and deploying AI systems—designed to take ideas from research to production with…