Staff AI Engineer

Staff AI Engineer

HYBRID

RATE: $65 - 70/hr. C2C

Any Citizenship is Fine

Candidates MUST complete ROPES Assessment

Start Date: As soon as possible

Duration of the engagement: 6+ months

Location: Hartford, CT or Wellesley, MA

Work Model: Hybrid

Position Summary

We are looking for a highly skilled Staff Engineer to help build the next generation of conversational AI experiences across voice and chat. As a senior individual contributor and technical leader, you will design and deliver production-grade systems that power member, patient, and customer interactions at CVS Health scale.

You'll partner closely with product, design, data science, and other engineering teams to translate business needs into reliable, performant software. You'll set the technical direction for major components of our conversational AI platform, lead hands-on design and implementation of complex features, and elevate the engineering practices of those around you.

If you are passionate about conversational AI and have a proven track record of leading successful engineering teams in a fast-paced environment, we would love to hear from you.

As a Staff Engineer, you will:

Lead the technical design and implementation of major components of our conversational AI platform (chat and voice)

Own end-to-end delivery of complex features — from design through deployment, monitoring, and iteration

Drive engineering excellence in code quality, testability, performance, scalability, and observability

Perform deep design and code reviews; raise the technical bar across the team

Integrate and evaluate Large Language Models, NLU/NLP engines, and STT/TTS components into production pipelines

Partner with data scientists and ML engineers to operationalize models, evaluation frameworks, and guardrails

Collaborate with cross-functional partners to translate ambiguous business requirements into clear technical solutions

Help deploy, operate, and maintain large-scale software in production with strong operational discipline

Mentor mid-level and senior engineers on advanced technical topics and best practices

Contribute to the long-term technical strategy alongside Principal Engineers and architects

Required Qualifications

8+ years of experience designing and building software engineering solutions in cloud environments (GCP, AWS, or Azure)

8+ years of experience in one or more modern languages, such as Python, Java, C#, JavaScript, SQL, etc.

8+ years of experience with APIs, microservices, and modern software patterns

3+ years of experience working with cross-functional stakeholders on complex requirements

Solid working knowledge of conversational AI technologies (e.g., chatbots, voice assistants, LLMs, STT/TTS, NLU/NLP engines)

Preferred Qualifications

Hands-on experience integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) into production applications, including prompt engineering, RAG, and evaluation

Experience developing and supporting voice and text chatbots, including dialog design at scale

Experience with conversational AI platforms (e.g., Dialogflow, Lex, Rasa, Genesys, NICE, Twilio) and CCaaS/IVR Integrations

Familiarity with LLM evaluation, guardrails, observability, and A/B testing of dialog flows

Strong communication skills, capable of explaining technical concepts to both engineering and business audiences

Advanced degree (Master's or PhD) in Computer Science, Engineering, AI, or a related field

Education

Bachelor's degree from an accredited university or equivalent work experience.