Senior/Staff AI Engineer (NYC)

Job Description

Senior/Staff AI Engineer (NYC)

Compensation: [Compensation varies by role — ($200k - $650k) + Equity]

Location: New York City — Hybrid / Onsite

Join some of NYC’s most ambitious teams building at the forefront of AI.

People In AI is partnering with a range of high-growth AI companies in New York City. If you’re an exceptionally strong software engineer who has moved into AI — or an AI/ML engineer with serious software engineering depth — we’d like to hear from you.

Our clients are building across applied AI, generative AI, LLMs, agents, ML infrastructure, developer tooling, and AI-native products. While the problems vary, they have one thing in common: they need engineers who can take ownership of difficult, ambiguous problems and turn cutting-edge AI into reliable products and systems.

Rather than applying to multiple individual openings, apply here, and our team can match your background against the most relevant Senior/Staff level AI Engineering opportunities across our portfolio.

What You’ll Do

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• Build and ship production-grade AI and ML systems
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• Own technically challenging problems from initial idea through deployment and iteration
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• Develop robust software and infrastructure around modern AI models
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• Work across the stack where needed, from model integration and evaluation to APIs, backend systems and production infrastructure
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• Improve the reliability, scalability, latency and performance of AI-powered products
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• Collaborate closely with researchers, product teams, founders and other engineers
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• Move quickly in environments where requirements can be ambiguous and individual ownership matters
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What You’ll Bring

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• A strong software engineering background with excellent coding fundamentals
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• Professional experience building production systems, ideally within AI/ML-heavy environments
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• Demonstrated ownership — you’ve taken difficult problems, figured out what needed to happen and driven them through to completion
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• Experience working with modern machine learning or AI technologies
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• Strong problem-solving ability and comfort operating with ambiguity
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• An engineering mindset that values both experimentation and production quality
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• Interest in working closely with highly technical, fast-moving teams
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• Openness to hybrid or onsite work in New York City
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Tech Stack

Specific technologies vary by opportunity, but we’re particularly interested in engineers with experience across areas such as:

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• Python
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• PyTorch / JAX / TensorFlow
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• LLMs and generative AI
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• RAG, agents and model evaluation
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• APIs and backend systems
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• Cloud infrastructure
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• Distributed systems and ML infrastructure
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• Data pipelines and production ML systems
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Why Apply?

New York’s AI ecosystem is growing quickly, and we’re working with a number of teams tackling technically difficult problems with real-world impact.

This application is designed as an entry point to that network. We have multiple AI Engineering opportunities across different company stages, technical focuses, and levels of seniority, so we can focus on the roles that make the most sense for your particular background rather than trying to fit you into a single opening.

About People In AI

People In AI is a boutique recruitment agency focused exclusively on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. We connect exceptional technical talent with ambitious organizations building the next generation of AI products, platforms and infrastructure.