Staff AI Engineer

Apptegy is more than a tech company; we are dedicated partners transforming communication for school districts nationwide. We develop cutting-edge solutions that empower schools to build strong brands, effectively reach their audiences, and deeply understand their communities. Our commitment to client success and passion for education is reflected in our fast response times and unparalleled support. As an employer, Apptegy fosters a dynamic and supportive environment where our people are known for being thoughtful, innovative, and high-performing. We invest in you, providing exceptional mentorship and offering resources designed for your success, believing that empowering you drives our collective growth and positive impact across the education landscape.
Why You’ll Love This Job
As a Staff AI Engineer at Apptegy, you'll thrive if you're passionate about shaping the future of AI within a product suite, not just building features. This is a unique opportunity to make a tangible impact by embedding cutting-edge LLM capabilities directly into user experiences. You'll enjoy solving complex problems at the intersection of product, engineering, and artificial intelligence. If you are driven to mentor an engineering organization, establish AI best practices, and see your strategic vision come to life, this is the perfect place to grow your leadership and technical expertise.

What You'll Do

• Collaboration: Work closely with product, design, and other engineering teams to translate business needs into impactful, scalable AI solutions.
• Hands-On Implementation: Design, optimize, and evaluate sophisticated prompts for LLMs. Build and manage robust integrations with multi-cloud platforms and LLM providers, utilizing modern MLOps practices for deployment, monitoring, and governance.
• Technical Leadership: Lead the technical design and integration of AI models into our product suite. Drive the adoption of best practices for responsible, ethical, and secure AI development across the engineering organization.
• Mentorship: Mentor and guide other engineers, fostering a culture of AI literacy and innovation and leveling up the entire team's capabilities.

What You'll Bring

• Education & Experience: A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience with 8+ years of experience in software engineering
• Software Engineering: Expertise in software architecture, design patterns, API design, and building scalable, production-grade systems.
• Python: Strong proficiency in Python and its data science/AI ecosystem.
• LLM Model Expertise: Deep understanding of modern LLM architectures and extensive hands-on experience applying them to real-world products using techniques like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and fine-tuning.
• Prompt Engineering: Demonstrated expertise in prompt engineering to achieve precise and reliable outcomes.
• Data Engineering Basics: Familiarity with data pipelines, ETL processes, databases, and data governance relevant to AI systems.

What Helps You Stand Out

• Ruby on Rails:  Proficiency or at least exposure to Ruby on Rails, which is the bulk of our tech stack.
• Machine Learning Foundation: Strong understanding of core ML concepts, frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch), and the full model lifecycle from training to deployment.
• LLM orchestration tools: Experience with common AI frameworks and tool (e.g., LiteLLM, LangChain) and observability platforms (e.g., Langfuse).
• Polyglot: Exposure to multiple languages and technologies, including Java, Javacript
• Experience with MLOps: Including model deployment, monitoring, and governance. This includes familiarity with data pipelines, ETL processes, and AI evaluation metrics.
• Exceptional Technical Leadership: Your ability to provide clear technical direction, mentor engineers, and effectively communicate complex AI concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strategic Problem-Solver: You don't just solve problems; you anticipate future AI trends and strategically position the product suite and engineering organization to capitalize on them.
• Strong Cross-Functional Bridge Builder: Your proven ability to collaborate seamlessly with product managers, designers, and other engineering teams, effectively bridging the gap between technical possibilities and business requirements.
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Why Apptegy: 
At Apptegy, we're deeply committed to creating an environment where you can thrive. We strive to make this a truly impactful and rewarding role, equipping you with experiences that propel your future success. We believe in fostering well-being both at work and at home, which is why we provide:Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life insurance coverageRetirement 401(k) with employer matchHealth Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)Mental Health ReimbursementUnlimited paid time off including seasonal (December) company-wide time offPaid parental and medical leave

Apptegy champions the thoughtful integration of AI to empower our teams and processes. As we seek to understand your individual capabilities and how you might contribute, we ask that all responses to application questions and during interviews are genuinely your own. Please refrain from using AI generation tools, as our aim is to assess your authentic voice and expertise.
Apptegy is an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.