Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer

Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer

San Diego, CA | Full-Time | Flexible Hybrid (San Diego, CA) | US Work Authorization Required (No Visa Sponsorship)

Crucial Recruiting is partnering with a hyper-growth, bootstrapped, and highly profitable AI engineering and solutions firm. The company has scaled from under 20 to 70+ team members in less than a year with zero outside institutional funding, led by an executive team with a proven track record of scaling and taking tech firms public.

About the Opportunity

We are seeking a Staff Forward Deployed AI Engineer (5–10 years of experience) to serve as the technical backbone and engineering leader for the San Diego engineering pod. This is a high-impact hybrid seat bridging deep software engineering craft with client-facing executive presence: you will architect complex production AI systems, lead technical engagements with client executive teams, establish the engineering bar, and mentor engineers.

What You'll Do

AI Architecture & Systems Delivery

• Design, build, and deploy end-to-end client-facing production AI architectures, including agentic workflows, RAG pipelines, vector search/embeddings, voice agents, and document processing automation.
• Own the full lifecycle of client deployments, taking AI systems from design through to live production monitoring, evaluation, and maintenance.

Technical Leadership & Mentorship

• Own the technical bar for the San Diego engineering pod with direct mentorship and leadership responsibilities.
• Set coding, testing, and architecture standards for client deliverables.

Client Engagement & Executive Advisory

• Partner directly with client CTOs, CFOs, and technical leaders to translate complex business requirements into scalable, production AI solutions.
• Hold technical authority in executive conversations and align technical roadmap with client business outcomes.

Integrations & Infrastructure

• Deploy, monitor, and maintain live client systems on major cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Connect models, agents, and pipelines into core enterprise systems (e.g., Salesforce, Fireflies) and REST APIs.

What We're Looking For

• 5–10 years of professional software engineering experience, with significant customer-facing or forward-deployed responsibilities.
• Real track record driving architecture decisions and shipping live GenAI/LLM systems running in production (RAG pipelines, agentic workflows, LangChain/LlamaIndex, Vector DBs, Prompt Engineering, or Voice Agents) post-launch (not prototype/demo-only experience).
• 1+ years of experience formally mentoring, leading, or managing engineers.
• Strong Python engineering skills combined with deep production cloud deployment experience across AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Based in San Diego, CA (or commutable from Orange County, Temecula, or Riverside) with flexibility for in-person onboarding and collaboration.
• US Work Authorization (US Citizen or Green Card; no visa sponsorship available).
• BS/MS in Computer Science, Electrical/Computer Engineering, or a related STEM discipline.

Strongly Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience developing production voice agents tied to measurable business outcomes.
• Background in fast-paced startup environments or scaling technical client solutions teams.
• High agency, low ego, and strong comfort navigating ambiguity.

Technical Environment

• Python, Anthropic Claude, OpenAI API
• LLM Orchestration, RAG Pipelines, Agentic Workflows, Vector Search / Embeddings, Agent Frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex), Voice Agents
• AWS, GCP, Azure, REST APIs, Document Processing Pipelines
• Enterprise Integrations (Salesforce, Fireflies)

Why This Role Is Worth Your Time

• Direct Equity & Upside: Bootstrapped and profitable with aggressive growth toward a 2028 IPO trajectory.
• Compensation: $160,000–$225,000 base salary, competitive equity, 10% commission on client deals brought in, 3–4x annual transaction bonuses, and monthly compensation reviews.
• True Autonomy: Full ownership of architecture decisions and engineering standards without bureaucratic approval layers.

This search is managed exclusively by Crucial Recruiting. Company details will be shared with candidates who advance to the interview stage.