Staff Software Engineer, AI Tooling

Long Beach, CAfull timeOn Site

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senior

$160k–$227k

H1B: no

Vast Staff Software Engineer, AI Tooling at Vast defines technical direction and leads development of internal AI platforms for artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. The role includes architecting full-stack AI applications and establishing engineering best practices.

Responsibilities

Define the technical direction and long-term roadmap for Vast's internal AI platforms and tooling
Architect and lead the development of full-stack AI applications that serve diverse use-cases across the company
Establish engineering best practices, design patterns, and quality standards for AI systems development
Build and maintain production-grade integrations connecting AI models with internal tools, data sources, and workflows
Design and implement pipelines for AI response enforcement, content safety, and output formatting
Drive the evaluation and adoption of emerging AI frameworks, models, and patterns to continuously improve internal tooling
Collaborate cross-functionally with IT Infrastructure, security, and business stakeholders to integrate AI tooling with existing systems
Mentor and guide other engineers contributing to AI initiatives, fostering a culture of technical excellence
Ensure the reliability, observability, and scalability of production AI systems
Rapidly iterate on AI tooling as the technology landscape and company needs evolve

Qualification

Bachelor's degree in computer scienceDeep understanding of AI/ML conceptsExperience with Svelte or SvelteKit

Required

Bachelor's degree in computer science, math, an engineering discipline, or equivalent work experience
8+ years of software development or relevant industry experience
Proven track record of leading technical initiatives from concept through production deployment
Strong full-stack development proficiency with experience across both frontend and backend systems
Deep understanding of AI/ML concepts, large language model architectures, prompt engineering, and modern AI tooling patterns
Demonstrated experience implementing and maintaining production applications at scale
Experience establishing engineering best practices and providing technical mentorship
Strong cross-functional communication skills with the ability to translate technical concepts for diverse audiences

Preferred

Experience with Python and TypeScript in production environments
Experience with Svelte or SvelteKit
Experience with OpenWebUI or similar open-source AI interface platforms
Experience building or integrating MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers and gateways
Experience with LLM API integration and AI pipeline development
Experience with containerization and deployment (Docker, Kubernetes)
Familiarity with RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) patterns and vector databases
Experience building or leading AI/ML platforms at scale

Benefits

Dental
Vision
401(k)
PTO
Equity/RSU
Parental Leave
Life Insurance

Company

Vast

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Source: greenhouse

Active within the past hour

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