Software Engineering Manager - AI

A high-growth consumer technology company is seeking a Software Engineering Manager, AI to join its expanding engineering organization. This company delivers digital products to a large, engaged user base and is investing heavily in AI to enhance personalization, automation, and overall user experience at scale.

This position has been created as part of a broader initiative to embed AI across both customer-facing applications and internal platforms. It offers a unique opportunity to lead impactful programs and shape how intelligent systems are integrated into a widely used digital ecosystem.

In this role, you will operate at the intersection of Product, Data, Engineering, and AI—leading teams that build and scale intelligent features while helping define the organization’s long-term approach to applied AI. You’ll work closely with cross-functional partners to turn evolving business needs into scalable, production-ready solutions. This is a fully remote role, with a preference for candidates based in California. This is also a 6-month contract with an opportunity to be hired permanently (Contract-to-hire).

The culture emphasizes accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement, with strong leadership visibility and the opportunity to influence technical direction at scale.

General Responsibilities:
• Lead and develop a team of engineers focused on building AI-driven applications and services.
• Drive delivery across multiple concurrent initiatives, ensuring successful execution from concept through production.
• Partner with product stakeholders to define features, prioritize work, and shape user-facing experiences.
• Translate complex or undefined requirements into clear technical plans and execution strategies.
• Oversee the design and implementation of systems leveraging modern AI capabilities, APIs, and data pipelines.
• Establish and promote best practices for developing, testing, and deploying scalable systems.
• Collaborate with infrastructure, data, and platform teams to support performance and reliability.
• Mentor team members and foster a culture centered on learning, experimentation, and responsible innovation.

General Qualifications:
• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including 2+ years in a leadership capacity.
• Experience building or integrating AI/ML capabilities into production systems.
• Familiarity with modern AI approaches, including large language models (LLM), prompt design, and evaluation methods.
• Understanding of concepts such as retrieval-based systems (RAG), embeddings, and orchestration frameworks.
• Strong background in backend or full-stack development (e.g., Node.js, Python, Java).
• Experience designing and building distributed systems and scalable APIs.
• Exposure to cloud-based environments (AWS - strongly preferred, Azure, GCP or similar) and modern system architectures.
• Demonstrated success leading teams delivering complex, user-facing applications.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence across teams.

Compensation & Benefits:
• Approx. 6-month contract-to-hire opportunity: $100-120/hour while on contract
• Target base salary upon conversion: $250,000
• Excellent Healthcare
• Fully remote work environment (California-based candidates preferred)
• High-visibility role with meaningful impact on product and technology direction
• Opportunity to lead and scale AI-driven initiatives within a growing organization