Lead AI Engineer (Hands-On) – NYC (4 Days On-Site)
Making sure you fit the guidelines as an applicant for this role is essential, please read the below carefully.
Large, Mission-Driven Non-Profit
We’re partnering with a well-funded, high-impact non-profit in New York City that is investing heavily in modern engineering and AI capabilities. They’re looking for a Lead AI Engineer who is still very much hands-on, someone who writes real code, ships production systems, and can help shape the next generation of their platform.
This is not a “PowerPoint AI” role. They want someone who has actually built things.
What You’ll Do
Design and build production-grade AI-powered systems that drive real-world impact
Architect and implement RAG pipelines, LLM integrations, and agent-based workflows
Lead backend development across microservices, APIs, and data systems
Help define the AI and data platform strategy while staying close to the code
Partner with product, data, and business stakeholders to turn ideas into working solutions
Set engineering standards around testing, scalability, and maintainability
What They’re Looking For
~10+ years of experience as a hands-on software engineer (backend-heavy)
Strong coding skills (Python preferred) with solid software engineering fundamentals
Experience building and shipping AI integrations in production
RAG pipelines, LLM-based systems, MCP-style architectures, or similar
Deep understanding of microservices, xsgimln distributed systems, and databases
Someone who thinks in systems, evaluates tradeoffs, and can propose multiple design paths
Collaborative, low-ego, team-first mindset
Why This Role
Real impact, not vanity AI projects
Strong engineering culture, they care about clean systems and good code
Opportunity to own and shape AI direction at an organization doing meaningful work
Leadership without losing your hands-on edge