Staff Applied AI Product Engineer

About the role

As a Staff Applied AI Product Engineer at Carrum, you will bridge the gap between cutting-edge AI capabilities and real-world patient needs. You will take a hands-on leadership role in architecting and integrating Large Language Model (LLM)-driven features into our core platform. Your responsibilities include:

• Leading the evolution of our stack to support AI-native workflows and build agents to support key business initiatives.
• Collaborating with Data and Product teams to determine use cases that require LLMs rather than ML, build robust RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) pipelines, select appropriate foundation models, iterate on prompts, and design the "glue" that turns raw model intelligence into reliable product features.
• Working closely with our DevOps team to leverage AWS/Azure for simple and cost-effective cloud infrastructure deployment, ensuring that systems are both performant and resilient.
• Implementing comprehensive monitoring and observability practices to guarantee the high availability, security, and scalability of our new AI services.
• Partnering with our internal clinical experts to validate model outputs, ensuring your AI agents are safe, accurate, and truly helpful in a healthcare setting.
• Owning the AI engineering strategy, moving us beyond "demos" into scalable, production-ready systems.
• Mentoring the wider engineering team on AI-native development practices (such as prompt engineering and context management) and collaborating with product managers to identify high-leverage opportunities where AI can radically simplify the healthcare experience.
• Partnering with the VP of Engineering and Chief Product Officer to staff and align delivery teams on your initiatives, while working with product teams to define project timelines and milestones from inception to go-live.

Responsibilities

• Define the Gen AI technical roadmap: Build the foundation of Applied AI function at Carrum and have a direct impact on how Carrum leverages Generative AI to automate complex healthcare coordination and improve patient outcomes.
• Build "magic" features: Move fast to prototype, iterate and ship AI-powered experiences that feel magical to users, such as instant answer bots or automated appointment logistics.
• Architect for the future: Be the sole expert on integrating vector databases, orchestration frameworks (like LangChain), and LLM APIs into a mature Service-Oriented Architecture.
• Bridge the gap: Act as the translator between the "stochastic" world of AI models and the "deterministic" world of software engineering, ensuring reliability and trust.
• Lead without ego: Mentor talented full-stack engineers on how to incorporate AI tools into their workflows, lifting the technical ceiling of the entire team.
• Own the outcome: Take ownership of the full lifecycle of AI features—from prompt iteration and evaluation to production monitoring and user feedback loops.
• Solve meaningful problems: Relish working with a diverse cross-functional group to solve actual pain points for patients, rather than just building tech for tech’s sake.
• Prioritize quality: Hold yourself and others accountable to spending that extra 10% on a project to deliver great documentation in addition to the functionality itself.

Requirements

To succeed in this role, you should have:

• Strong engineering roots: 10+ years of software development experience and being the most senior engineer on a team.
• Expert AI practitioner: 2+ years of dedicated professional experience architecting production-grade applications with LLMs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Llama).
• Knowledge of the stack: Experience working in a web application environment (Ruby on Rails, Python), designing systems, and exposing AI logic via performant APIs to frontend clients (React).
• Infrastructure expertise: Comfortable working with DevOps to design and configure Terraform for AI infrastructure, ensuring your services are deployable, reproducible, and scalable.
• Tech leadership: Enjoy technical leadership through code reviews, architectural design docs (RFCs), and teaching others, while also project managing cross-functional initiatives—breaking down ambiguous requirements, managing dependencies, and coordinating across teams to deliver on time.
• AI-native mindset: Use AI developer productivity tools (e.g., Cursor, GitHub Copilot) daily to accelerate your workflow and mentor the team on effective AI-assisted development.
• Data pragmatism: Comfortable with SQL and data modeling, understanding that good AI requires good data infrastructure.
• Entrepreneurial spirit: As a member of a startup, excel at going from 0 to 1, finding creative ways to use AI to launch new products quickly and make a big impact with limited resources.
• Complexity management: Experience handling deadlines, keeping many balls in the air, and prioritizing work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Diverse thought: Value distinct human skills and don't have a hard time being empathetic, courteous, and friendly.

Qualifications

To qualify for this role, you should have:

• Experience working in a web application environment (Ruby on Rails, Python), designing systems, and exposing AI logic via performant APIs to frontend clients (React).
• Comfortable working with DevOps to design and configure Terraform for AI infrastructure, ensuring your services are deployable, reproducible, and scalable.
• Tech leadership: Enjoy technical leadership through code reviews, architectural design docs (RFCs), and teaching others, while also project managing cross-functional initiatives—breaking down ambiguous requirements, managing dependencies, and coordinating across teams to deliver on time.
• AI-native mindset: Use AI developer productivity tools (e.g., Cursor, GitHub Copilot) daily to accelerate your workflow and mentor the team on effective AI-assisted development.
• Data pragmatism: Comfortable with SQL and data modeling, understanding that good AI requires good data infrastructure.
• Entrepreneurial spirit: As a member of a startup, excel at going from 0 to 1, finding creative ways to use AI to launch new products quickly and make a big impact with limited resources.
• Complexity management: Experience handling deadlines, keeping many balls in the air, and prioritizing work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Diverse thought: Value distinct human skills and don't have a hard time being empathetic, courteous, and friendly.

Skills

To excel in this role, you should possess:

• Strong engineering roots: 10+ years of software development experience and being the most senior engineer on a team.
• Expert AI practitioner: 2+ years of dedicated professional experience architecting production-grade applications with LLMs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Llama).
• Knowledge of the stack: Experience working in a web application environment (Ruby on Rails, Python), designing systems, and exposing AI logic via performant APIs to frontend clients (React).
• Infrastructure expertise: Comfortable working with DevOps to design and configure Terraform for AI infrastructure, ensuring your services are deployable, reproducible, and scalable.
• Tech leadership: Enjoy technical leadership through code reviews, architectural design docs (RFCs), and teaching others, while also project managing cross-functional initiatives—breaking down ambiguous requirements, managing dependencies, and coordinating across teams to deliver on time.
• AI-native mindset: Use AI developer productivity tools (e.g., Cursor, GitHub Copilot) daily to accelerate your workflow and mentor the team on effective AI-assisted development.
• Data pragmatism: Comfortable with SQL and data modeling, understanding that good AI requires good data infrastructure.
• Entrepreneurial spirit: As a member of a startup, excel at going from 0 to 1, finding creative ways to use AI to launch new products quickly and make a big impact with limited resources.
• Complexity management: Experience handling deadlines, keeping many balls in the air, and prioritizing work in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
• Diverse thought: Value distinct human skills and don't have a hard time being empathetic, courteous, and friendly.

Benefits

Carrum offers a comprehensive benefits package including:

• Stock option plan
• Flexible schedules and remote work
• Chicago and San Francisco offices available
• Self-managed vacation days, within reason
• Paid parental leave
• Health, vision, and dental insurance
• 401K retirement plan

Pay

The salary range for this role is $190,000 - $260,000 depending on level of experience and geographic location.

Schedule

This is a full-time position.