Staff Software Engineer (AI)

TL;DR

Staff Software Engineer (AI): Leading the design and implementation of next-generation chatbot and search systems that power intelligent, personalized customer experiences, with an accent on large language models, conversational AI, and vector search. Focus on architecting and implementing scalable systems and guiding end-to-end delivery on cloud-based infrastructure.

Location: Onsite in Bellevue, WA

Salary: $166,000 - $265,500. Eligible for 401k and a new hire and annual equity grant.

Company

hirify.global is the most trusted and convenient destination for pet parents (and partners) everywhere.

What you will do

• Lead the design, implementation, and delivery of large-scale, distributed software systems that enable customer insights and personalization in search.
• Lead the design and development of large-scale chatbot and conversational AI services used by millions of customers.
• Collaborate with Principal Engineers to define technical vision and architecture for key Discovery systems, ensuring scalability, performance, and maintainability.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate business objectives into robust, scalable engineering solutions.
• Mentor and guide engineers across multiple levels, encouraging technical growth and high-quality delivery.
• Drive initiatives that improve developer efficiency, system observability, and operational excellence.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 12+ years of professional software engineering experience, with at least 2+ years in a Staff- or Principal-level technical leadership role.
• Proven success designing and delivering high-performance, distributed systems or large-scale backend services.
• Strong proficiency in one or more modern programming languages (e.g., Java, Kotlin, Python).
• Proficiency in Terraform and Jenkins.
• Deep understanding of system design, architecture patterns, and cloud-based deployment (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Strong understanding of LLM architectures, embeddings, and vector databases (e.g., Qdrant, Pinecone, Milvus, FAISS).
• Demonstrated ability to drive cross-team technical initiatives and influence architectural decisions.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to partner effectively across engineering, product, and data science teams.

Nice to have

• Experience in e-commerce or retail.
• Exposure to product-facing integration of ML features.
• Experience with modern search systems and Vector Search.
• Contributions to open-source LLM or chatbot frameworks.
• Prior experience mentoring and growing engineers into more senior technical roles.
• Advanced degree (MS or PhD) in Computer Science or related field.

Culture & Benefits

• Unlimited PTO, subject to manager approval.
• Six paid holidays per year.
• Eligible for paid sick and family leave in compliance with applicable state and local regulations.
• Medical/Rx, vision, dental, life, disability, hospital indemnity, critical illness, and accident insurance options.
• Parental leave, family services benefits, backup dependent care, flexible spending accounts, telemedicine, pet adoption reimbursement, employee assistance program.
• Discounts including 10% off pet insurance and 20% off at hirify.global.com.