Staff AI Engineer

TL;DR

Staff AI Engineer (AI/ML): Leading the design and delivery of complex AI/ML systems end-to-end with an accent on architectural decision-making and scalable infrastructure. Focus on building production-ready agentic systems, optimizing LLM performance, and establishing engineering standards for responsible AI development.

Location: Must be based in Canada

Company

hirify.global designs AI systems for human-centric workflows, balancing engineering rigor with creative problem-solving to deliver production-ready AI solutions.

What you will do

• Lead the design and implementation of complex ML/AI systems from research through production.
• Build and evolve scalable ML platforms, pipelines, and infrastructure for reliable model deployment.
• Define AI architecture and engineering standards, focusing on reliability, security, and scalability.
• Partner with product and leadership to shape AI strategy and align technical direction with business outcomes.
• Mentor junior and mid-level engineers through coaching, code reviews, and technical pairing.
• Take ownership of high-stakes, ambiguous technical challenges to drive them to production.

Requirements

• Must be based in Canada
• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 4+ years in production AI/ML systems.
• Expertise in Python and designing scalable, maintainable software systems.
• Deep experience with AWS, GenAI offerings, and building agentic systems.
• Extensive knowledge of RAG pipelines, vector databases, and advanced retrieval techniques.
• Strong understanding of AI safety, responsible AI principles, and PII handling.
• Experience with cost optimization, token economics, and model routing.

Nice to have

• Expert knowledge of AI-forward coding tools like Claude Code and Cursor.
• Experience with Docker and Kubernetes for containerized deployments.
• Background in integrating with enterprise services like ServiceNow or Jira.

Culture & Benefits

• Focus on high-velocity delivery with production-ready AI shipped in 30-45 days.
• Emphasis on craft, ownership, and technical leadership.
• Collaborative environment pairing engineering with creative workflows.
• Opportunity to shape AI engineering practices across the organization.