Hiring: Staff Software Engineer, AI Tooling Company: Vast Location: Long Beach, CA Job Posted Time: 2026-09-12 14:50:42 Employment Type: Full-time Target Skills & Keywords : Docker, Kubernetes, LLM, Large Language Model, Python, RAG, Spring, Svelte, SvelteKit, TypeScript About the job Experience: •Operational familiarity with RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) patterns and vector databases •Prior experience as a tech lead or in a similar engineering leadership role Required Skills: •Define the technical direction and long-term roadmap for Vast's internal AI platforms and tooling •Architect and lead the development of full-stack AI applications that serve diverse use-cases across the company •Establish engineering best practices, design patterns, and quality standards for AI systems development •Build and maintain production-grade integrations connecting AI models with internal tools, data sources, and workflows •Design and implement pipelines for AI response enforcement, content safety, and output formatting •Strategically drive evaluation and adoption of emerging AI frameworks, models, and patterns to continuously improve internal tooling •Collaborate cross-functionally with IT Infrastructure, security, and business stakeholders to integrate AI tooling with existing systems •Mentor and guide other engineers contributing to AI initiatives, fostering a culture of technical excellence Qualifications: •Bachelor's degree in computer science, math, an engineering discipline, or equivalent work experience •8+ years of software development or relevant industry experience •Demonstrated success in leading technical initiatives from concept through production deployment •Strong full-stack development proficiency with experience across both frontend and backend systems •Comprehensive expertise in AI/ML concepts, large language model architectures, prompt engineering, and modern AI tooling patterns •Demonstrated experience implementing and maintaining production applications at scale •Strong cross-functional communication skills with the ability to translate technical concepts for diverse audiences •Demonstrated capacity to travel up to 10% of the time •Willingness to work evenings and/or weekends to support critical mission milestones •Demonstrated capacity to lift up to 25 lbs unassisted Compensation: •$159,900 - $226,900 / year Interested candidates, please apply directly through the job posting on company's career page or try via AI auto apply on this platform. Don't miss this opportunity to join a forward-thinking team!