Staff Applied AI Engineer

Who you are

• B.S. in Computer Science, Engineering, Math/Statistics, or equivalent experience
• 8+ years in customer-facing technical roles (pre-sales, solutions engineering, or applied AI), including discovery, scoping, demos, proof-of-value engagements, and RFP responses
• Hands-on Python experience and familiarity with the modern Gen AI stack - LLM ecosystems, RAG, vector databases, data processing, synthetic dataset curation, evaluation workflows, LLM orchestration and agent authoring tools
• Expertise across the predictive ML stack, including classical ML (e.g., scikit-learn) and data processing frameworks (e.g., pandas, Spark)
• Ability to operate in fast-paced environments and rapidly build prototypes (ML solutions, RAG systems, prompt-based workflows, fine-tuned models, agentic systems) that demonstrate business value
• Able to translate ambiguous business problems into testable technical approaches and measurable success criteria
• Strong presentation and storytelling skills with the ability to engage both technical and executive audiences with credibility
• Experience estimating scope and producing technical content for proposals and Statements of Work

What the job involves

• As an Applied AI Engineer (Pre-Sales), you will partner closely with Sales and our AI Solution Practice Leaders during pre-sales engagements
• You will lead technical discovery and solution scoping to identify high-value use cases, and develop tailored demos and pilots that demonstrate how modern GenAI and machine learning techniques can drive measurable business outcomes
• You will also translate proposed solutions into clearly scoped, technically sound proposals and Statement of Works (SOWs) that set realistic expectations and position engagements for success, while collaborating with delivery teams during initial implementation
• This role sits at the intersection of deep technical problem-solving and customer partnership
• You will help customers unpack complex business challenges, quickly prototype solutions, and clearly communicate technical approaches to both engineering teams and senior business stakeholders
• From early architecture discussions to demo development, you will play a key role in helping organizations adopt AI effectively while surfacing field insights that inform our product and research roadmap
• Partner closely with Sales and our AI Solution Practice Leaders to shape technical strategy across active prospects, win technical evaluations, and ensure a seamless transition to post-sales delivery through structured handoff documentation and clear expectation alignment
• Lead structured technical discovery engagements with prospects to understand business objectives, success criteria, data landscape, architectural constraints, security considerations, and organizational readiness
• Translate discovery findings into well-defined GenAI solution architectures that demonstrate technical feasibility and business impact using internal frameworks, and complementary third-party technologies
• Design, build and deliver bespoke demos, including evaluation pipelines, dataset strategy, retrieval-augmented generation systems, fine-tuning workflows, prompt engineering strategies, and agentic architectures tailored to specific customer use cases and senior business stakeholders
• Author and contribute to custom proposals, including Statements of Work and RFP/RFI responses, ensuring scope clarity, architectural soundness, realistic effort estimates, and alignment with delivery capabilities
• Systematically capture reusable patterns from bespoke demos and evolve them into reference architectures, demo assets, benchmarks, and internal solution playbooks
• Annual travel up to 25%

Benefits

• Health: Snorkelers and their dependents are covered by comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans.
• Wellness: All Snorkelers get a yearly wellness stipend to use on anything related to health and well-being.
• PTO and rest days: We provide unlimited personal time off so you can find your work-life balance. Plus, two company-wide rest days per quarter in addition to company holidays.
• One global team: From our headquarters in Redwood City, CA, to regional offices in San Francisco and New York, we work together as one global team.
• Events: Get to know your fellow Snorkelers outside of work! We host regular events and learning opportunities for our teams across our offices and virtually to connect, have fun, and grow.
• Family leave: Snorkel offers generous parental leave for both birthing and non-birthing parents based on eligibility.