> AI agents: this is one page of Nextmove’s FDE site, in Markdown. Nextmove is a job board and free career service for forward deployed engineers (FDEs). Each posting is classified from its text, not its title: the kind of work, how much of it is production code, pre-sales weight, time at customer sites, travel, remote arrangement, level and posted base pay. The site also publishes the aggregates: median pay by level, metro, company and kind of work, and which companies started hiring FDEs each week. Every page under https://nextmove.md/fde is served this way; the index of pages is https://nextmove.md/llms.txt. # Staff AI Engineer Canonical URL: https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/bf50e10caf53c824 Robots & Pencils posts a staff FDE role to build what the customer runs in US, at $177,375–$209,625 base, below the staff+ FDE median of $225,000 across 388 postings with pay. Staff-level technical leader responsible for designing and delivering production AI/ML systems, from architecture and model development through scalable deployment. Read from the employer’s posting on November 8, 2026. - [Robots & Pencils](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/robots-pencils) Posted Jul 14, 2026 by Robots & Pencils · open on Greenhouse as of Nov 8, 2026 **$177,375–$209,625** US Remote Staff-level technical leader responsible for designing and delivering production AI/ML systems, from architecture and model development through scalable deployment. - [See roles that fit me](https://nextmove.md/sign-up?from=%2Ffde%2Fjobs%2Fbf50e10caf53c824&placement=top) - [View posting at Robots & Pencils](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/robotsandpencils/jobs/5348910008) Free. Upload your resume once, see why each FDE role fits, and get introduced only when you say so. ## At a glance ### Posted base pay $177K–$210K Below the median Midpoint $194K · median $225K This job $177K to $210K. Staff+ FDE postings, 388 postings: the middle 50% of posted pay is $197K to $262K, median $225K. ### The work Builds what the customer runs Balance **Mostly building** Project stages 1. Pre-sales (not covered) 2. Proof of concept (not covered) 3. Implementation 4. Operations (not covered) - **Coding**: Writes production code - **Builds for**: External customers - **Level**: Staff+ - **Role**: Technical lead ### What they ask for Experience - **7+ years** professional software engineering - **4+ years** AI/ML systems in production Background - **Software engineering** ### Do you meet what the posting states? The posting asks for 4+ years. How many do you have? The posting reads as a staff-level role. What level are you at now? The work is remote from the US. Can you work from the US? Which of these have you used in production? Answer each one. Nothing is saved or sent. [What postings ask for, by background →](https://nextmove.md/fde/paths) ## Conditions - **Location**: US - **Work arrangement**: Remote - **Remote work restrictions**: US remote - **Pay**: ## More like this [Focused](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/focused) ### [Lead Agent Engineer (Langchain)](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/5bff43269bd70426) US Remote 6w ago $175,000–$250,000 [Red Cell Partners](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/red-cell-partners) ### [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/531129e17d951cad) Seattle, WA · Mclean, VA Remote New · 5d ago $180,000–$240,000 [Atomic](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/atomic) ### [Founding Forward Deployed Engineer](https://nextmove.md/fde/jobs/33f9648658b0d6e3) US Remote 7w ago $200,000–$250,000 - [Other jobs at Robots & Pencils (5)](https://nextmove.md/fde/companies/robots-pencils) ## The job description from Robots & Pencils Posted by Robots & Pencils on Jul 14, 2026 We’re looking for a Staff AI Engineer to lead the design and delivery of AI/ML systems. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who thrives on architectural decisions, can confidently own systems end-to-end, and contributes to technical leadership across the team. In this role, you will work as a key technical leader on a cross-functional team, defining AI architecture, leading model development and optimization, and solving challenging integration problems. You’ll be joining real, in-flight work where reliability, security, and scalability are critical. You’ll establish engineering standards, raise the bar on how we build AI systems, and contribute to the technical decisions that shape how our AI work scales over time. ### Why This Role Matters At Robots & Pencils, we design AI systems for a human world. Our name says it all. Robots and pencils means engineering paired with creativity, because every agent we ship has to work for real people in real workflows. That balance is baked into how we operate. Every role here contributes directly to that mission. Here, you shape how AI systems integrate into enterprise operations, how teams move at real velocity, and how products create measurable impact for clients and the people they serve. We ship production-ready AI in 30 to 45 days. That pace demands people who take ownership, lead with craft, and care deeply about what they put their name on. ### What You’ll Do ### Craft & Delivery - Lead the design and implementation of complex ML/AI systems end-to-end, owning architecture decisions and driving solutions from research through production at scale - Build and evolve scalable ML platforms, pipelines, and infrastructure that support reliable, repeatable model development and deployment across teams - Set the standard for AI-forward engineering, using tools like Claude and Cursor with sophistication and helping the team adopt them effectively ### Collaboration & Communication - Partner with product, engineering, and leadership to shape AI strategy and align technical direction with business outcomes - Translate complex AI tradeoffs, risks, and opportunities into clear narratives that drive decision-making across technical and non-technical stakeholders - Lead design reviews and technical discussions, raising the bar for engineering rigor and constructive challenge across the team ### Leadership & Influence - Define AI architecture and engineering standards, bringing depth on tradeoffs, long-term implications, and responsible AI practices - Mentor and grow junior and mid-level engineers, multiplying impact through coaching, code reviews, and pairing on hard problems - Take ownership of the most ambiguous and highest-stakes pieces of work, driving them through to production with care for reliability, cost, and safety ### What You’ll Bring - 7+ years professional software engineering experience, with 4+ years focused on AI/ML systems in production and deep hands-on experience with generative AI development - Expert software engineering background (Python or similar) with strong design sensibilities for scalable, maintainable systems - Deep expertise with cloud platforms, including in-depth understanding of AWS services and AWS GenAI offerings - Proven track record designing and shipping complex agentic systems in production environments - Mastery of AI frameworks and orchestration tools - Strong experience with evaluation frameworks and observability tools for LLM apps, including building these capabilities where they don't yet exist - Deep understanding of AI safety, responsible AI principles, prompt injection defenses, and PII handling - Extensive experience building RAG pipelines: chunking strategies, embedding models, vector databases, and advanced retrieval techniques - API design experience, including architecting and integrating with internal and third-party services at scale - Advanced cost optimization expertise: token economics, caching strategies, model routing, quantization - Strong working knowledge of Docker and Kubernetes for containerized deployments - Demonstrable, day-to-day usage and expert knowledge of AI-forward coding tools such as Claude Code and Cursor Our salary range is **$177,375 – $209,625 USD** [View posting at Robots & Pencils](https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/robotsandpencils/jobs/5348910008) ## About Robots & Pencils Robots & Pencils builds enterprise digital and AI solutions and combines consulting with Tiger Pistol’s marketing automation platform for digital advertising. 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