AI Staff Technical Lead

About Smith.ai: 
Smith.ai builds AI voice agents that redefine how SMBs handle phone calls — allowing businesses to book appointments, take payments, and manage complex call flows without missing a beat. We serve a wide range of businesses, from law firms to home contractors and many other service-based companies, leveraging the latest in LLMs, speech-to-text, and text-to-speech to deliver human-like conversation at scale. With over 4,000 SMBs already trusting Smith.ai (and staying with us thanks to world-class retention), we’re driving the next wave of AI innovation where it matters most: real-world customer interactions. 

About the role:
Smith.ai is seeking a dynamic and highly skilled Staff AI Technical Lead to join our team and drive the next evolution of our AI-powered systems. In this role, you will leverage your deep expertise in advanced prompt engineering, agentic frameworks like Swarm, and the latest open-source libraries to enhance engineering productivity and streamline internal workflows. You’ll be instrumental in integrating cutting-edge AI solutions with a focus on high-level orchestration, empowering our engineering teams to perform at 2-3X their current capacity. This position requires someone who thrives in both technical leadership and hands-on programming, working to craft sophisticated AI-driven solutions.

What you’ll do:

• AI System Design & Architecture: Lead the design and implementation of AI-driven systems that integrate seamlessly into engineering workflows, focusing on high-level AI orchestration, prompt engineering, and agentic frameworks.
• Advanced Prompt Engineering: Develop and fine-tune AI prompts at the programmatic level, ensuring AI systems effectively automate workflows and decision-making processes.
• Agentic Frameworks: Design, implement, and optimize agentic frameworks like Swarm to empower AI systems with autonomous decision-making capabilities.
• Open-Source Libraries & Tools: Identify and integrate the latest open-source libraries and tools to enhance AI system functionality, streamlining development processes and improving system efficiency.
• Collaboration & Mentorship: Collaborate with engineering and product teams to implement AI solutions, and mentor engineers in adopting advanced AI techniques and best practices.
• Innovation & Thought Leadership: Stay on top of the latest advancements in AI technologies, continuously applying innovations to drive Smith.ai’s technical capabilities forward.

Traits of the ideal candidate:

• Experience: 5+ years in AI programming, systems architecture, or solution engineering, with strong expertise in advanced prompt engineering and agentic frameworks like Swarm.
• Technical Proficiency: Deep knowledge of Python and hands-on experience with AI techniques and programming to build scalable, efficient systems.
• AI Systems: Proven ability to design, build, and optimize AI-driven systems and workflows, focusing on automation, orchestration, and high-level problem-solving.
• Solution Engineering: Experience in hybrid solution engineering, with a focus on applying AI at scale to optimize internal engineering workflows and processes.
• Open-Source Expertise: Experience leveraging cutting-edge open-source AI libraries and tools to develop innovative solutions and enhance system performance.
• Leadership & Collaboration: Strong leadership abilities to guide cross-functional teams and mentor engineers in AI solution implementation and best practices.
• Communication: Excellent communication skills to collaborate effectively with various teams and clearly articulate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

Life at Smith.ai:
Here at Smith.ai, we're laser focused on our mission of helping small and medium businesses succeed. We strive to test, learn and improve, while continuously developing our solutions, our operations, and our team members. We're a fast-growing and dynamic startup, with 400+ team members globally, that values collaboration and innovative thinking.

We are an equal opportunity employer and believe diversity makes teams better and that discrimination based on race, gender, or anything else is self-defeating.

Location & Benefits:

• Location: Fully Remote (US-based)
• This is a full-time position with a salary that ranges between $240,000 - $300,000 per year, depending on experience
• We offer equity and a competitive benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, life insurance, 401k, and unlimited FTO