{"id":462728,"url":"https://alion.io/job/distyl-ai-ai-engineer-lead","title":"AI Engineer, Lead","company":{"id":178214,"name":"Distyl AI","domain":"distyl.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/distyl-ai","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":72,"open_postings":26,"ghost_share":0.385,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":70,"computed_at":"2026-10-29T05:49:05Z"}},"role":"AI/ML","role_family":"AI/ML","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["San Francisco, United States","New York, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":200000,"max":250000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":250000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":8,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-06-18T19:35:45Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-06-18","last_verified_at":"2026-10-29T14:23:07Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":132,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":["company_stale"],"days_open":132},"description":"About Distyl AI\nDistyl is an applied AI technology company partnering with the world’s most ambitious institutions to rearchitect critical operations for the frontier of AI. Our customers include the largest companies in telecom, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, consumer goods, and global social organizations.\nWe research and deploy technologies that power AI-native operations - both for our partners and for Distyl itself. Our work spans research into self-constructing systems, the development of the most reliable execution of AI systems, and products that transform mission-critical workflows. As a result, Distyl's technologies affect some of the world's largest operations - from hundreds of millions of consumer interactions to tens of millions of supply chain transactions and millions of patient journeys.\nDistyl is backed by leading investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Coatue, DST Global, and the board-members of 20+ F500s.\nWhat We Are Looking For\nAI Engineers are hands-on technical leaders who own the architecture, execution, and delivery of critical production AI systems for large enterprise customers. They make technical decisions, lead project delivery, coach engineers, and partner closely with customer stakeholders and Distyl’s AI strategy team to ensure systems deliver real business value.\nThis role is for engineers who want ownership over production outcomes: shaping system architecture, leading technical execution, working directly with customers, and improving AI systems under real-world constraints.\nKey Responsibilities\nLead and mentor a team of AI Engineers-owning technical direction, code quality, execution standards, and individual growth\n\nDesign and implement AI systems that combine models, agents, retrieval, evaluation, and execution into coherent, production-ready systems aligned with real business outcomes\n\nWork directly with customer stakeholders, often in high-visibility settings, and communicate clearly about system behavior, tradeoffs, limitations, and paths to improvement\n\nOperate and improve live AI systems by measuring behavior, identifying failure modes, debugging issues, and rapidly iterating on quality, reliability, and usefulness\n\nIntegrate AI systems into customer data platforms, APIs, and existing applications. Make pragmatic system design decisions that balance speed, robustness, maintainability, and long-term operability\n\nTake accountability for outcomes in production and adapt systems as requirements evolve\n\nWho You Are\n8+ years of engineering experience, including experience as a tech lead or engineering lead on customer-facing or production AI projects\n\nOwnership mentality for AI systems. You take responsibility for whether an AI system delivers its intended value in production. You are comfortable making independent technical decisions across system design, evaluation, integration, and iteration\n\nTechnical leadership in teams. Management experience is not required, but you should have led engineers through technical decision-making, execution, mentorship, and delivery. Growth in this role includes taking on broader technical and leadership scope over time\n\nStrong solutions architecture fundamentals: You have experience with cloud systems, system integrations, API design, and data engineering. You can understand how an AI system fits into a broader enterprise ecosystem and operate as a peer to customer architecture and engineering teams\n\nAI-Native Working Style: You use AI tools daily to write and debug code, explore designs, analyze data, and automate repetitive work. You are curious about new model capabilities and techniques, and actively incorporate them into how you build and iterate on systems\n\nWillingness to travel: Travel is typically 10-30%, depending on the project, customer needs, and your role on the engagement\n\nWhat We Offer\nThe base salary range for this role is $200-$250K, depending on experience, location, and level. In addition to base compensation, this role is eligible for meaningful equity, along with a comprehensive benefits package\n\n100% coverage of medical, dental, and vision insurance for employee and dependents\n\nFlexible time off\n\nRetirement and financial planning benefits, including access to pre-tax HSA, FSA, and commuter accounts, 401(k), and financial coaching resources\n\nComprehensive wellness benefits, including physical fitness, mental well-being, and fertility and family-building benefits through Carrot\n\nComplimentary in-office lunches and snacks provided\n\nAccess to state-of-the-art AI models, generous usage of modern AI tools, and real-world business problems\n\nOwnership of high-impact projects across top enterprises\n\nA mission-driven, fast-moving culture that values curiosity, pragmatism, and excellence\n\nDistyl has offices in San Francisco and New York. This role follows a hybrid collaboration model with 3+ days per week (Tuesday-Thursday) in-office.\n#LI-Hybrid\nWe believe diverse perspectives make our work stronger and more impactful. We are an equal opportunity employer and evaluate all applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected characteristic. 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