Job description

Our client is a 15-person consumer AI company building an agentic travel platform that understands individual preferences and can plan and book real-time travel experiences. Its product connects conversational intelligence with live inventory from major travel and hospitality brands, allowing users to discover and book verified options in one conversation. We are hiring an AI Engineer to own the conversational intelligence layer end to end. You will turn large language model capabilities into reliable product behavior across agent loops, prompt architecture, tool calling, state, memory, streaming, and error recovery. What you'll do • Own the full agent architecture, including prompts, tool calling, multi-step reasoning, and streaming • Productionize conversational state and memory systems that interpret user preferences • Build ranking, retrieval, and recommendation experiences that surface useful, personalized results • Improve multi-turn reliability through refinement loops, error recovery, and graceful degradation • Design the rendering layer between agent output and the consumer product experience • Manage model-provider strategy, caching, structured outputs, and fallback behavior • Define and operate evaluation systems for ranking, retrieval, and agent behavior • Debug production failure modes and continuously improve quality using evidence from real users • At least four years of experience as a full-stack or backend-leaning software engineer • Experience shipping LLM-powered ranking, retrieval, or recommendation systems into production • Hands-on ownership of systems where models interpret user preferences and surface results • Real evaluation experience, including defining, running, and iterating on quality metrics • Comfort across prompting, embeddings, retrieval, memory, preferences, and product-facing agent workflows • Strong ability to explain specific production failures you diagnosed and corrected • An AI-native development workflow and a track record of learning and shipping quickly • Willingness to work regularly from New York City Bonus points • Experience in travel, search relevance, personalization, memory, or consumer recommendations • Experience at a high-growth startup or top technology company • Proficiency in TypeScript, with Python also welcome • Significant side projects involving AI agents or production-grade LLM systems • A strong academic or equivalent technical signal • Total compensation of $350K-$500K • Competitive equity • Direct ownership of a core consumer AI product surface • Visa transfers, including OPT or H-1B transfers, may be considered case by case • Hybrid in New York City • Full-time position • Close collaboration with a small, fast-moving team

Requirements

Must-haves

Own the full agent architecture, including prompts, tool calling, multi-step reasoning, and streaming
Productionize conversational state and memory systems that interpret user preferences
Build ranking, retrieval, and recommendation experiences that surface useful, personalized results
Improve multi-turn reliability through refinement loops, error recovery, and graceful degradation
Design the rendering layer between agent output and the consumer product experience
Manage model-provider strategy, caching, structured outputs, and fallback behavior
Define and operate evaluation systems for ranking, retrieval, and agent behavior
Debug production failure modes and continuously improve quality using evidence from real users
At least four years of experience as a full-stack or backend-leaning software engineer
Experience shipping LLM-powered ranking, retrieval, or recommendation systems into production
Hands-on ownership of systems where models interpret user preferences and surface results
Real evaluation experience, including defining, running, and iterating on quality metrics

Nice-to-haves

Experience in travel, search relevance, personalization, memory, or consumer recommendations
Experience at a high-growth startup or top technology company
Proficiency in TypeScript, with Python also welcome
Significant side projects involving AI agents or production-grade LLM systems
A strong academic or equivalent technical signal
Total compensation of $350K-$500K
Competitive equity
Direct ownership of a core consumer AI product surface
Visa transfers, including OPT or H-1B transfers, may be considered case by case
Hybrid in New York City
Full-time position
Close collaboration with a small, fast-moving team

Application prep

Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.

Keywords to mirror

aillmtypescriptpython

Platform: workable
Effort: medium