Distyl AI is hiring a Forward Deployed AI Engineer

Distyl is hiring a Forward Deployed AI Engineer to build and operate AI systems that deliver real business value inside customer environments. This role is for engineers who thrive in ambiguous problem spaces, take ownership of outcomes, and work directly on production AI systems that must perform reliably under real-world constraints.

What You'll Do

• Own the behavior and performance of AI systems deployed for customers.
• Design and implement compound AI workflows that combine models, agents, retrieval, evaluation, and execution into coherent, production-ready systems aligned with real SME needs.
• Operate on live systems, measuring behavior, identifying failure modes, and iterating rapidly to improve quality, reliability, and usefulness.
• Integrate AI systems into customer data platforms, APIs, and existing applications.
• Work directly with customer stakeholders—often in high-visibility settings—and are expected to reason clearly about system behavior, tradeoffs, and limitations.
• Take accountability for outcomes in production and adapt systems as requirements evolve.

What We're Looking For

• 2+ years of software engineering experience.
• Ownership Mentality for AI Systems: take responsibility for whether an AI system actually delivers its intended value in production.
• Experience Building AI Systems, Not Just Calling APIs: built applications powered by LLMs or other AI models and are comfortable composing multiple components into end-to-end systems.
• Strong Engineering Fundamentals: write clean, maintainable Python and are comfortable building and operating real systems.
• AI-Native Working Style: use AI tools daily to write and debug code, explore designs, analyze data, and automate repetitive work.
• Comfort in Customer Environments: able to work directly with customer teams, ask good questions, and adapt quickly to new domains.
• Ability to travel 25-50%.

Technical Stack

• Python

Benefits & Compensation

• 100% covered medical, dental, and vision for employees and dependents.
• 401(k) with additional perks (e.g., commuter benefits, in‑office lunch).
• Access to state‑of‑the‑art models, generous usage of modern AI tools, and real‑world business problems.
• Ownership of high‑impact projects across top enterprises.
• Compensation: $130K – $250K + meaningful equity.

Work Mode

This is a hybrid role based in our San Francisco or New York offices.

Distyl is a mission‑driven, fast‑moving culture that prizes curiosity, pragmatism, and excellence.