Lead Software Engineer, AI Email Applications, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Required - Work From Home
Next Step Systems Open · verified Oct 24, 2026 At a glance
Senior Software Engineering role at Next Step Systems. Remote, United States · full-time · $175,000–$195,000 base.
techroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Set the engineering plan for backend, mobile and desktop, and contribute directly to implementation
- Build AI workflows that coordinate tools and handle retries, fallback paths and failures
- Develop APIs and software layers that turn AI systems into usable product features
- Guide a small senior team through design feedback, code reviews and practical coaching
- Improve production monitoring, testing and reliability while weighing latency, cost, security and user experience
What you bring
- AI experience is required, including building products around machine learning or large language model capabilities
- You have led engineering work on complex applications or products
- You have built and shipped production backend systems, with deep expertise in at least one platform
Who this fits
This hands-on lead role suits an experienced engineer who wants to guide a small senior team while remaining close to the code. The position is fully remote, and applicants must be willing to complete a sixty-minute coding assessment.
From the employer
Lead Software Engineer, AI Email Applications, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Required - Work From Home
As the Lead Software Engineer, AI Email Applications, you own the engineering layer that turns Artificial Intelligence (AI) capability into a reliable product. You will shape the architecture across backend services, APIs, and client applications, while leading a small team of senior engineers. This is a hands-on leadership role. You stay close to the code, make critical architectural decisions, and ensure the system remains fast, reliable, and coherent as it scales. This position is 100% Remote.
MUST BE WILLING TO TAKE A 60 MINUTE CODING ASSESSMENT.
Lead Software Engineer Responsibilities:
- Own the application engineering strategy and execution across backend, mobile, and desktop.
- Design reliable systems for AI-powered workflows, including state, orchestration, tool use, retries, fallbacks, and failure handling.
- Build the APIs and abstractions that connect Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to real-world product experiences.
- Lead a small, senior engineering team and raise the technical bar through design reviews, code reviews, and hands-on mentorship.
- Make high-impact trade-offs across latency, reliability, cost, security, and user experience.
- Establish strong production foundations: observability, monitoring, testing, and operational excellence.
- Partner closely with Machine Learning (ML) leadership to turn model capabilities into robust, shippable product experiences.
- Move quickly while keeping the architecture simple, maintainable, and ready to scale.
Lead Software Engineer Outcomes:
- Production systems are observable, monitored, and stable under real-world load.
- Decisions consistently balance speed, cost, reliability, and user experience.
- Features across backend, mobile, and desktop work smoothly and reliably.
- Latency and reliability improve measurably over time.
Lead Software Engineer Qualifications:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) experience is required.
- Significant experience leading application or product engineering for complex systems.
- Strong hands-on background building and shipping backend systems used in production.
- Experience building AI-powered products or systems that integrate with modern Machine Learning (ML)/Large Language Model (LLM) capabilities.
- Strong technical judgment and the ability to make decisions with incomplete information.
- Comfortable working across backend and client platforms, with deep expertise in at least one.
- A strong bias toward ownership, shipping, and learning from real-world usage.
- High standards for code quality, reliability, and engineering fundamentals.
Benefits include medical insurance, Dental, Vision, Savings Plan Options, PTO, etc.
Keywords: San Francisco CA Jobs, AI, Artificial Intelligence, AI Email Applications, APIs, Backend, Desktop, IT Lead, LLM, Large Language Model, Lead Software Engineer, ML, Machine Learning, Mobile, Work From Home, Remote, California Recruiters, IT Jobs, California Recruiting
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Please check out all of our jobs at www.nextstepsystems.com.
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