VP of Engineering Applications, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Required, Work From Home
Next Step Systems Open · verified Oct 24, 2026 At a glance
VP-level Engineering Leadership role at Next Step Systems. Remote, United States · full-time · $225,000–$275,000 base.
techroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Set engineering plans and delivery across backend, mobile and desktop applications
- Lead and develop a small, experienced team of engineers spanning backend, mobile and desktop
- Shape how AI workflows, APIs and client connections fit into the product, including safe failure behavior
- Work with machine learning leaders to turn model capabilities into product features people can use
- Make trade-offs across speed, cost, reliability, security and user experience, while preparing systems for production
What you bring
- Substantial leadership experience in application or product engineering for complex systems, with AI experience required
- A track record of shipping production backend systems and AI-powered products, including judgment on model integration trade-offs
- Strong system design across services, APIs, clients and data flows, plus experience working across backend, mobile and desktop
Who this fits
This suits a senior engineering leader who stays technically engaged, makes decisions amid uncertainty and balances fast delivery with system quality. The role leads a small, senior applications team and is fully remote. You must be willing to complete a 60-minute coding assessment.
From the employer
VP of Engineering Applications, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Required, Work From Home
As the VP of Engineering Applications, you will turn intelligence into a real product. The VP of Engineering Applications is responsible for the engineering systems, teams, and execution that turn Machine Learning (ML) capability into reliable, fast, and intuitive user experiences across backend, mobile, and desktop platforms. The VP of Engineering Applications role is a senior engineering leader who stays close to the product, makes hard technical decisions, and holds a high bar for quality and delivery. This position is 100% Remote.
MUST BE WILLING TO TAKE A 60 MINUTE CODING ASSESSMENT.
VP of Engineering Applications Responsibilities:
- Own the application engineering strategy and execution across backend, mobile, and desktop.
- Lead and grow a small, senior applications team, including backend, mobile, and desktop engineers.
- Set the architectural direction for Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered product workflows, APIs, and client integrations.
- Ensure AI capabilities are integrated into the product with clear abstractions, predictable behavior, and graceful failure modes.
- Partner closely with Machine Learning leadership to translate model capability into shippable product features.
- Make high-impact decisions across latency, cost, reliability, security, and user experience.
- Establish clear ownership boundaries across backend, mobile, and desktop to prevent architectural drift.
- Ensure production readiness: observability, monitoring, retries, fallbacks, privacy, and cost controls.
- Balance speed and discipline shipping quickly without compromising long-term system quality.
VP of Engineering Applications Outcomes:
- Reliable, low-latency Artificial Intelligence (AI) user experiences across backend, mobile, and desktop
- Clear architectural boundaries that allow teams to move fast without constant rewrites.
- Measurable improvements in system performance, stability, and production reliability.
- Strong observability and operational discipline across all application systems.
- A small, senior team that ships frequently, owns what they build, and raises the technical bar.
- Team members are empowered, growing in their roles, and able to make high-impact contributions.
VP of Engineering Applications Qualifications:
- Significant experience leading application or product engineering for complex systems.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) experience required.
- Strong hands-on background building and shipping backend systems used in production.
- Experience delivering Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered products, with a deep understanding of model integration trade-offs.
- Excellent system design skills across services, APIs, clients, and data flows.
- Comfort operating across platforms (backend, mobile, desktop), even if your depth is in one.
- Proven ability to make high-impact technical decisions under ambiguity.
- A strong bias toward shipping, iteration, and learning from real-world usage.
- Low ego, strong judgment, and the ability to raise the technical bar for the entire applications organization.
Benefits include medical insurance, Dental, Vision, Savings Plan Options, PTO, etc.
Keywords: San Francisco CA Jobs, VP of Engineering Applications, AI, Artificial Intelligence, APIs, Application Engineering, Backend, Desktop, Low Latency, ML, Machine Learning, Product Engineering, Work From Home, Remote, California Recruiters, IT Jobs, California Recruiting
Looking to hire a VP of Engineering Applications in San Francisco, CA or in other cities? Our IT recruiting agencies and staffing companies can help.
We help companies that are looking to hire VPs of Engineering Applications for jobs in San Francisco, California and in other cities too. Please contact our IT recruiting agencies and IT staffing companies today!
Please check out all of our jobs at www.nextstepsystems.com.
Engineering Leadership work from LinkedIn, X, Reddit and Upwork, in one list.
Each morning you get everything that fits, strongest first.
Engineering LeadershipRemote$220k+
Find me workBy the team behind techroles.