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About This Role
Liftoff is a leading AI\-powered performance marketing platform for the mobile app economy. Our end\-to\-end technology stack helps app marketers acquire and retain high\-value users, while enabling publishers to maximize revenue across programmatic and direct demand.
Liftoff's solutions, including Accelerate, Direct, Monetize, Intelligence, and Vungle Exchange, support over 6,600 mobile businesses across 74 countries in sectors such as gaming, social, finance, ecommerce, and entertainment. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Redwood City, CA, Liftoff has a diverse, global presence.
Join Liftoff as a GenAI Software Engineer and shape the future of ad tech. This role sits within the Creative GenAI (CGenAI) team and is dedicated to advancing the strategic initiatives that define how Liftoff applies generative AI to creative. Reporting to the Senior Director, Creative GenAI, you'll build intelligent agents to optimize workflows, and architect AI\-powered solutions that transform how our business operates by leveraging cutting\-edge vision and diffusion models to revolutionize creative production.
In this role, you'll have an immediate impact on our AI strategy and product development. We foster a collaborative environment where you'll work closely with key decision makers to bring innovative solutions to life. You'll have the freedom to experiment, mentor others, and grow into a thought leader who defines not just Liftoff's AI future, but influences the broader ad tech industry.
This role is ideal for an engineer who thrives in ambiguity, has a passion for experimentation, and wants to push the boundaries of what's possible with LLMs. You'll have the opportunity to tackle complex challenges, validate new approaches, and drive meaningful improvements across our organization.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Architect and ship AI systems that generate ad creatives end\-to\-end \- including interactive playables \- combining code generation, multimodal asset generation, and runtime quality into production\-grade pipelines
- Rapidly prototype against real creative problems, then take what works from proof\-of\-concept to production at speed
- Partner closely with creative strategists, content leads, and builders to translate craft expertise into systems that scale
- Design robust systems that handle the inherent variability of AI\-generated output through thoughtful guardrails, fallbacks, and quality gates
- Build evaluation infrastructure tailored to creative output, spanning subjective quality assessment, human\-in\-the\-loop review, and A/B testing against real ad performance
- Drive innovation by researching new model capabilities and proposing new initiatives as the frontier moves
- Mentor the team and raise the bar on engineering practices, fostering an environment of open feedback and shared learning.
WHO YOU ARE
- Minimum Bachelors Degree and 5yrs of relevant experience.
- Senior engineer with significant pre\-LLM production experience and solid fundamentals in system design, debugging, and observability
- Strong in Python for AI/agent work and fluent in JavaScript/TypeScript for creative and playables work; HTML and gaming experience a plus
- Has shipped LLM\-powered systems to production, learned the failure modes firsthand, and makes deliberate choices about what the model handles versus what belongs in code, tools, or context
- Treats evals as first\-class infrastructure and brings hands\-on production experience with multimodal AI, specifically image and/or video generation models, with battle\-tested intuition for where they excel and where they break.
- Clear communicator who collaborates well across teams and disciplines, navigating ambiguity and adapting as priorities shift
- Location: Eastern Standard Time Zone \- (part of the team is located in London, U.K.)
Location:
Liftoff follows a philosophy of "remote first, come together meaningfully" and allows employees to be based from a number of different states where we have entities within the United States (FL, GA, MA, MI, NJ, NY, PA,). The preferred location for this role is within Eastern Standard Time Zone.
Travel Expectations:
We offer several opportunities for in\-person team gatherings, including but not limited to project meetings, regional meetups, and company\-wide events. We expect our employees to attend these gatherings at least once per quarter. These gatherings provide essential opportunities for collaboration, communication, and team building.
Compensation:
Liftoff offers all employees a full compensation package that includes equity and health/vision/dental benefits associated with your country of residence. Base compensation will vary based on the candidate's location and experience.
- SF Bay Area/Los Angeles/Orange County/Seattle: $180,000 \- $230,000
- All other U.S approved states: $165,000 \- $211,000
\#LI\-VM1
\#LI\-REMOTE
Liftoff offers a fast\-paced, collaborative, and innovative work environment where employees are empowered to grow and make an impact. We're shaping the future of the mobile app ecosystem—join us and help accelerate what's next.
Liftoff's compensation strategy includes competitive salaries, equity, and benefits designed to support employee well\-being and performance. We benchmark compensation based on role, level, and location to ensure fairness and market alignment. Benefits may include medical coverage, wellness stipends, and additional perks based on your country of residence.
Liftoff is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
Agency and Third Party Recruiter Notice:
Liftoff does not accept unsolicited resumes from individual recruiters or third\-party recruiting agencies in response to job postings. No fee will be paid to third parties who submit unsolicited candidates directly to our hiring managers or Recruiting Team. All candidates must be submitted via our Applicant Tracking System by approved Liftoff vendors who have been expressly requested to make a submission by our Recruiting Team for a specific job opening. No placement fees will be paid to any firm unless such a request has been made by the Liftoff Recruiting Team and such a candidate was submitted to the Liftoff Recruiting Team via our Applicant Tracking System.
Salary Context
This $165K-$230K range is above the median for AI Software Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $191K across 189 roles with salary data).
Role Details
About This Role
AI Software Engineers build the applications and systems that AI models run inside. They own the API layers, data pipelines, frontend integrations, and infrastructure that turn a model into a product users interact with. Every AI company needs engineers who can build the software around the AI.
The challenge is building reliable systems around inherently unreliable components. Models are probabilistic. They'll give different answers to the same question. They hallucinate. They're slow. They're expensive. Your job is to build an application layer that handles all of this gracefully while delivering a product that users trust and enjoy.
Across the 3,739 AI roles we're tracking, AI Software Engineer positions make up 7% of the market. At Liftoff, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week includes: building API endpoints that serve model inference with caching and fallback logic, designing the data pipeline that feeds context to a RAG system, implementing streaming responses in the frontend, debugging a race condition in the async inference pipeline, and optimizing database queries for the vector search layer. It's full-stack engineering with AI at the center.
AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.
Skills Required
Full-stack engineering skills with AI integration experience. Python and TypeScript are the most common requirements. You'll need to understand API design, database architecture, and how to build reliable systems around probabilistic outputs. Experience with streaming, async processing, and caching patterns is increasingly important as real-time AI applications proliferate.
Knowledge of vector databases, embedding APIs, and LLM integration patterns (function calling, structured outputs, retry logic) differentiates AI software engineers from general software engineers. Understanding cost optimization (caching strategies, model routing, batched inference) is valuable since inference costs can dominate application economics.
Strong postings describe the product you'll be building, the AI integration patterns you'll work with, and the scale requirements. Look for companies that have existing AI features and need engineers to improve and expand them, not companies that are 'planning to add AI' someday.
Compensation Benchmarks
AI Software Engineer roles pay a median of $234,620 based on 682 positions with disclosed compensation. Senior-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $227,400. This role's midpoint ($197K) sits 16% below the category median. Disclosed range: $165K to $230K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $200,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $253,000. The 90th percentile reaches $307,500. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Engineering Manager ($293,500) and AI Safety ($274,200). By seniority level: Entry: $97,380; Mid: $160,000; Senior: $227,400; Director: $243,000; VP: $250,000.
Liftoff AI Hiring
Liftoff has 1 open AI role right now. They're hiring across AI Software Engineer. Based in New York, NY, US. Compensation range: $230K - $230K.
Location Context
AI roles in New York pay a median of $210,000 across 2,448 tracked positions. That's 5% above the national median.
Career Path
Common paths into AI Software Engineer roles include Software Engineer, Full-Stack Developer, Backend Engineer.
From here, career progression typically leads toward Staff Engineer, AI Architect, Engineering Manager.
If you're a software engineer, you're already 80% there. Learn the AI integration patterns: RAG, streaming inference, function calling, structured outputs. Build a project that demonstrates you can wrap an AI model in a production-quality application with proper error handling, caching, and user experience. That's the portfolio piece that gets you hired.
What to Expect in Interviews
Technical screens look like standard software engineering interviews with an AI twist. Expect system design questions about building reliable applications around probabilistic models: handling streaming responses, implementing retry logic for API failures, and designing caching strategies for LLM outputs. Coding rounds test standard algorithms plus practical integration patterns like async processing and rate limiting.
When evaluating opportunities: Strong postings describe the product you'll be building, the AI integration patterns you'll work with, and the scale requirements. Look for companies that have existing AI features and need engineers to improve and expand them, not companies that are 'planning to add AI' someday.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 3,739 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 115 entry-level, 1,764 mid-level, 1,444 senior, and 416 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 16% of the market (597 positions). The remaining 3,119 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $200,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $253,000. The 90th percentile reaches $307,500. Highest-paying categories: AI Engineering Manager ($293,500 median, 31 roles); AI Safety ($274,200 median, 51 roles); Research Engineer ($260,000 median, 401 roles).
AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 3,739 open positions across 15 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (2,650), Data Scientist (271), AI Software Engineer (252). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (115) are outnumbered by mid-level (1,764) and senior (1,444) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 416 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 16% of all AI roles (597 positions), with 3,119 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $200,000. Top-quartile roles start at $253,000, and the 90th percentile reaches $307,500. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Engineering Manager roles lead at $293,500 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $142,800. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (1,929 postings), Aws (1,185 postings), Azure (869 postings), Rag (866 postings), Gcp (726 postings), Prompt Engineering (578 postings), Pytorch (575 postings), Claude (547 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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