Staff AI Engineer, Shift Technology
Architecture skills
+ Variable component tied to personal and company performance
AI-driven insurance fraud solution
Be an early applicant
AI-driven insurance fraud solution
501-1000 employees
Be an early applicant
+ Variable component tied to personal and company performance
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To revolutionise the policyholder experience through wide-ranging products that apply AI and advanced data science to key insurance processes.
Role
Who you are
- We are seeking a seasoned AI engineer who combines deep, practical expertise in modern GenAI/LLM ecosystems with strong backend software engineering skills
- Hands-On Agentic Frameworks: Proven experience building with frameworks like Microsoft Agent Framework, LangGraph, LlamaIndex, OpenAI Agents SDK, or custom orchestration frameworks
- LLM Patterns & Tooling: Practical experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP), tool/function calling, structured LLM outputs, and complex RAG pipelines (vector retrieval, hybrid search, embeddings)
- LLMOps & Observability: Experience with evaluation frameworks, prompt engineering, tracing, context window optimization, and compute/token governance in production
- Programming: High proficiency in Python (required for AI ecosystem work) paired with strong experience in OOP
- Cloud & APIs: Experience building and scaling backend microservices and REST/OpenAPI endpoints in enterprise cloud environments (specifically Azure)
- Data & Events: Familiarity with vector databases, relational databases, and event-driven patterns (e.g., Azure Service Bus, Kafka)
- Engineering Rigor: Comfortable with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), CI/CD, testing methodologies, and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or Bicep)
- Jump in and get things done: You are a proactive builder who loves turning ambitious ideas into working code. You don't wait for permission to solve hard problems
- Make things simpler: You can break down complex AI concepts and architectures into clear, executable steps for engineers, data scientists, and non-technical partners alike
- Test & learn new things: You are genuinely obsessed with the fast-moving AI landscape. You constantly experiment with new models, libraries, and papers, and know how to extract real product value from the hype
- Communicate with impact & help others grow: You lead by example and collaboration, upskilling team members through pair programming, code reviews, and pragmatic design discussions
What the job involves
- At Shift, we are building the next generation of AI-driven platform capabilities
- We are looking for an experienced, hands-on Staff AI Engineer to serve as the technical anchor for our AI capabilities; someone who is deeply passionate about building, prototyping, and scaling modern AI/LLM systems, while helping shape our broader AI engineering strategy
- This is a high-impact, high-visibility role for a senior builder who excels at the intersection of cutting-edge AI technologies (Agentic frameworks, LLM orchestration, MCP, GenAI) and production-grade software engineering
- You will work directly with data scientists, software engineers, and product leaders to design, prototype, and ship state-of-the-art AI systems into production
- Build & Architect Agentic Systems (Hands-On): Lead by doing. Design, prototype, and build production-ready agentic workflows, custom orchestration layers, and tool-calling integrations using modern frameworks
- Bridge AI & Production Engineering: Move AI prototypes into robust, production-grade microservices on Azure. Ensure AI components are scalable, low-latency, and well-integrated into the broader tech stack
- Implement Next-Gen AI Standards: Experiment with and integrate emerging paradigms into our production stack, including Model Context Protocol (MCP), advanced RAG patterns, vector pipelines, and structured LLM outputs
- Drive AI Quality & LLMOps: Establish and implement operational frameworks for experiment tracking, evaluations, prompt engineering, latency optimization, token budget governance, and model observability
- Influence & Upskill: Act as a technical mentor for agent-focused engineering squads. Lead technical design reviews, set coding standards, and help elevate the team's AI engineering capabilities
- Stay at the Cutting Edge: Continuously benchmark new models, AI tools, and architectures, translating relevant breakthroughs into practical, value-driving implementations at Shift
- If you are a senior AI engineer looking for the next step in your career -where you can drive architectural strategy and mentor others without giving up hands-on coding and building- this role is for you
Our take
The global insurtech market is projected to grow substantially given the increased demand for insurance service digitisation, projected market expansion, and developments in technology that have made it easier to buy and process claims. Insurtech helps create new avenues that large insurance companies have less incentive to pursue, such as offering social insurance and customised policies for clients.
In January 2021, Shift Technology introduced the Shift Insurance Suite to help the insurance industry apply AI-based decision automation and optimisation technology solutions. This addresses critical processes across the insurance policy lifecycle, and helps insurers to achieve faster, more accurate claims and policy resolutions.
Shift Technology is focusing on continuous deployment in the UK and the US, whilst exploring opportunities in Singapore, as it attempts to become an international player in the market. However, it must stave off a number of major competitors to do so, including Quantemplate, Slice and Neos.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
-1% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 7 rounds)
May 2021
$220m
SERIES D
Mar 2019
$59.9m
SERIES C
Total funding: $319.8m
Company benefits
- Flexible remote and hybrid working options
- Competitive Salary and a variable component tied to personal and company performance
- Company equity
- Generous PTO and paid holidays
- Parental leave opportunities
- Extensive mental health benefits provided via our global Employee Assistance Program
- Paid volunteering time - 16 hours annually
Company HQ
Bercy, Paris, France
Leadership
Jeremy Jawish
(Co-Founder & CEO)Experience in fraud detection solution development for AXA in 2011, and as an FICC Strategist for Goldman Sachs in 2012.
Eric Sibony
(Co-Founder & CSO)PhD in machine learning from 2012-2016, and has been CSO since 2013.
David Durrleman
(Co-Founder & Fellow Engineer)Experience as a Fixed Income Strategist for Goldman Sachs between 2008-2013.
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