AI Engineering Lead

Who We Are

Left Field Labs is the creative technology agency that builds what’s next. We partner with the world’s most ambitious brands to transform breakthrough technology into extraordinary human experiences. Since 2008, we’ve delivered end-to-end digital transformation services—from strategy to platform development to immersive experiences—for the biggest companies in the world, including Google, Amazon, and Meta.

What We Do

• Digital Experience: We architect seamless digital ecosystems that simplify complexity and drive measurable impact. Whether launching new platforms or evolving legacy systems, we strike the perfect balance between innovation and pragmatism
• Product Innovation: We build scalable platforms and products in lockstep with organizations, identifying and seizing new technology opportunities.
• Immersive: We create immersive, cross-media experiences that move beyond omnichannel thinking, blending digital, social, AI, and physical spaces to engage and delight.
• Applied AI: We transform AI from a tech tool to the infrastructure for business evolution—enhancing decision-making, unlocking new efficiencies, and expanding human capacity  Our AI solutions power predictive intelligence, sharper decision-making, and game-changing innovation.

LFL in Partnership with illumend

LFL is  closely collaborating with illumend, an AI-first partnership acceleration platform that’s building solutions in the insurance sector. The partnership leverages 15 years of insurance compliance expertise with LFL's creative technology and applied AI capabilities. The illumend platform aims to make meaningful risk management accessible to all businesses by providing an intuitive interface for non-insurance professionals to track compliance.

What You Will Do

We are seeking a strategic and technical AI Engineering Lead to spearhead the development, deployment, and optimization of our Machine Learning models and Generative AI workflows. This is a high-priority leadership role designed for an expert who doesn't just write code but understands the full lifecycle of a data science program—from experimentation to production-grade maintenance.

You will act as the bridge between technical execution and executive vision, working closely with our product team of engineers, while growing a dedicated team of AI specialists. You will be responsible for architecting our AI workflows, overseeing their implementation, measuring success through data, consistently improving quality, and communicating progress directly to leadership.

• Lead the end-to-end lifecycle of ML and Generative AI models, including data structuring, information gathering, prototyping and experimentation, implementation, deployment, and continuous monitoring
• Act in a lead capacity by delegating tasks effectively and overseeing the "experiment-deploy-measure" cycle
• Deploy and maintain sophisticated AI applications (e.g., chat applications, document analysis models) and iterate based on user behavior and feedback
• Prepare decks and reports for the CEO and marketing teams to translate complex technical milestones into clear business updates
• Maintain and scale a Python-based backend, ensuring seamless integration with our Next.js frontend

What You Will Need to be Successful

• Extensive, hands-on experience developing and deploying applications powered by LLMs (e.g., GPT, Claude, or open-source equivalents)
• Proven track record of taking ML models out of "notebook/experimentation" phases and into a live, scalable production environment
• Experience overseeing the high-level strategy of a data science program, including defining the "common working language" and methodologies for the team
• Formal data science training from a major university to ensure alignment on theoretical principles and industry standards

• Deep experience in Python-driven backend development; ability to architect the logic that supports AI features
• Familiarity with Google Cloud Platform tools for model hosting, data storage, and scaling
• Experience managing the full Experiment, Deploy, Measure lifecycle, specifically using data to prove if a model change improved user outcomes
• Proficiency in gathering, cleaning, and structuring data for specific AI use cases, such as RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) for chat apps

• Experience in a lead or senior role where you were responsible for delegating tasks and mentoring other engineers
• Experience preparing slide decks and status reports for C-suite leadership to explain technical roadmaps and AI efficacy
• Experience working within a multi-disciplinary product team (designers, frontend engineers, etc.) to integrate AI into a seamless user experience
• Specific experience using feedback loops (e.g., human data correction processes, chat feedback) to continuously improve model performance based on real-world behavior

Compensation

The salary range for this role is $150,000 to $190,000 and applies only to jobs performed in Culver City, California. This range represents the lowest to highest salary we reasonably and in good faith believe we would pay for this role at the time of this posting. Please note that we may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range, and the range may be modified in the future. An employee’s position within the salary range will be based on several factors, including but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, geographic location, performance, and business or organizational needs.

Equal Opportunities

Left Field Labs is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and team members, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, handicap, veteran status, marital status, criminal history, or any other category protected by applicable federal and state law. This includes the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance related to an applicant's criminal history (LAMC 189.00). Left Field Labs makes reasonable accommodations for handicapped and disabled team members.

Left Field Labs is an E-Verify employer. E-Verify is an Internet based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that allows participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees in the United States.