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Staff Software Engineer, Applied AI Systems

Robert Half Technology

Minneapolis, MNJobSeen todaySeen in employer's feed today

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At a glance

Compensation
No compensation found
Location
Minneapolis, MN
Work Authorization
Not specified

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Job overview

The Staff Software Engineer will lead development of AI-enabled product infrastructure, focusing on retrieval and context systems for intelligent applications. The role involves building systems that identify relevant content, manage changing information, and enforce access boundaries. Working primarily in Python with product, data, and engineering partners, the engineer will influence architecture, quality, and safety across AI-driven capabilities.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

PythonBackend SystemsAPIsData-Intensive ServicesProduction AI ApplicationsMachine Learning ApplicationsRetrieval SystemsSearchContext AssemblyTool OrchestrationAccess ControlsPermissions ManagementSecure Data HandlingProduct JudgmentEngineering JudgmentTradeoff AnalysisCommunicationLong-Running AI WorkflowsVector Search InfrastructureSemantic Search InfrastructureLarge-Document ProcessingStructured Data ExtractionSearch Relevance EvaluationCitation GenerationEvidence TrailsTraceable OutputsTool Interface Design

Qualifications

6+ Years Production Software ExperienceCross-Team Technical LeadershipDocument-Heavy Software BackgroundCompliance-Sensitive Software Background

Benefits

Medical Insurance
Vision Insurance
Dental Insurance
401(k) Match

Full job description

Description

We’re hiring a hands-on Staff Software Engineer to lead development in a critical area of AI-enabled product infrastructure. In this role, you will build and evolve the systems that determine what AI-powered experiences can access, use, and reference in real time. This work is central to ensuring outputs are accurate, timely, secure, and grounded in the right information.

You will focus on designing and improving retrieval and context systems that support intelligent applications operating in complex, high-trust environments. That includes helping systems identify the right content, manage changing information, and enforce strict access boundaries. You’ll work primarily in Python and collaborate closely with cross-functional partners in product, data, and engineering.

This is a highly hands-on role for someone who wants to directly influence the architecture, quality, and safety of AI-driven capabilities.

What You’ll Do

  • Lead the design and improvement of retrieval systems that support AI-powered workflows in production environments

  • Ensure application outputs are grounded in the right source material, with the appropriate balance of quality, performance, and cost

  • Build systems that can process and reason over large volumes of unstructured and structured content

  • Develop search and context tools that surface trustworthy source excerpts, references, and relevant content locations

  • Maintain alignment between what AI systems can access and what end users are authorized to view

  • Help define when AI-generated outputs can be delivered directly and when additional validation or product controls are required

  • Influence technical direction across teams and mentor engineers working in adjacent problem spaces

Requirements

  • 6+ years of experience building and operating production software, including leading technically complex initiatives across teams

  • Strong hands-on Python experience, especially in backend systems, APIs, and data-intensive services

  • Experience with production AI or machine learning applications that rely on retrieval, search, context assembly, or tool orchestration

  • Strong understanding of access controls, permissions, and secure handling of multi-tenant or sensitive data

  • Sound product and engineering judgment, with the ability to make tradeoffs across quality, latency, and cost and communicate those decisions clearly

Nice to Have

  • Experience with long-running AI workflows or systems that interact with large document sets

  • Experience operating vector-based or semantic search infrastructure in production

  • Familiarity with large-document processing, structured data extraction, or search relevance evaluation

  • Experience building systems that generate citations, evidence trails, or traceable outputs

  • Background in document-heavy or compliance-sensitive software environments

  • Experience designing tool interfaces for AI-enabled systems

Technology Doesn't Change the World, People Do.®

Robert Half is the world’s first and largest specialized talent solutions firm that connects highly qualified job seekers to opportunities at great companies. We offer contract, temporary and permanent placement solutions for finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal, and administrative and customer support roles.

Robert Half works to put you in the best position to succeed. We provide access to top jobs, competitive compensation and benefits, and free online training. Stay on top of every opportunity - whenever you choose - even on the go. Download the Robert Half app (https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en/mobile-app) and get 1-tap apply, notifications of AI-matched jobs, and much more.

All applicants applying for U.S. job openings must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Benefits are available to contract/temporary professionals, including medical, vision, dental, and life and disability insurance. Hired contract/temporary professionals are also eligible to enroll in our company 401(k) plan. Visit roberthalf.gobenefits.net for more information.

© 2025 Robert Half. An Equal Opportunity Employer. M/F/Disability/Veterans. By clicking “Apply Now,” you’re agreeing to Robert Half’s Terms of Use (https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en/terms) and Privacy Notice (https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en/privacy) .

How this job compares

Set against the 41,311 open Software Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 4, 2026.

Pay
  • This postingNot listed
  • Minnesota median$107–193K/yr533 salary ranges
  • Minnesota median$34–50/hr51 hourly ranges
Openings
Olive Jobs lists 623 open Software Engineer jobs in Minnesota and 41,311 across the US. 7% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in Minnesota
Experience
This posting asks for at least 6 years of experience; Software Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for 5 years at the median (33,552 postings).
Education
14,305 of the 41,311 open Software Engineer jobs (35%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 4, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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