Sr. AI Product Engineer

Role Overview

This senior individual contributor will turn AI-built prototypes into reliable software that Cardiff’s teams use every day. Working directly with the Managing Partner and business owners across sales, operations, underwriting, and marketing, this person will define the initial scope, build and deploy solutions, and support them in production.

The initial focus will be the Managing Partner’s existing prototypes, including lender routing, sales calculators, decisioning workflows, and agents that reduce manual work. These projects support Cardiff’s goal of reducing application-to-funding turnaround from 24 business hours to minutes.

The role has no people-management responsibilities. Over time, it may transition into a dedicated AI engineering role within one of Cardiff’s business teams.

What you will own

• Prototype assessment: Review each prototype and document whether it should move forward, be revised, or be discontinued.
• Production development: Build the data models, APIs, integrations, error handling, tests, and deployment processes needed to make each solution reliable.
• Release controls: Establish automated testing, secret scanning, and code and dependency checks for the Managing Partner’s projects, aligned with engineering’s production approval process.
• System integrations: Connect Cardiff’s systems with external lenders and vendors and standardize inconsistent data.
• Ongoing reliability: Monitor, maintain, and improve deployed systems, including resolving incidents and documenting corrective actions.
• Project communication: Provide clear written updates, flag blockers promptly, and coordinate scope and acceptance with each business owner.

What Success Looks Like

First 30 days

• Release controls are operating and blocking releases that fail required checks.
• The prototype portfolio has been reviewed, with a documented recommendation and production requirements for each project.

First 90 days

• Two prototypes are live in production, have business-owner sign-off, and are actively being used.
• Decisions to discontinue any unsuitable prototypes are documented.
• Each live system has a clear record of remaining risks and follow-up work.

First six months

• A consistent delivery rhythm moves suitable prototypes into production within weeks.
• Deployed systems operate reliably, supported by monitoring and clear ownership.
• Completed projects demonstrate measurable improvements in processing efficiency and time to funding.

What We’re Looking For

• Seven or more years of software development experience, with recent hands-on ownership of systems delivered to real users.
• Strong production engineering judgment across testing, security, reliability, monitoring, and incident response.
• Proficiency in Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, SQL, REST APIs, and cloud deployment, preferably AWS.
• Experience integrating external systems and translating inconsistent inputs into clean, usable data models.
• AI development as a core working practice, including coding tools, LLM APIs, agents, and evaluations, with careful review of generated code.
• Ability to assess existing code, determine what to retain or rebuild, and deliver practical solutions quickly.
• Comfort working directly with the Managing Partner and nontechnical stakeholders, with clear communication and accountability.

Cardiff’s environment includes AWS, Salesforce, Snowflake, Twilio, Slack, and internal APIs. The role will use established open-source tools where appropriate and balance delivery speed with the controls required for dependable production systems.