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Staff Software Engineer (AI)

PendoNew York, NYEngineering - Emerging
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Salary
$300K - $325K USD
Job type
Full-time
Posted
5 May 2026
Status
Open · checked 7d ago

About this role

Pendo is seeking a Staff Software Engineer for its Emerging Team in New York, NY, to design and build native AI features for a leading product experience platform. This role is ideal for a hands-on technical leader who thrives on ambiguity and wants to shape the future of product intelligence.

Role Overview

The Emerging Team operates with high autonomy to create groundbreaking AI products from scratch. As a Staff Software Engineer focused on AI, the individual will sit at the intersection of deep technical execution and product strategy. Responsibilities include building production-grade AI systems, making strategic architectural decisions, and collaborating closely with design and product partners to deliver meaningful software solutions to real users.

Key Responsibilities

Design and engineer production-ready AI systems, including retrieval-augmented generation pipelines and agentic workflows.
Determine the right model strategy by evaluating when to prompt, fine-tune, or utilize alternative technical solutions.
Build and maintain rigorous evaluation frameworks to detect hallucinations and implement reliable safety guardrails.
Manage the full lifecycle of AI models in production, covering deployment, monitoring, cost management, and latency optimization.
Contribute across the entire technology stack to deliver complete, user-facing AI products.
Partner alongside product and design teams to frame problems correctly and establish technical direction.

Requirements

Extensive hands-on background developing and launching LLM-driven applications, tool use, and agent orchestration.
Proven ability to establish technical vision, architectural patterns, and engineering standards for AI initiatives.
Strong command over model evaluation, bias-variance tradeoffs, and hallucination mitigation techniques.
Deep familiarity with modern model architectures like transformers and diffusion models.
Direct experience productionizing AI features with a focus on scale, cost, reliability, and monitoring.
Full-stack capabilities with comfort working across both backend and frontend layers.
Exceptional communication skills tailored for technical and executive audiences.

Nice to Have

Background fine-tuning foundation models and understanding when it supersedes prompting.
Familiarity with AI safety practices and guardrail frameworks.
Experience utilizing tools such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, or custom orchestration frameworks for multi-step reasoning.
Professional background in SaaS companies or product analytics environments.
Prior involvement launching net-new products or founding new teams.

Skills and Tools

Spark
LLM
LangChain
RAG

Salary and Benefits

The expected annual salary range for this position in New York, NY, is $300,000 to $325,000. Pendo provides competitive employer-heavy coverage benefits, including zero-dollar premium choices, a robust 401(k) match, equity opportunities, and flexible time off.

About the Company

Established in 2013 by former product managers, Pendo strives to improve society's experience with software through intuitive product intelligence tools. Supported by major investors such as Battery Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Spark Capital, and Meritech, the company embraces core values centered around action, continuous learning, and teamwork. Pendo operates on a hybrid model requiring three days per week in the office.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should visit the official Pendo careers page to submit an application for this role.

Skills and tech stack

SparkLLMLangChainRAG

Questions candidates ask

What is the salary range for the Staff Software Engineer AI position?

The expected salary range for this role performed in New York, NY is $300,000 to $325,000 per year.

Where is this job located?

This position is based in the New York, NY office, operating on a hybrid schedule requiring three days per week in the office.

What specific technical skills and frameworks are relevant for this role?

Relevant skills and technologies mentioned include Spark, Large Language Models (LLMs), LangChain, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG).

What benefits does Pendo offer to employees?

Benefits include competitive employer-heavy coverage with zero-dollar premium options, a strong 401(k) match, equity, and flexible time off.

How can I request an accommodation during the recruitment process?

Applicants requiring mental or physical accommodations can send a confidential request directly to accommodation@pendo.io.

Ready to apply?

The application is on the official Pendo careers page.

Apply on company site