Staff Software Engineer - AI

About Pair Team

At Pair Team, we’re an innovative, mission-driven company reimagining how Medicaid serves the most underserved populations. As a tech-enabled medical group, we deliver whole-person care—clinical, behavioral, and social—by partnering with organizations deeply connected to the communities we serve.

We’re building a powerful care management platform that leverages AI and automation to scale meaningful, human-centered care. Our work is driven by top talent across clinical care, technology, product, and operations—working together to improve access and outcomes for all our patients.

We’re one of the largest Enhanced Care Management providers in California and are on track to build the nation’s largest clinically integrated network supporting high-need Medicaid members. Our model has demonstrated real impact, including a 58% reduction in emergency department visits and a 29% reduction in hospital admissions.

At Pair Team, we’re not just delivering care—we’re building the future of a more equitable, community-rooted Medicaid system.

• Forbes: For Pair Team, Accessibility Is About Delivering Healthcare To Those Who Need It The Most
• TechCrunch: Building for Medicaid’s regulatory moment with Neil Batlivala from Pair Team
• Axios: Pair Team collects $9M for Medicaid-based care

About the Opportunity

Pair Team is looking for a builder to deliver value at the intersection of healthcare and artificial intelligence. In this role, you’ll focus on fast iteration—prototyping and launching zero-to-one AI-powered experiences that directly improve outcomes for patients and unlock scale for our care teams.

You’ll leverage your deep knowledge of AI models, tools, and best practices to design intelligent workflows, automate decision-making, and enhance user experience. From LLM-integrated features to behind-the-scenes intelligent routing, you’ll be a key agent of Pair’s AI strategy—helping us learn quickly, ship responsibly, and deliver high-quality results even in ambiguous or high-risk environments.

In this role, you will:

• Drive end-to-end development of mission-critical, AI-powered features that improve patient outcomes and operational efficiency
• Lead rapid prototyping efforts while also setting the foundation for scalable, maintainable AI systems
• Apply modern AI patterns (LLMs, embeddings, RAG, agents, fine-tuning, etc.) in creative, practical ways
• Build robust evaluation pipelines to ensure trust, safety, and real-world utility of every AI feature we ship
• Build robust evaluation pipelines and quality gates to ensure we ship AI features that are trustworthy and useful especially in high risk care delivery scenarios
• Set technical direction and mentor others on AI development best practices, experimentation frameworks, and production readiness

This is a unique opportunity to build mission-critical AI in one of the most meaningful sectors—using cutting-edge tools to increase access to care for vulnerable populations.

Who You Are

• Leadership & Influence: A recognized leader, respected for technical ability, direction-setting, and ability to navigate ambiguity. Leads cross-team initiatives and influences without authority across engineering, product, operations, and medical.
• Technical Expertise: recognized as an expert in their domain area but able to operate effectively in other domains when needed
• Execution & Ownership: Owns high-impact, cross-system projects. Drives progress across a domain and ensures delivery on both technical and business outcomes.
• Force Multiplier: Uplifts not only engineers but also PMs and designers. Leads by example to raise the bar across disciplines.
• Communication & Alignment: Communicates clearly across technical and non-technical audiences. Aligns stakeholders even when goals and definitions are evolving; creates clarity from chaos.
• Systems Thinking: Designs scalable solutions with a deep understanding of interconnected systems. Anticipates downstream effects and communicates complex dynamics clearly.
• Business Impact: Deeply understands business and operational goals. Connects them to day-to-day technical work, ensuring alignment and measurable outcomes.
• Player & Coach: Seamlessly shifts between strategy and execution — no problem too big or small. Equally effective leading execution (e.g., as a pod lead) or through deep technical contributions.
• Analytical & Data-Driven: Extracts and analyzes data independently. Synthesizes KPIs and qualitative insights to inform decisions and improve products.
• Growth-Oriented: Continuously seeks new challenges and growth. Acts as a multiplier for the team’s impact and helps shape the technical culture.
• Bias for Action: Delivers value iteratively, avoiding over-engineering. Breaks down complex problems into shippable steps and balances planning with execution.

Job Requirements

• 5+ years of experience as a high-performing builder in a fast-paced startup environment
• Deep familiarity with modern AI tools and frameworks (e.g., OpenAI, Llama, vector DBs, fine tuning pipelines, etc)
• Proven ability to technically lead teams going from zero to one—rapidly prototyping and delivering AI-driven features and systems
• Able to translate complex user needs into creative AI-driven features
• Skilled evaluating model performance, designing feedback loops, and managing trade-offs between speed, quality, and risk
• Comfortable working across the stack; experience with Ruby on Rails or similar backend frameworks is a plus
• Experience working in iterative environments, with a bias toward shipping value early and often
• Passionate about building technology that improves care for individuals navigating chronic health and social challenges—including homelessness, severe mental illness, and substance use disorder

Our Values

• Lead with integrity: We keep our commitments and take responsibility for our actions. We are dependable and choose authenticity over perfection.
• Embrace challenges: We leave our egos at the door and step forward into discomfort instead of back into safety. We help each other to learn and provide feedback using candor and kindness.
• Break through walls: We go the extra mile for our patients, partners and one another, and we run toward hard things. We are resilient in our push for consistent improvement and challenge the status quo.
• Act beyond yourself: We build each other up and respect boundaries. We seek first to understand and assume positive intent.
• Care comes first: We hold ourselves to the highest standards for our patients. We are relentless in the pursuit of our mission, and ensure that we are taking care of ourselves in order to care for others.

Because We Value You

• Competitive salary: $205,000 - $240,000
• Equity compensation package
• Flexible vacation policy – take the time you need to recharge
• Comprehensive health, vision & dental insurance
• $50 employer contribution to active HSA accounts
• 401k through Guideline
• Life insurance and AD&D
• Work entirely from the comfort of your own home
• Monthly $100 work from home expense stipend
• We provide the equipment needed for the role
• Opportunity for rapid career progression with plenty of room for personal growth!

Pair Team is an Equal Opportunity Employer. At Pair Team, we value diversity and strive to provide an inclusive environment for all applicants and employees. All applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, marital status, age, disability, political affiliation, military service, genetic information, or any other characteristic covered by federal, state, or local law.

Pair Team participates in E-Verify to verify employment eligibility for new hires.

Any offer of employment at Pair Team is conditioned upon passing a pre-employment background check. Following a conditional job offer, candidates will undergo comprehensive employment background checks, including; criminal history, reference checks, and driving records if a role requires vehicle use.

The talent team will only reach out via email from @pairteam.com email addresses. We do not conduct any TA business outside of our @pairteam.com emails. If you’re ever concerned about spam or fraudulent activity, please reach out to [email protected].

Note: Please be aware that while we sincerely appreciate your interest, due to the high volume of requests, we're unable to respond to general position inquiries sent to [email protected]. To apply for a position with us, please submit your application for the role you are interested in. Our team regularly reviews applications and will reach out to candidates whose qualifications align with our current openings listed below.

Thank you!