AI Engineering Lead/Manager

About the role

We are seeking an experienced AI Engineering Lead/Manager to lead a team that builds and ships AI-powered features across our client-facing applications. You will bring hands-on experience integrating AI capabilities, such as AI image generation, agentic actions, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations, into production software used by customers. This role blends technical leadership, hands-on engineering, and strong business sense: you will partner closely with Product Management to define features and shape the roadmap, then lead your team in turning that vision into reliable, delightful experiences.

About the role

• Lead and grow a team of engineers building AI-powered features into our client applications, setting technical direction and a high bar for quality.
• Partner closely with Product Management to define AI features and shape the product roadmap, balancing customer value, business impact, technical feasibility, and cost.
• Architect and deliver end-to-end integrations of AI capabilities into client-facing software (e.g., AI image generation, agentic actions and workflows, and MCP-based tool and data integrations).
• Stay hands-on: write, review, and ship production code, and help your team work through the hardest technical problems.
• Evaluate models, vendors, and APIs (hosted and open-source), making pragmatic build-vs-buy recommendations based on quality, latency, cost, and reliability.
• Establish practices for evaluating and monitoring AI features, including evals, quality metrics, guardrails, and user feedback loops.
• Build AI experiences that are safe and trustworthy, addressing content safety, privacy, prompt injection, and responsible AI considerations.
• Collaborate with UX on intuitive interaction patterns for AI features, including handling latency, uncertainty, and failures gracefully.
• Work with data and ML partners to understand model training, fine-tuning, and data pipelines, and translate those capabilities into product opportunities.
• Ship behind feature flags with progressive rollout and kill-switches, validating new behavior with production telemetry before ramping.
• Own the health of AI features through telemetry by tracking adoption, output quality, latency, cost per request, and defect trends.
• Champion agentic coding tools in your team's daily workflow (AI-assisted code review, automated test generation) while maintaining code quality, security, and human oversight.
• Mentor engineers, lead effective code reviews, and foster a culture of learning and experimentation.
• Stay current on the rapidly evolving AI landscape and recommend adoption where it would meaningfully improve our products or team.

Qualifications & Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.
• 5+ years of hands-on, professional software development experience in one or more of: Angular, Kotlin, Swift, C#, or Python.
• 2+ years of experience as a technical lead or engineering manager, leading engineers to deliver customer-facing software.
• Proven experience integrating AI-based features into client-facing production software, such as AI image generation, agentic actions, LLM-powered experiences, or MCP (Model Context Protocol) integrations.
• Practical experience with AI/LLM APIs and SDKs (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Stability AI, or open-source models), including prompt design, tool/function calling, and structured outputs.
• Solid understanding of production AI tradeoffs, including latency, cost, reliability, evaluation, and safety.
• Strong business sense, with a track record of partnering with Product to define features, prioritize a roadmap, and measure outcomes.
• Experience designing and consuming REST APIs and integrating client applications with backend services.
• Experience with automated testing (unit, integration, end-to-end) and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience instrumenting applications with telemetry/observability tools (e.g., Datadog, Firebase, or platform-native logging).
• Hands-on, pragmatic use of modern AI engineering tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, etc.).

Nice to Have

• Knowledge of machine learning concepts, such as how models are trained, fine-tuned, and evaluated, and how data pipelines support them.
• Experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), embeddings, or vector databases.
• Experience with computer vision, such as image classification, object detection, segmentation, or image understanding.
• Experience with creative or design-focused applications, including 2D graphics or image processing.

Soft Skills

• Communicates clearly with engineering, product, design, and business stakeholders, and can explain AI capabilities and limitations to non-technical audiences.
• Brings strong product and business judgment, connecting technical decisions to customer value and business outcomes.
• Builds alignment on scope, priorities, and tradeoffs with Product Management and UX.
• Leads by example, mentors engineers, and helps the team grow.
• Stays curious about the fast-moving AI landscape and brings practical improvements to the team.

Additional Information: We've Got You Covered

At Cricut, we take care of our people. Enjoy competitive Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage, a 401(k) match, generous PTO, tuition reimbursement, and a yearly lifestyle stipend to support your wellness and passions. You'll also receive exclusive employee discounts-and best of all, you'll be surrounded by some of the most talented, creative, and curious minds out there.

A Quick Note Before You Apply

Cricut is in an exciting chapter of transformation. We're evolving fast-refining our strategy, growing our teams, and raising the bar across everything we do. This is an incredible opportunity for the right kind of person-but it's not for everyone.

We're looking for A-players-people who thrive in dynamic environments, turn challenges into momentum, and consistently deliver their best work. If that sounds like you, read on.

Here's what makes someone a great fit for this role (and for this moment at Cricut):

• You move with urgency. You don't wait for perfect clarity to act-you start, learn, and adjust.
• You set high standards. You take ownership, deliver quality, and hold yourself accountable.
• You stay focused when things move fast. You prioritize what matters most and tune out the noise.
• You collaborate like a pro. You elevate others, communicate clearly, and bring a low-ego, high-output energy.
• You embrace AI as part of your toolkit. From idea exploration to data analysis and creative problem-solving, you leverage AI to accelerate innovation and amplify impact-because technology and creativity go hand-in-hand here.

One More Thing (It's a Big One)

This role is in-office at least 4-5 days per week. We believe real collaboration, innovation, and culture are built face-to-face. If you're energized by working alongside smart, kind, creative people-and love those hallway conversations that spark the next great idea-you'll feel right at home.

If you're looking for a fully remote role, this may not be the right fit. But if you're excited by challenge, purpose, and building something better-let's make something amazing together.

Relocation Statement

• This position is eligible for relocation assistance.

What to Do Next: Please attach your resume, cover letter and/or include links to your portfolio or other social presence. If you want to show your super powers in other ways - include that information too. You can be sure that Cricut® is an employer who values individuality, equality and diversity, so tell us what you're all about. If you are a Maker or a DIY enthusiast, whether you think you are a good one or not, we would love to hear about it when you send us your information.