Principal AI Engineer

About SonderMind

At  SonderMind,  we  know  that  therapy  works.  SonderMind  provides  accessible, personalized  mental healthcare that produces high-quality outcomes for patients. SonderMind's individualized approach to care starts with using innovative technology to help people not just find a therapist, but find the right, in-network therapist for them, should they choose to use their insurance. From there, SonderMind's clinicians are committed to delivering best-in-class care to all patients by focusing on high-quality clinical  outcomes.  To  enable  our  clinicians  to  thrive,  SonderMind  defines  care expectations while providing tools such as clinical note-taking, secure telehealth capabilities, outcome measurement, messaging, and direct booking. To follow the latest SonderMind news, get to know our clients, and learn about what it’s like to work at SonderMind, you can follow us on Instagram, Linkedin, and Twitter.

Principal AI Engineer

At SonderMind, we are revolutionizing mental healthcare by leveraging technology to provide personalized and effective mental health solutions. We believe that generative AI and cutting-edge AI technologies can empower mental health professionals and create best-in-class self-care tools that help individuals achieve better mental health outcomes faster.

About the Role

As the most senior AI Engineer at SonderMind, you will be at the forefront of designing and implementing AI solutions that redefine mental healthcare. Reporting directly to Miguel Alvarado, you will lead the AI engineering team, set best practices, and mentor other engineers. You will collaborate closely with Applied Science, software engineers, product managers, and designers to create innovative AI/ML solutions that drive the next generation of mental health care tools.

Essential Functions

• Lead the design and implementation of AI agents and agentic patterns to enhance mental health solutions.
• Develop and optimize LLM workflows, balancing techniques such as many-shot in-context learning and fine-tuning.
• Evaluate and select appropriate LLMs for various tasks, ensuring high performance and reliability.
• Translate product requirements into comprehensive evals sets and processes, ensuring alignment with business goals and user needs.
• Establish and promote best practices in state-of-the-art prompt engineering, ensuring that our AI solutions are both innovative and effective.
• Cultivate a culture of continuous learning by encouraging the team to regularly review and discuss the latest research papers, ensuring that our AI solutions remain at the forefront of technological advancements.
• Build scalable and reusable AI infrastructure to support multiple teams and projects.
• Establish and maintain robust AI/ML Ops practices to ensure efficient deployment and monitoring of AI systems.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align AI initiatives with product goals and user needs.
• Mentor and guide junior engineers, fostering a culture of innovation, evals and continuous learning.

What does success look like?

Success in this role means leading the development of AI solutions that significantly improve mental health outcomes and user satisfaction. You will be measured by the impact of AI technologies on product innovation, the scalability and reliability of AI systems, and the growth and development of the engineering team.

Who You Are

• Education & Experience: Advanced degree in Computer Science, AI, or a related field. Extensive experience in AI/ML engineering, with a proven track record of leading AI projects in top-tier tech companies.
• Technical Skills: Mastery of programming languages such as Python and AI frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, and Keras. Deep understanding of generative models, NLP, and AI infrastructure.
• Experience with low-level programming in C++ and Rust is a plus, as it will enhance our ability to optimize AI systems for performance and reliability.
• Soft Skills: Strong leadership and mentoring abilities, excellent problem-solving skills, and a collaborative mindset. Ability to communicate complex AI concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Passion for Innovation: A deep commitment to using AI to transform mental healthcare and improve lives.

Our Benefits 

The anticipated salary rate for this role is between $160,000 - $190,000 per year.

As a leader in redesigning behavioral health, we are walking the walk with our employee benefits. We want the experience of working at SonderMind to accelerate people’s careers and enrich their lives, so we focus on meeting SonderMinders wherever they are and supporting them in all facets of their life and work.

Our benefits include:

• A commitment to fostering flexible hybrid work
• A generous PTO policy with a minimum of three weeks off per year
• Free therapy coverage benefits to ensure our employees have access to the care they need (must be enrolled in our medical plans to participate)
• Competitive Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage with plans to meet every need, including HSA ($1,100 company contribution) and FSA options
• Employer-paid short-term, long-term disability, life & AD&D to cover life's unexpected events. Not only that, we also cover the difference in salary for up to seven (7) weeks of short-term disability leave (after the required waiting period) should you need to use it.
• Eight weeks of paid Parental Leave (if the parent also qualifies for STD, this benefit is in addition which allows between 8-16 weeks of paid leave)
• 401K retirement plan with 100% matching which immediately vests on up to 4% of base salary
• Travel to Denver 1x a year for annual Shift gathering
• Fourteen (14) company holidays
• Company Shutdown between Christmas and New Years
• Supplemental life insurance, pet insurance coverage, commuter benefits and more!

Application Deadline

This position will be an ongoing recruitment process and will be open until filled.

Equal Opportunity 
SonderMind does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices based on race, color, creed, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, religion, veteran and military status, marital status, registered domestic partner status, age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition (including genetic information or characteristics), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.