About Distyl AI Distyl AI develops production-grade AI systems to power core operational workflows for Fortune 500 companies. Powered by a strategic partnership with OpenAI, in-house software accelerators, and deep enterprise AI expertise, we deliver working AI systems with rapid time to value – within a quarter.

Our products have helped Fortune 500 customers across diverse industries, from insurance and CPG to non-profits. As part of our team, you will help companies identify, build, and realize value from their GenAI investments, often for the first time. We are customer-centric, working backward from the customer’s problem and holding ourselves accountable for creating both financial impact and improving the lives of end-users.

Distyl is led by proven leaders from top companies like Palantir and Apple and is backed by Lightspeed, Khosla, Coatue, Dell Technologies Capital, Nat Friedman (Former CEO of GitHub), Brad Gerstner (Founder and CEO of Altimeter), and board members of over a dozen Fortune 500 companies.

What We Are Looking For At Distyl, we build AI systems that operate inside the most complex enterprise environments in the world. Doing this well requires AI Architects who can take full ownership of how intelligent systems are structured, integrated, secured, and operated in production—while remaining deeply hands-on in the work.

Forward Deployed AI Architects are experienced builders with the technical judgment to design and evolve end-to-end AI systems across real enterprise stacks. They operate as trusted technical counterparts to customer engineering leadership, security teams, and operators, and are expected to make and defend architectural decisions that balance capability, risk, and operational reality. Their authority comes from execution, not title.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the technical shape of AI systems deployed in customer environments
• Define how models, agents, data pipelines, APIs, and orchestration layers fit together, how those systems integrate with existing enterprise infrastructure, and how they are operated safely and reliably at scale. Their focus is on cross-cutting architectural patterns that span multiple customer systems, ensuring consistency, safety, and long-term evolvability across deployments

What We Require

• 5+ years of software engineering experience
• Proven Ownership of Complex System Architecture: You have designed, built, and operated complex distributed systems in production, and have taken responsibility for how those systems evolve over time. You are comfortable making irreversible or high-impact architectural decisions and owning their consequences

What We Offer

• The base salary range for this role is $130K – $250K, depending on experience, location, and level. In addition to base compensation, this role is eligible for meaningful equity, along with a comprehensive benefits package
• 100% covered medical, dental, and vision for employees and dependents
• 401(k) with additional perks (e.g., commuter benefits, in‑office lunch)
• Access to state‑of‑the‑art models, generous usage of modern AI tools, and real‑world business problems
• Ownership of high‑impact projects across top enterprises
• A mission‑driven, fast‑moving culture that prizes curiosity, pragmatism, and excellence

Distyl has offices in San Francisco and New York. This role follows a hybrid collaboration model with 3+ days per week (Tuesday–Thursday) in‑office. . We’re grateful for the strong interest in this role. The best way to get your profile in front of our team is to apply directly through our careers page, where all applications are reviewed. Due to the high volume of interest, we’re not able to review or respond to all direct emails or LinkedIn messages. We will be in touch with every applicant once we’ve completed our review, regardless of the decision.