Staff AI-Native Engineer Lead

The Problem

Severe mental illness affects over 15 million adults in the United States. Schizophrenia. Schizoaffective disorder. Bipolar I. Treatment-resistant depression. These are the conditions the rest of healthcare has systematically failed to build for.

What makes this problem different from most of healthcare is that the tools to solve it do not exist. The clinical protocols, the measurement science, the precision medicine, the technology to deliver coordinated longitudinal outpatient care for this population. None of it has been built. This is a frontier problem, and it requires frontier science and care delivery to solve.

We are developing all of it. The care, the science, the technology.

Who We Are

Amae Health is a Series B, venture-backed Public Benefit Corporation delivering specialty outpatient care for people with severe mental illness through high-acuity, in-person clinics nationwide.

Our integrated model brings psychiatry, therapy, primary care, dietitians, and community support together under one roof. Leading health systems—including NewYork-Presbyterian, Cedars-Sinai, Mass General Brigham, Novant Health, and CommonSpirit—partner with us to expand this level of care.

Alongside care delivery, we are building the science and technology the field has long lacked—proprietary clinical protocols, novel measurement, and an AI-driven data platform designed for severe mental illness.

The impact: fewer hospitalizations, greater stability, and more people living meaningful lives in their communities.

The Role

Engineering excellence drives everything we do, as well as how we scale care.

As our Staff AI-Native Engineer Lead, you'll be a systematic thinker about how emerging AI-driven development practices can reshape our entire lifecycle. We don't just use AI; we build our product development processes around it, leveraging AI-native workflows to accelerate architecture, automate testing, and achieve solid reliability. This is a technical leadership role focused on architectural vision and driving engineering excellence through deep expertise.

You'll join a focused engineering team building AmaeCare, our product enabling clinicians to provide better care, and AmaeBetter, our mobile app that motivates patients to engage with their care. You won't just ship features; you'll own the reliability, velocity, and architecture of both products end-to-end.

This is a high-ownership role at the intersection of product and engineering. You'll partner directly with our CPO on roadmap and requirements, bringing engineering thinking into strategy while translating product vision into technical reality.

What You'll Do

AI-Native Engineering

• Architect and scale AI-native workflows that define our standard development lifecycle.
• Institutionalize AI-first development: integrate automated code generation, AI-assisted architecture reviews, and self-healing test suites into our daily engineering operations.
• Further the evolution of our engineering culture to be AI-native, continuously measuring and optimizing the impact of AI tools on velocity and code quality.

Engineering Strategy

• Own end-to-end engineering delivery and reliability for AmaeCare and AmaeBetter.
• Architect shared systems in collaboration with senior engineers to ensure scale.
• Drive continuous improvement in systems and processes, enforcing a high bar for production quality while balancing velocity.

Product Strategy

• Partner with the CPO on product roadmap, requirements, and technical vision.
• Collaborate with the Care Delivery team to inform product decisions and ensure alignment with clinical needs.
• Translate clinical and user feedback into actionable technical strategy.

Technical Leadership

• Drive adoption of AI-native practices across the team: build conviction, set the pace, and create urgency where it counts.
• Run architecture reviews and working sessions that move decisions forward, bringing the room to alignment and keeping momentum high.
• Foster a culture where engineers understand the clinical impact of their work.

What We're Looking For

• Extensive experience as a Senior or Staff level software engineer with deep architectural expertise and ability to drive large-scale technical initiatives.
• Deep fluency in AI-native development systems and experience building agentic development systems, innovating on systematic, technical improvements to the full development lifecycle.
• Proven track record of leading teams that ship reliable, high-quality user-facing products in fast-paced startup environments by balancing velocity and reliability without sacrificing either.
• Product mindset. You think like a product person and can help shape requirements (Product management experience is a plus)
• Strong communication and influence across technical and non-technical stakeholders: you can carry a room, balance competing input, and push initiatives forward with urgency
• Deep full-stack proficiency (React, Next.js, TypeScript, Node.js, SQL/PostgreSQL) with hands-on experience deploying and managing applications on cloud platforms like Vercel or AWS.
• Solid understanding of security, authentication/authorization, and data privacy best practices
• Familiarity with FHIR, HL7, and healthcare interoperability standards (nice-to-have)
• Degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience
• Able to work in-person from San Francisco or New York

Why This Role Matters

Everything we ship impacts patient outcomes and clinician effectiveness.

If we get this right:

• Clinicians have tools that work reliably, every time
• Patients receive care powered by technology that understands their needs
• We move faster without sacrificing stability

You're not just a technical expert; you're building the technical backbone of a system that changes lives through visionary leadership.

Compensation & Benefits

Amae Health is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. Base salary range for this role is $180,000 - $210,000 per year, and will be adjusted to market cost. Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage. Parental leave and programs built around well-being. We’ll share specifics during the interview process.