Staff Platform Engineer, AI Enablement

Zocdoc•New York, NY

8d•$210,000 - $270,000•Remote

About The Position

At Zocdoc, we're on a mission to give power to the patient — and that starts with enabling every person at Zocdoc to build, ship, and leverage technology safely, confidently, and with leverage. As a Staff Platform Engineer focused on AI Enablement, you will design, build, and evolve the foundational systems, tooling, guardrails, and paved roads that create leverage across our engineering organization and beyond — accelerating delivery while improving reliability, consistency, and developer experience. Critically, this role has a wider aperture than most platform roles: you will own AI enablement for both technical and non-technical stakeholders, building opinionated platforms and safe onramps that allow every builder at Zocdoc — regardless of their engineering background — to harness AI tools productively and securely. This role sits within the Infrastructure organization. You will collaborate across the business to turn platform strategy into practical, adoptable solutions — working side by side with a parallel squad focused on the technical engineering audience, and bridging the gap between engineering-grade tools and the non-technical teams (People, Operations, Sales, Finance, and others) who increasingly build and depend on AI-powered workflows. The role emphasizes hands-on technical leadership (~80%) with meaningful input into platform direction (~20%). Your work will abstract operational complexity, define guardrails for safe AI usage, improve testability and safety, and streamline the builder journey across both software-engineering and non-engineering surfaces.

Requirements

Have 7+ years of experience building or evolving internal developer platforms, productivity tooling, or CI/CD systems used by multiple teams
Have designed and operated distributed systems in AWS or similar cloud environments
Bring strong judgment around platform abstractions and APIs — knowing when to standardize and when to stay flexible
Can take ambiguous problems, break them into deliverable pieces, and drive them to measurable outcomes
Communicate technical trade-offs clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences — translating engineering concepts into terms that resonate with stakeholders outside of software development
Treat adoption as a first-class engineering problem, not an afterthought — and know that adoption across non-technical teams requires an even higher bar of empathy and communication
Have experience (or strong, informed opinions) building guardrails, access controls, and safe onboarding paths for non-engineers using AI tools
Are motivated by enabling other engineers and non-technical builders to work reliably, safely, and with confidence
Value learning, curiosity, and operational excellence — and model those qualities for the team
Are comfortable in fast-moving, high-change environments where priorities evolve and alignment requires active investment
Have integrated generative AI tools into daily workflows to automate tasks, foster innovation, and maximize productivity
Hold a Bachelor's degree in CS, Math, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience)

Nice To Haves

Enjoy building platforms that enable productivity, consistency, and autonomy for diverse audiences
Enjoy learning and teaching others about leveraging AI-based technologies to achieve real-world results
Are motivated by making other people more effective; not just shipping your own features
Like designing cohesive developer and/or non-technical experiences that teams actually want to adopt
Care deeply about empathy, usability, and reducing cognitive load
Prefer solving real problems through thoughtful design, iteration, and collaboration
Are comfortable translating complex technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders — and enjoy doing it
Find satisfaction in building systems that scale predictably and help others succeed
Thrive in environments with ambiguity, frequent change, and evolving prioritization — and bring clarity where there was none
Are a natural collaborator

Responsibilities

Design and build platform services and solutions that are secure, scalable, and intentionally easy to use — including CI/CD pipelines, developer tooling, shared infrastructure patterns, and AI-powered developer workflows
Contribute to the technical direction of Zocdoc's internal developer platform, including paved roads, tooling, and shared workflows for both engineering and non-engineering builders
Build and maintain opinionated platforms and guardrails that enable non-technical teams to safely create, share, and operationalize AI tools — without introducing security vulnerabilities, access control failures, or operational bottlenecks
Define and evolve the software development lifecycle for non-traditional builders: access controls, credential management, testing patterns, on-call/support paths, and contribution workflows
Collaborate across teams to understand real developer pain points and non-technical stakeholder needs; validate platform bets; and drive adoption of platform capabilities across both audiences
Own and deliver high-impact platform investments end to end — from problem framing through implementation and rollout
Improve measurable outcomes such as build times, deployment safety, AI tool adoption rates, and operational simplicity
Champion platform-as-product thinking by treating internal engineers and non-technical builders as first-class users — and continuously refining the experience based on their feedback
Advance platform capabilities in AI-assisted development, helping shape how all Zocdoc builders use AI in their daily workflows with the right guardrails for safety, quality, and testability
Work with cutting-edge generative AI tools and technology to accelerate platform development and model best practices for the broader organization
Mentor engineers and technologists across the business and raise the bar for technical design and code quality
Ensure platform patterns align with security, compliance, and reliability expectations without becoming a bottleneck

Benefits

Flexible work environment for those based in NYC (Role is open to remote)
Unlimited Vacation
100% paid employee health benefit options (including medical, dental, and vision)
401(k) with employer funded match
Corporate wellness program with Wellhub
Sabbatical leave (for employees with 5+ years of service)
Competitive paid parental leave and fertility/family planning reimbursement
Cell phone reimbursement
Employee Resource Groups and ZocClubs to promote shared community and belonging
Great Place to Work Certified