AI Product Engineer - Private Equity Platform

OVERVIEW:
The D. E. Shaw group seeks a highly motivated and entrepreneurial technical product engineer to join its newly formed private equity venture, Cove, and help build the AI-powered platform at its core. This role sits at the intersection of product strategy and technical execution, offering the opportunity to define, shape, and deliver technology solutions that will become the operational backbone of the group. As an early team member, this product engineer will play a key role in addressing the open challenge of applying AI to private equity investments and operations, with the backing of one of the most technologically sophisticated investment firms in the world.
WHAT YOU'LL DO DAY-TO-DAY:
You'll be involved in all aspects of building and scaling technology products for the fund's investment activities, including:

• Work closely with the investment and operations teams to surface high-impact opportunities, pressure-test ideas, and translate workflow challenges into clear product direction.
• Own product design end-to-end—from how data is structured and connected to the business logic that determines how a tool actually behaves—bringing both conceptual clarity and technical precision to each iteration.
• Design and build AI-native products that use LLMs to change how investment teams work, with a solid intuition for how model behavior shapes user experience and where AI can add genuine leverage.
• Drive products from prototype to production, contributing code directly—especially in early stages—when tight product and business judgment matters most.
  

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

• A bachelor’s degree or higher, an impressive record of academic and professional achievement, and at least five years of relevant experience.
• At least two years of experience developing technology products in direct collaboration with engineering teams, including at least one year focused on workflow products that streamline business operations and processes.
• Experience successfully taking a product from conception to completion, ideally in a startup environment; prior experience developing products for vertical-specific or industry-focused applications is a plus.
• A solid technical foundation in full-stack product development—spanning APIs, databases, and user interfaces—with the ability to read and execute code, and proficiency in overseeing technical aspects from architecture decisions to implementation details.
• At least one year of experience developing and integrating LLM-powered systems into production applications, with knowledge of agentic frameworks and their practical implementation; demonstrated ability to translate AI capabilities (including autonomous agents, tool use, and multi-step reasoning) into practical product features that solve real-world problems.
• Well-developed communication skills, a collaborative and entrepreneurial mindset, and the ability to successfully manage multiple projects at once.
• The expected annual base salary for this position is $185,000 to $250,000. Our compensation and benefits package includes variable compensation in the form of a year-end bonus, guaranteed in the first year of hire, and benefits including medical and prescription drug coverage, 401(k) contribution matching, wellness reimbursement, family building benefits, and a charitable gift match program.