Skills: Prompt Engineering, JavaScript, Node.js, React, Chatbots

The Mission

We're building an AI-powered insurance brokerage transforming the $900B commercial insurance market. Voice is our primary growth lever - the majority of insurance transactions happen over phone calls. We need an exceptional Head of Voice AI to architect voice systems that will power thousands of conversations daily across growth, sales, operations, and customer service.

You'll use low-code platforms like VAPI or Retell for quick prototyping and rapid deployment of production voice agents, then progressively build custom infrastructure using LiveKit and Pipecat as we scale. Your systems will handle everything from cold outreach and lead qualification to complex multi-turn underwriting conversations and 24/7 customer support.

We're committed to "Staying REAL" with our AI systems - building agents that are Reliable, Experience-focused, Accurate, and have Low latency. You'll work directly with the CEO and CTO with a bias toward action. We live by core principles: "There is no try, there is just do," "Actions lead to information, always default to action," and "Strong opinions lead to information."

Outcomes You'll Drive

Voice Infrastructure & Scale

Deploy production voice agents within weeks using VAPI or Retell for quick prototyping and immediate business impact
Transition to custom voice infrastructure with LiveKit and Pipecat as volume scales
Achieve sub-700ms latency across the entire voice pipeline while maintaining conversation quality
Scale to 10,000+ concurrent calls with appropriate architecture evolution and optimization
Integrate telephony at scale with Twilio, Telnyx, and enterprise SIP infrastructure

Growth & Sales Automation

Build outbound prospecting agents that identify qualified leads, overcome objections, and book appointments
Create lead nurturing systems with personalized follow-ups that move prospects through the sales funnel
Implement predictive dialing and call pacing algorithms for maximum efficiency
Design qualification workflows that gather key information and route to appropriate human agents

Operations & Underwriting Support

Develop form-filling agents handling 20-30 minute insurance application conversations
Build underwriter follow-up systems that collect additional risk information through natural, multi-turn dialogue
Create document collection workflows guiding customers through providing licenses, photos, and business documentation
Implement intelligent escalation paths that know when to loop in human underwriters

Customer Service Excellence

Design 24/7 policy servicing agents that explain coverage, generate certificates, and process endorsements
Build claims intake systems that empathetically gather first notice of loss (FNOL) information
Create payment processing agents handling failed payments, billing updates, and payment plans
Develop proactive outreach systems for policy renewals, payment reminders, and important updates

Platform Development

Create no-code/low-code tools enabling non-technical teams to create and modify voice workflows
Build conversation analytics tracking quality metrics, completion rates, and customer satisfaction
Develop A/B testing frameworks for voice personas, prompts, and conversation strategies
Implement voice agent templates for common insurance workflows
Create comprehensive monitoring to track latency, accuracy, and conversation outcomes

You're Our Person If

You've built production voice AI systems handling 100K+ minutes per month with real customers
You have hands-on experience with low-code platforms (VAPI, Retell) for rapid prototyping and custom voice infrastructure (LiveKit, Pipecat) for scale
You understand the full voice stack from telephony protocols to WebRTC-based media servers
You've optimized voice pipelines achieving sub-second latency while maintaining quality
You can architect systems that maintain context through 30+ minute conversations
You've built both inbound and outbound calling systems at scale
You have experience with modern STT/TTS providers and know how to optimize them
You ship voice features daily and iterate based on real conversation data
You balance starting with practical solutions while building toward technical excellence
You understand that voice AI is about business impact, not just technical sophistication
You embrace "there is no try, there is just do" as your engineering mantra

Hard Requirements

5+ years of software engineering experience with at least 3 years deeply focused on voice/audio systems
Production voice AI experience - you've built and deployed systems handling 50K+ minutes/month
Hands-on experience with low-code voice platforms like VAPI or Retell for rapid prototyping
Deep understanding of telephony and media protocols including SIP, RTP, and WebRTC
Experience with voice orchestration frameworks like LiveKit, Pipecat, Daily, or custom-built solutions
Advanced audio processing knowledge - you understand VAD, AEC, noise suppression at a technical level
Proven ability to achieve sub-second latency in production voice systems
Strong proficiency in Python and TypeScript/Node.js specifically for real-time systems
Experience with both inbound and outbound calling at scale (1000+ concurrent calls)
Modern AI provider expertise with OpenAI, Anthropic, Deepgram, ElevenLabs, etc.
Track record of shipping voice products that directly impact business metrics
Strong debugging skills for complex, multi-service voice pipelines
Must be based in San Francisco and work in-office 5.5 days per week (relocation assistance provided)

Our Voice Tech Stack

Rapid Prototyping & Deployment:

VAPI or Retell for quick prototyping and initial voice agent deployment
Twilio and Telnyx for telephony infrastructure
Deepgram and AssemblyAI for ultra-low latency speech-to-text
ElevenLabs and Cartesia for natural text-to-speech
GPT-4o and Gemini for conversational intelligence

Custom Infrastructure (Scale To):

LiveKit for WebRTC-based real-time media infrastructure
Pipecat for flexible voice pipeline orchestration
Custom orchestration layers for complex conversation management
Redis streams for audio buffering and event processing
PostgreSQL for conversation history and analytics
Temporal.io for durable conversation workflows tools
Logfire for comprehensive observability

What You'll Build in Your First 90 Days

First Month:

Deploy your first outbound calling agent using VAPI or Retell for quick prototyping
Build information collection agents for gathering initial customer data
Implement payment reminder system that handles failed payments and billing updates
Create conversation recording pipeline for quality monitoring and compliance
Set up A/B testing framework for different voice personas and scripts
Establish baseline metrics for conversation success rates

Second Month:

Build comprehensive form-filling agent capable of 20-30 minute insurance applications
Implement underwriter follow-up system collecting additional information through dialogue
Create multi-modal orchestration allowing seamless handoffs between voice, SMS, and email
Develop claims intake agent with empathetic conversation handling
Build certificate generation system accessible 24/7 through voice commands
Begin transition to custom infrastructure for high-volume use cases

Third Month:

Scale outbound infrastructure to handle 1000+ concurrent prospecting calls
Build complete customer service suite covering policy changes, endorsements, and inquiries
Implement intelligent routing system directing calls to specialized agents
Develop predictive models for optimal call timing and conversation success
Create voice agent templates for non-technical team members
Launch production campaigns measuring impact on conversion and satisfaction

Our Voice AI Philosophy

Start Practical, Scale Smart: Begin with low-code platforms for rapid deployment, build custom infrastructure as needed
Voice is the Channel: Recognize that voice is how insurance happens - optimize for natural conversation
Latency is Everything: Sub-700ms response times or we've failed
Revenue Impact First: Every voice interaction should drive conversion, retention, or efficiency
Context Preservation: Maintain full context even across 30+ minute calls
Fail Gracefully: Always have intelligent fallbacks and recovery mechanisms
Data-Driven Iteration: Measure everything, iterate based on real conversations
Ship Daily: Deploy quickly, learn fast, improve continuously
REAL Framework: Every interaction must be Reliable, Experience-focused, Accurate, and Low-latency

Join Us To Transform Insurance

This is an early-stage role at a fast-moving startup where you'll define how voice AI transforms insurance. Voice is our biggest point of leverage - you'll directly impact how we scale 10x without proportional headcount increases. You'll start with practical solutions that work today, then build the infrastructure to scale tomorrow.

You should have experience building voice AI systems that real customers use at scale - handling thousands of calls per day, maintaining sub-second latency, and gracefully handling all the edge cases that come with production voice systems. We value engineers who ship daily and measure success by business impact, not technical complexity.

We require you to be in San Francisco and work from our office 5.5 days per week. We'll cover relocation costs and believe the best teams collaborate intensively in person.

Skills

Voice AI, LiveKit, Pipecat, VAPI, Retell, WebRTC, Telephony, SIP, RTP, Media Servers, Real-time Audio, Audio Processing, VAD, Echo Cancellation, Speech-to-Text, Text-to-Speech, Deepgram, AssemblyAI, ElevenLabs, Cartesia, Natural Language Processing, Conversation Design, Outbound Calling, Predictive Dialers, Python, TypeScript, Node.js, Distributed Systems, Low-latency Systems, Real-time Streaming, WebSockets, Twilio, Telnyx, Voice Orchestration, Prompt Engineering, GPT-4o, Claude, A/B Testing, Conversion Optimization