Head of AI Engineering - New Initiative (Portugal-based Remote/Hybrid)

Sword Health is on a mission to free two billion people from pain as the world’s first and only end-to-end platform to predict, prevent and treat pain. 

With 67% of members achieving a pain-free life and a 70% reduction in surgery intent, at Sword, we are using technology to save millions for our 25,000 enterprise clients across three continents. Today, we hold the majority of industry patents, win 70% of competitive evaluations, and have raised more than $300 million from top venture firms like Founders Fund, Sapphire Ventures, General Catalyst, and Khosla Ventures.

Recognized as a Forbes Best Startup Employer in 2024, this award highlights our focus on being a destination for the best and brightest talent. Not only have we experienced unprecedented growth since our market debut in 2020, but we’ve also created a remarkable mission and value-driven environment that is loved by our growing team. With a recent valuation of $3 billion, we are in a phase of hyper growth and expansion, and we’re looking for individuals with passion, commitment, and energy to help us scale our impact. 

Joining Sword Health means committing to a set of core values, chief amongst them to “do it for the patients” every day, and to always “deliver more than expected” on behalf of our members and clients.

This is an opportunity for you to make a significant difference on a massive scale as you work alongside 900+ (and growing!) talented colleagues, spanning three continents. Your charge? To help us build a pain-free world, powered by technology, enhanced by people — accessible to all.

The Role

At Sword Health, we’ve developed AI tools to address some of the most complex challenges we face. We believe this same technology can benefit other organizations, particularly in processes critical to our society's well-being.

As our first engineering hire, you’ll step into a role that feels like joining a seed-stage startup but with the backing of a company that knows how to scale. You’ll take the lead in externalizing our internal AI technology, building the foundation that makes it ready to sell.

In the beginning, you’ll be hands-on architecting, coding, and making key technical decisions. But you won’t stay solo for long. You’ll have the opportunity to build and scale an engineering team from the ground up.

Here’s the cheat code: while you’re laying the foundation, you’ll work closely with our existing engineering team one that’s already delivering proven AI solutions at scale. Whether it’s architecture, infrastructure, or best practices, you’ll have a team of experts to tap into.

If you thrive on building new things, taking ownership, and scaling fast, this is your chance to shape something big.

What you'll be doing

• Architecting, designing and leading the development of production-grade AI-powered solutions that power multiple healthcare providers (with special emphasis in GenAI);
• Thinking through how to externalize our technology—making it reliable, scalable, and ready for market;
• Working hands-on in the early days—set up the infrastructure, build features, and solve technical challenges as the first engineer on the team;
• Driving technical strategy for our enterprise ML platform, from model deployment to monitoring and optimization;
• Building and leading a team of ML Engineers, Backends and Frontends in building robust, configurable AI systems that adapt to different healthcare contexts;
• Working closely with our core AI team to translate cutting-edge solutions into enterprise-ready implementations;
• Ensuring technical excellence across all AI deployments while maintaining healthcare compliance and safety standards;

What you need to have

• 5+ years of experience leading teams in building and deploying production systems at scale;
• Strong track record leading multidisciplinary teams on delivering AI-powered products;
• Strong technical expertise—you’re hands-on when needed, with deep experience in architecture, coding, and cloud infrastructure.
• Remarkable judgment and ability to deliver at a high pace;
• Extensive experience with modern Tech/AI stacks;
• Strong software engineering background with emphasis on building scalable, maintainable systems;
• Strong product sense and ability to influence technical product decisions.

What we would love to see

• Track record of successful large-scale AI deployments in healthcare;
• Familiarity with healthcare data systems and compliance requirements;
• Experience with conversational AI or similar interactive ML systems;

*Please note that this position does not offer relocation assistance. Candidates must possess a valid EU visa and be based in Portugal.

Portugal - Sword Benefits & Perks:

• Health, dental and vision insurance

• Meal allowance

• Equity shares

• Remote work allowance

• Flexible working hours

• Work from home

• Unlimited vacation

• Snacks and beverages

• English class

• Unlimited access to our Learning Platform

Note: Please note that this position does not offer relocation assistance. Candidates must possess a valid EU visa and be based in Portugal.

Sword Health, which includes SWORD Health, Inc. and Sword Health Professionals (consisting of Sword Health Care Providers, P.A., SWORD Health Care Providers of NJ, P.C., SWORD Health Care Physical Therapy Providers of CA, P.C.*) complies with applicable Federal and State civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of Age, Ancestry, Color, Citizenship, Gender, Gender expression, Gender identity, Gender information, Marital status, Medical condition, National origin, Physical or mental disability, Pregnancy, Race, Religion, Caste, Sexual orientation, and Veteran status.