AI-Native UX Engineer
About Feanix Bio
Feanix is rebuilding animal breeding from the genome up.
We're a YC-backed startup using whole-genome sequencing and custom ML models to help dairy farmers make smarter breeding and herd management decisions. Our tech is genuinely novel: we can sequence a full genome from a single hair at a fraction of industry cost, our models hit ~90% accuracy prediction on traits where the industry sits at ~30%, and we're the first to crack genomic predictions on farm specific performance.
That edge is showing up in the numbers. In a short time, we've grown to cover 1% of the U.S. dairy industry — 250,000+ cows — with $2M+ in ARR and a waitlist many times that size. Our investors include Initialized Capital, General Catalyst, Collab Fund, Overwater Ventures, and YC.
We started with dairy because our founders grew up on dairy farms. But genetics is a core pillar of every agricultural industry, and we're just getting started.
We're building this with a small, high-caliber team where everyone owns their work end to end. No layers, no passengers, no busywork — just hard problems in biology and software that nobody has solved yet, and the resources to actually solve them. If you're exceptional at what you do and you want to ship work that moves an entire industry, this is the team to do it with.
About The Role
We're seeking a UX Engineer who thinks beyond chatbots and conventional AI interfaces. This role is for someone who wants to fundamentally reimagine how dairy farmers interact with breeding management systems when those interactions are mediated through AI. You'll combine deep UX expertise with practical AI implementation skills to create novel, thoughtful interfaces that make complex genetics and herd management decisions accessible and actionable.
This isn't about adding a chat widget to existing dashboards. It's about exploring how AI can bridge the gap between sophisticated breeding analytics and the daily realities of dairy farming: What does decision support look like when the system understands herd context and production goals? How do we surface insights that match farmers' mental models and workflows? What new interaction paradigms emerge when genetic data, conception rates, and weather patterns converge into intuitive guidance?
What You'll Do
- Design and prototype AI-native interaction patterns that go beyond conversational interfaces—exploring multimodal inputs, contextual awareness, adaptive UIs, and novel information architectures
- Build production UX implementations for AI-mediated interfaces, including prompt engineering, context management, real-time model interactions, and graceful degradation patterns
- Bridge the gap between AI capabilities and user needs by translating complex model behaviors into intuitive, predictable user experiences
- Conduct rapid experimentation with emerging AI capabilities, prototyping novel interaction approaches and validating them with users
- Establish patterns and frameworks for AI-native UX that the broader team can leverage and build upon
- Shape product direction by identifying opportunities where AI can enable fundamentally better user experiences, not just automate existing workflows
What You Bring
Core UX Foundation
- Demonstrated excellence in traditional UX design—you understand information architecture, interaction design, visual hierarchy, and accessibility
- Strong development skills with modern frontend technologies (React, TypeScript, etc.) and the ability to build production-quality interfaces
- Portfolio showing thoughtful, user-centered design work across web and/or native platforms
AI Integration Expertise
- Hands-on experience building interfaces that integrate LLMs or other AI capabilities—not just using existing tools, but architecting how AI fits into the user experience
- Understanding of prompt engineering, context window management, streaming responses, and model behavior patterns
- Practical knowledge of AI capabilities and limitations—you can design within constraints while pushing boundaries
- Experience with agentic systems, multi-turn interactions, tool use, or other advanced AI interaction patterns is a strong plus
Mindset & Approach
- Intellectual curiosity about the emerging space of AI-human interaction—you read research, experiment with new models, and think critically about implications
- Comfort with ambiguity and rapid iteration in an evolving field where best practices are still being discovered
- Ability to think in systems—understanding how AI models, user intent, interface design, and business goals interconnect
- Strong communication skills for articulating design rationale and collaborating across engineering, product, and research teams
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with local or edge AI inference, understanding the constraints and opportunities of running models outside the cloud
- Background in human-computer interaction research, cognitive science, or related fields
- Familiarity with accessibility considerations specific to AI interfaces—how do screen readers handle streaming text? How do we make probabilistic interfaces predictable?
- Open source contributions or public work demonstrating novel AI interaction patterns
- Experience in domains where AI is transforming workflows—development tools, creative software, research tools, etc.
- Must be able to travel within the US (mainly on the West Coast) approximately 20-25% of the time for team offsites and customer visits.
Examples of What This Might Look Like
To help illustrate the scope, here are the kinds of challenges you might tackle:
- 5+ years of previous AI or UX engineering experience preferably with 1+ year in a start-up environment
- Designing an interface where the AI proactively surfaces breeding recommendations based on conception rates, genetic traits, and herd goals—understanding when to alert the farmer, what depth of detail to show, and how to maintain their expert judgment
- Building confidence in genetic predictions that help farmers learn to trust our breeding suggestions in ways that resonate with their own herd knowledge
- Prototyping ways for the system to learn each farm's breeding preferences and priorities through interaction rather than requiring complex configuration menus
- Designing multi-modal experiences that blend genetic data, conception analytics, weather impacts, and herd performance into coherent, actionable breeding decisions that match how farmers actually think and work
Why You’ll Enjoy Working With Us
- The People - we have an amazing group of talented, smart and fun people on our team!
- The Company - we are building something novel that has not been done before which is making a huge impact on the dairy industry!
- The Experience - you get to come in and be a part of ground breaking work that will have a huge impact on generations to come!
Compensation and Benefits
Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States. We are unable to offer visa sponsorship or transfers at this time.
Actual starting pay for this role is determined by a variety of factors including but not limited to qualifications, experience, relevant skills, education, and geographic location. Employees are offered a variety of benefits to empower them with the resources and flexibility they need to enjoy success on the job and to live a healthy life.
We offer a flexible, remote-friendly work environment for most roles, along with a growing benefits package that includes medical, dental, and vision coverage; retirement savings support through CalSavers for California-based employees; flexible paid time off; and paid parental leave, including up to four weeks of paid leave and/or supplemental pay coordination with applicable state benefits.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Feanix Biotechnologies is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law. If you require a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please let us know.
By applying for this role, you consent to Feanix Biotechnologies processing your personal information for recruitment purposes in accordance with applicable privacy laws.
Check your CV against this role
Drop your CV. You get a 0-100 fit score against the actual job description, plus the read a senior engineering lead would write. Private to you.
Score this once, or every future role
Start the candidate journey and every new role on the board gets scored against you.
Five minutes. Tell us what you’re after, drop your CV once, pick how we should reach out. You get a candid read back and you only hear from us when a role actually fits.