1. What is a AI Engineer at DGN Technologies?

The AI Engineer role at DGN Technologies sits at the cutting-edge intersection of artificial intelligence research and mobile application development. In this position, you are not just building standard applications; you are engineering the future of on-device AI. You will be responsible for taking ongoing, advanced backend AI research and translating it into highly performant, well-structured Android prototypes that showcase real-world value to both internal stakeholders and external audiences.

Your impact in this role is immediate and highly visible. By integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) directly onto Android devices and connecting demo applications to live Vector Database updates, you will define how users interact with next-generation smart interfaces. You will build intuitive, modern UI flows that seamlessly interact with deep system data sources—such as SMS, Email, Finder, and Keyboard—proving that complex AI can run efficiently in the palm of a user's hand.

This role requires a unique blend of rapid prototyping agility and deep technical rigor. DGN Technologies relies on AI Engineers to accomplish complex engineering tasks independently, navigating the ambiguities of early-stage research while adhering to best-in-class UX practices. If you are passionate about pushing the boundaries of the Android SDK, leveraging the NDK for performance, and building scalable customer-facing applications, this role offers a unique platform to shape the future of mobile AI.

2. Common Interview Questions

Expect questions that test both your practical coding skills and your architectural decision-making. The questions below represent patterns observed in the interview process for this specific role and domain at DGN Technologies.

Android Fundamentals & Jetpack Compose

These questions evaluate your day-to-day coding fluency and your grasp of modern Android UI paradigms.

• How does the recomposition mechanism work in Jetpack Compose, and how do you optimize it?
• Explain the differences between StateFlow, SharedFlow, and LiveData. Which would you choose for a modern Android app and why?
• How do you handle configuration changes in an app built entirely with Compose and MVVM?
• Walk me through the process of building a custom UI component in Compose that requires complex gesture handling.
• How do you interact with Android 14's strict background execution limits when running a long-lived task?

Architecture & Profiling

Interviewers want to know that your code will scale and perform well, even when stressed by heavy AI workloads.

• Contrast the MVI and MVVM architecture patterns. In what scenario would MVI be strictly better?
• Describe your process for identifying and resolving a memory leak in an Android application.
• How do you manage threading in Kotlin when you need to make a network request, process a large data payload, and update the UI sequentially?
• What tools do you use for UI profiling, and what specific metrics do you look for to ensure a smooth 60fps experience?
• How do you structure your dependency injection (e.g., using Hilt or Dagger) in a multi-module Android project?

AI Integration & NDK

These questions target the specialized "AI" portion of the AI Engineer role, focusing on native code and model integration.

• Walk me through how you would set up a JNI layer to communicate between Kotlin and a C++ library.
• What are the biggest performance bottlenecks when executing an LLM on-device, and how do you address them?
• Explain how you would implement semantic search on a mobile device using a local vector database.
• How do you handle the memory overhead of loading a large AI model into native memory on an Android device?
• If an on-device model takes 5 seconds to generate a response, how do you architect the UI and background threads to keep the user engaged and the app responsive?

3. Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for the AI Engineer loop requires a strategic approach. Your interviewers at DGN Technologies will evaluate you across a spectrum of mobile engineering and AI integration competencies. Focus your preparation on the following key criteria:

Android Architecture & Modern UI You must demonstrate deep proficiency in Kotlin, Java, and Jetpack Compose. Interviewers will look for your ability to design intuitive interfaces and structure your codebase using modern architecture patterns, specifically MVI and MVVM. You can show strength here by discussing how you separate concerns, manage state in Compose, and build reusable UI components.

On-Device AI & Systems Integration This is what separates a standard mobile developer from an AI Engineer at DGN Technologies. You will be evaluated on your familiarity with the Android Native Development Kit (NDK) and Java Native Interface (JNI), as well as your experience running LLMs locally. Be prepared to discuss how you handle cross-app integrations and system-level data access using the Android 14-15 SDK.

Prototyping & Performance Profiling Because this role revolves around building proof-of-concept (POC) apps, interviewers want to see how you balance rapid iteration with performant code. You will be assessed on your practical experience profiling UI, memory, and threading in Android. Strong candidates will articulate how they identify bottlenecks when running resource-heavy AI models on constrained mobile hardware.

Cross-Functional Collaboration You will be working closely with product and design teams to ensure your prototypes align with broader company visions. Interviewers will evaluate your ability to translate abstract product, UX, UI, and analytics requirements into concrete code implementation. Highlight past experiences where you successfully navigated ambiguous requirements in an Agile environment.

4. Interview Process Overview

The interview process for the AI Engineer position at DGN Technologies is designed to thoroughly assess both your practical Android development skills and your theoretical understanding of on-device AI integration. Because this is a highly specialized, prototype-driven role, the process leans heavily toward applied engineering rather than abstract algorithmic puzzles.

You will typically begin with a recruiter screen to align on your background, availability, and high-level technical fit. This is usually followed by a technical phone screen focusing on core Kotlin fundamentals, Android lifecycle mechanics, and basic architecture. The core of the evaluation takes place during the virtual onsite loop, which consists of several focused sessions.

During the onsite stages, expect a mix of architecture design, deep-dive technical discussions on memory management and the NDK, and practical coding sessions where you might build or debug a modern UI using Jetpack Compose. The process is rigorous but collaborative; interviewers at DGN Technologies want to see how you think on your feet, how you handle rapid iteration, and how you communicate complex technical trade-offs.

This visual timeline outlines the typical sequence of your interview stages, from the initial recruiter screen through the final technical and behavioral rounds. Use this to pace your preparation, ensuring you review core Android fundamentals early on, while reserving time closer to the onsite loop to practice complex system design and on-device AI integration scenarios. Keep in mind that depending on team availability, some technical rounds may be combined or reordered.

5. Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

Android Core & Modern UI Development

This area forms the bedrock of your day-to-day work. DGN Technologies expects you to write clean, maintainable, and modern Android code. Interviewers will test your fluency in Kotlin and your ability to build responsive interfaces using Jetpack Compose. Strong performance here means writing idiomatic code, correctly managing UI state, and understanding the nuances of the Android 14-15 SDK.

Be ready to go over:

• Jetpack Compose State Management – Understanding how to hoist state, use remember, and optimize recompositions.
• Coroutines and Flow – Managing asynchronous data streams, especially when handling UI updates from backend or database changes.
• Cross-App Integrations – Leveraging modern Android APIs to interact securely with system components like SMS, Email, and Keyboards.
• Advanced UI concepts (less common) – Custom layouts in Compose, complex animations, and handling edge-to-edge displays.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Walk me through how you would build a dynamic, auto-updating chat interface using Jetpack Compose and Kotlin Flow."
• "How do you prevent unnecessary recompositions in a complex Compose screen?"
• "Explain how you would securely request and handle permissions to read system data like SMS or Contacts in Android 14."

Application Architecture & Performance

Because you will be integrating heavy AI models, your architectural choices and performance optimizations are critical. Interviewers will evaluate your understanding of MVI and MVVM patterns. They want to see that you can build scalable apps that do not drop frames or crash due to memory exhaustion when executing complex tasks.

Be ready to go over:

• MVI vs. MVVM – The trade-offs of each pattern, how state is modeled, and how side effects are handled.
• Memory Management – Identifying memory leaks, understanding garbage collection in Android, and managing large bitmaps or model assets.
• Threading and Concurrency – Ensuring the main thread remains unblocked while heavy LLM inference or vector database lookups occur in the background.
• Advanced profiling concepts (less common) – Using Android Studio Profiler for deep C++ (NDK) memory tracking and analyzing Systrace/Perfetto outputs.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Describe a time you used the Android Studio Profiler to track down and fix a UI stutter or memory leak."
• "How would you structure the architecture of a prototyping app using MVI to handle complex user inputs and AI model responses?"
• "What strategies do you use to manage background threading when a user initiates a heavy on-device search query?"

On-Device AI & Native Integration

This is the most specialized evaluation area for the AI Engineer role. You must demonstrate an understanding of how to bridge standard Android code with lower-level native code and AI models. Interviewers will probe your experience with the NDK, JNI, and local LLM execution.

Be ready to go over:

• JNI/NDK Fundamentals – How to pass data safely between Java/Kotlin and C/C++, and how to manage the lifecycle of native objects.
• On-Device LLMs – The challenges of loading, running, and managing the context windows of large models directly on mobile hardware.
• Vector Databases – Integrating tools like ObjectBox or Faiss to store and retrieve high-dimensional embeddings.
• Advanced AI concepts (less common) – Understanding Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) algorithms like HNSW or IVF for efficient semantic search.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Explain how you would structure a JNI bridge to pass user text input to a C++ based LLM inference engine and return the generated response."
• "What are the primary constraints when executing an LLM on an Android device, and how do you mitigate them?"
• "How would you implement a local vector search feature to find semantically similar text messages on the device?"

6. Key Responsibilities

As an AI Engineer at DGN Technologies, your day-to-day work is highly dynamic, focusing on rapid prototyping and experimentation. Your primary responsibility is to develop directly on Android devices, writing performant code that translates ongoing AI research into tangible, interactive demos. You will be hands-on, testing and iterating quickly to refine the scope of these prototypes, ensuring they clearly showcase value to both internal leadership and external partners.

A significant portion of your time will be spent integrating advanced backend technologies and on-device capabilities. You will connect your demo applications to live Vector Database updates and manage the seamless integration of on-device LLMs. This requires you to build robust mobile UI components and flows, designing intuitive interfaces that adhere to best UX practices while handling complex data interactions behind the scenes.

Collaboration is central to this role. You will work closely with product managers, UX/UI designers, and backend researchers to ensure your prototypes align with the overall product vision. Beyond just writing code, you are responsible for delivering complete packages: working prototypes integrated into existing demo apps, a clean codebase demonstrating cross-app interactions (like reading SMS or Finder data), and comprehensive documentation and walkthroughs for the delivered proof-of-concepts.

7. Role Requirements & Qualifications

To thrive as an AI Engineer at DGN Technologies, you need a strong foundation in modern mobile engineering coupled with a passion for emerging AI technologies. The ideal candidate blends the architectural discipline of a senior software engineer with the hacker mindset needed for rapid prototyping.

• Must-have technical skills: Proficiency in Kotlin, Java, Jetpack Compose, and the Android 14-15 SDK. You must have solid experience with Android app architecture (specifically MVI and MVVM), interacting with REST APIs, and utilizing the NDK/JNI. Prior experience integrating LLMs for on-device execution and profiling UI/memory/threading is essential.
• Must-have experience level: At least 3+ years of general software development experience, with a minimum of 2+ years dedicated specifically to Android development. You should have a track record of accomplishing complex tasks independently, experience with Git, continuous build environments (Agile), unit testing, and previously published applications to the Google Play Store.
• Soft skills: Strong communication abilities to effectively translate product, UX, UI, and analytics requirements into code. You must be comfortable working in highly ambiguous, fast-paced environments and have a passion for building scalable, customer-facing apps.
• Nice-to-have skills: Experience with on-device vector databases such as ObjectBox or Faiss. A foundational understanding of Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) algorithms, including HNSW and IVF. Contributions to open-source communities or active GitHub projects are highly regarded.

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is this a contract or permanent position? This specific role is listed as a 12+ month contract position. However, performing well in long-term contract roles at DGN Technologies often opens doors to extensions or full-time opportunities, depending on project funding and business needs.

Q: Do I need a Ph.D. in Machine Learning to be successful in this role? No. This is primarily an applied engineering role. While an understanding of AI concepts (like LLMs, Vector DBs, and ANN algorithms) is necessary, your core strength must be in Android development, Kotlin, and integrating these models via NDK/JNI, rather than training the models from scratch.

Q: What is the working arrangement for this role? The position is located in Mountain View, CA, and is listed as an in-person role. You should be prepared to work on-site, which facilitates the highly collaborative, rapid-iteration prototyping required with product and design teams.

Q: How much preparation time should I dedicate to the NDK/JNI versus standard Android UI? You should balance both, but do not neglect the native layer. Because on-device AI execution relies heavily on C/C++ libraries, demonstrating confidence in bridging Kotlin with native code (JNI) is a major differentiator for this specific role.

Q: What makes a candidate stand out during the onsite loop? Successful candidates showcase a "prototyper's mindset"—the ability to hack together a working, impressive proof-of-concept quickly, while still understanding the architectural trade-offs they are making. Showing a passion for UX alongside deep technical skills is highly valued.

9. Other General Tips

• Prioritize Speed and Structure: When discussing prototypes, emphasize how you balance rapid delivery with clean architecture (like MVI). Interviewers want to see that your fast code isn't messy code.
• Brush Up on Native Memory Management: Standard Android developers rely heavily on the JVM garbage collector. As an AI Engineer, you will be dealing with C++ memory via the NDK. Be prepared to discuss manual memory management and avoiding memory leaks across the JNI boundary.

• Understand Vector Search Basics: Even if it is listed as an optional skill, having a working knowledge of how vector databases (like ObjectBox or Faiss) function will give you a massive advantage. Understand the concept of embeddings and semantic search.
• Showcase User Empathy: You are building demos to showcase value to internal and external audiences. Always tie your technical decisions back to the user experience. A highly performant LLM integration is useless if the UI freezes or the loading states are confusing.

• Speak the Language of Agile: You will be iterating rapidly. Use examples from your past that highlight your ability to pivot based on new research findings, changing product requirements, or UX feedback.

10. Summary & Next Steps

Stepping into the AI Engineer role at DGN Technologies is a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of mobile innovation. You will be directly responsible for taking theoretical AI research and turning it into tangible, on-device experiences that users can touch and feel. By mastering the intersection of modern Android development—specifically Kotlin and Jetpack Compose—and native AI integration, you will position yourself as a critical asset to the prototyping and product teams.

This salary data provides a baseline expectation for the contract rate associated with this specific role. Keep in mind that as a 12+ month contract, your overall compensation package will differ from a standard full-time employee's equity and benefits structure. Use this range to anchor your expectations and negotiations appropriately based on your specific years of experience with Android and native AI integration.

Your preparation should be highly focused. Review your core Android architectures, practice building responsive UI flows, and ensure you are completely comfortable discussing the NDK, JNI, and on-device model execution. Approach your interviews with a collaborative mindset, ready to discuss trade-offs and rapid iteration strategies. For more detailed question banks, peer discussions, and targeted practice scenarios, continue exploring the resources available on Dataford. You have the foundational skills required; now it is time to showcase your ability to build the future of mobile AI.