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1-800 Contacts

Direct-to-consumer contact lens retailer

Full Stack Engineer - AI Prototyping

Full-Time
No salary listed
Mid
Draper, UT, USA
Hybrid
Software EngineeringAI Application Engineering, Full-Stack Engineering

About the job

Requirements
  • Strong full-stack software engineering experience with deep frontend expertise using React, Next.js, TypeScript, or similar technologies, along with hands-on experience building backend services, APIs, and integrations.
  • Strong hands-on experience evaluating, selecting, integrating, and applying existing AI models, services, or approaches within applications, prototypes, or customer-facing experiences.
  • Experience working with applied AI capabilities such as large language models, conversational AI, recommendation or decisioning systems, personalization, retrieval/grounding, agents/tool calling, or generative AI.
  • Demonstrated ability to evaluate different AI approaches for a use case, understand their tradeoffs, and independently determine an appropriate technical approach.
  • Demonstrated ability to take an ambiguous AI-powered concept from idea to a functional proof of concept or prototype without requiring a predefined technical solution.
  • Experience integrating APIs, cloud services, data sources, and external systems.
  • Familiarity with evaluating AI experiences for factors such as quality, reliability, latency, cost, and customer experience.
  • Familiarity with AI-native development tools such as Cursor, Claude, Copilot, or similar technologies.
  • Experience incorporating user or customer feedback into prototypes and iterating based on what is learned.
  • Examples of AI-powered applications, prototypes, or customer experiences personally built, along with the technical decisions made while building them.
Responsibilities
  • Turn ideas, customer problems, and hypotheses into functional, testable prototypes across web and mobile experiences.
  • Help build and evolve the React/Next.js prototyping platform, including reusable components and integrations that enable rapid experimentation.
  • Evaluate different AI models, services, and technical approaches to determine which are best suited to specific customer problems and experiences.
  • Build AI-powered experiences using large language models, existing AI models and services, APIs, customer and product data, and modern web and mobile technologies.
  • Prototype customer experiences involving content and intelligent decisioning, recommendations, personalization, generative content, conversational AI, voice, retrieval/grounding, agents, and other emerging AI capabilities.
  • Independently determine the technical approach needed to take loosely defined AI-powered concepts from idea to a functional, testable proof of concept.
  • Rapidly test different technical approaches and evaluate tradeoffs including experience quality, reliability, latency, complexity, and cost.
  • Recognize when AI is—and is not—the right solution and combine AI capabilities with traditional software approaches when appropriate.
  • Create realistic customer simulations that can be tested with internal and external audiences.
  • Explore how to ground, guide, and evaluate AI experiences using customer profile data, customer context, and human-defined guardrails.
  • Connect prototypes to content libraries, AI SDKs, APIs, data sources, and staging systems.
  • Explore AI-forward design systems and guardrails that help generated experiences and agents stay within defined UX, brand, content, and interaction guidelines.
  • Use AI-native development workflows with tools like Cursor, Claude, Copilot, and similar technologies.
  • Help define practical guardrails for safe, reliable, and brand-appropriate customer-facing AI experiences.
  • Use feedback from customer and user testing to rapidly iterate on prototypes and explore different approaches.
Desired Qualifications
  • Experience with React Native, native iOS development, or other mobile application development is a plus.

About the company

1-800 Contacts sells contact lenses online directly to consumers, with services like online vision exams, prescription management, and expedited shipping. Customers order lenses via the website or app, may complete an online vision exam to obtain or verify a prescription, and receive lenses through fast shipping, with free returns or exchanges and reminders for reorders. It stands out by pairing a direct-to-consumer online model with 24/7 real-person support, a best price guarantee, and built-in prescription management for easy reordering. Its goal is to make getting and maintaining contact lenses easy, fast, and affordable by streamlining purchasing and ongoing prescription management.

Company Size

501-1,000

Company Stage

N/A

Total Funding

N/A

Headquarters

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Founded

1992

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • June 2026 Eyebot kiosks at Utah malls expand The Framery’s optical funnel.
  • S&P cited 13% retail revenue growth in Q1 and Q2 2026.
  • Wirecutter named The Framery in-network with VSP and UnitedHealthcare, aiding conversion.

What critics are saying

  • June 2025 closed 6over6 in Israel, cutting 60 jobs and shrinking innovation capacity.
  • FTC antitrust history plus 2024 Warby Parker keyword-loss weakens search-defense strategy.
  • S&P shows 6.6x leverage in Q2 2026; debt-funded dividends strain flexibility.

What makes 1-800 Contacts unique

  • 1-800 Contacts still leads U.S. online contacts, with 20 million customers by 2026.
  • Its app integrates Rx management, ExpressExam, and fast reorder logistics.
  • SeekWell unifies 1-800 Contacts, The Framery, Luna, and Hello Eyes.

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Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • 401(k) Company Match
  • Unlimited Paid Time Off
  • Tuition Reimbursement
  • Company Equity
  • Free eye exams for your entire family
  • Deep discounts on lenses, glasses, and other services
  • Flexible Work Hours
  • In-house restaurant with highly discounted meals
  • Free snacks, ice cream, and drinks every day
  • Full onsite gym

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

0%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

-1%
Business Wire
Jun 3rd, 2026
Eyebot partners with The Framery to deliver doctor-reviewed glasses prescriptions in minutes at Salt Lake City kiosks

Eyebot and The Framery at 1-800 Contacts have partnered to install vision testing kiosks at two Utah shopping centres, Layton Hills Mall and Valley Fair Mall, starting 3 June. The automated kiosks use advanced refraction and visual acuity technology to collect measurements for a glasses prescription in under 15 minutes, with results reviewed by licensed eye doctors. Users can complete vision tests at the kiosks and purchase eyewear from The Framery's collection, with frames starting at $79 including premium prescription lenses. Each kiosk features curated frame selections and is staffed by an assistant. The service is designed for adults aged 18–64 with no known eye conditions and is not a replacement for comprehensive eye exams. Eyebot is backed by General Catalyst and the National Science Foundation.

Calcalist Tech
Jun 8th, 2025
1-800 Contacts closes Israeli subsidiary 6over6, cuts 60 jobs

The American company 1-800 Contacts is shuttering its operations in Israel and laying off 60 employees.

Trend Hunter
Mar 24th, 2025
Stylish Retailer Eyewear

1-800 Contacts announced the launch of 'The Framery'

PR Newswire
Nov 1st, 2023
1-800 Contacts Launches Parent Company Seekwell

1-800 Contacts, Hello Eyes, and Luna to align under SeekWell, which was developed internally to serve future growth across the vision care companiesSALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- 1-800 Contacts today announced the launch of SeekWell, a parent company focused on making vision care simple, affordable, and accessible. SeekWell, which was developed internally, will serve as the umbrella corporation for its flagship brand 1-800 Contacts, as well as Hello Eyes and Luna. The move to a parent brand will allow each company to preserve its unique identity and purpose while allowing for growth in the larger industry of vision care.1-800 Contacts Launches Parent Company SeekWell"28 years ago, 1-800 Contacts started on a college campus with the goal to disrupt the vision care industry and today has become the largest seller of contact lenses in the United States," said SeekWell CEO John Graham. "Over the years, we have expanded outside of contact lenses to include Liingo Eyewear, Hello Eyes, and Luna, in addition to offering optical telemedicine services like ExpressExam. All our companies have a new home under SeekWell, a parent company we created that allows us to align under a single entity while providing more flexibility for our next phase of growth."Find more information on SeekWell and the future of vision care at seekwell.com .About SeekWellSeekWell believes consumer choice and technology should enable everyone to take control of their vision care

Hawaii News Now
Jun 6th, 2022
1-800 Contacts Inc acquired Liingo Eyewear on Jan 1st 18'.

In 2018, 1-800 Contacts bought Liingo Eyewear to provide consumers with a straightforward way to fulfill their vision needs outside of contact lenses.