Java tech lead with AI

Role & Responsibilities

• Lead the architecture and delivery of Java-based microservices infused with Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) capabilities—such as natural language processing (NLP), predictive scoring, and recommendation engines.
• Design and optimize scalable backend systems using Spring Boot, Kafka, and cloud-native patterns (AWS/Azure/GCP) to support high-throughput AI/ML workloads with low-latency inference requirements.
• Collaborate closely with data scientists to productionize models—containerizing, monitoring, and deploying inference pipelines that meet strict SLAs for performance and reliability.
• Mentor junior engineers on Java best practices, AI/ML integration patterns, and performance tuning of JVM-based AI/ML services, emphasizing scalability and maintainability.
• Own end-to-end CI/CD pipelines and observability tooling (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry) for AI/ML-infused services to ensure robustness, scalability, and model drift detection.
• Champion engineering excellence through code reviews, architecture governance, and strategic tech debt reduction—with a strong focus on AI model traceability, fairness, and explainability (XAI).

Skills & Qualifications

Required (Must-Have)

• Proficiency in Java 11+
• Experience with Spring Boot and RESTful API design
• Hands-on experience with microservices architecture and distributed systems
• Strong working knowledge of Kafka or similar event-streaming platforms
• Proven track record integrating AI/ML models into production systems (e.g., model serving, preprocessing, postprocessing)
• Familiarity with cloud platforms—AWS, Azure, or GCP—with experience deploying containerized AI/ML workloads
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines for AI/ML services

Preferred (Nice-to-Have)

• Experience with TensorFlow Serving, TorchServe, or similar model serving frameworks
• Familiarity with LLM orchestration tools like LangChain or LlamaIndex
• Experience integrating with APIs from major AI providers (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Hugging Face)