Senior Backend Software Engineer - GenAI

Senior Backend Software Engineer – GenAITitle of Role: Senior Backend Software Engineer – GenAI Location: Rosslyn, VA (Washington, DC Area) or Seattle, WA Company Stage of Funding: Series A Office Type: Onsite Salary: $200,000 – $230,000 Base + Competitive EquityOur client is a fast-growing, venture-backed technology company building mission-critical software for complex logistics and operational environments.The company develops modern command-and-control and AI-enabled software that helps large organizations replace fragmented, legacy operational processes with real-time, intelligent systems. Following rapid customer adoption and a recent major Series A financing, the team is expanding its Generative AI platform to meet significant demand.This is a high-ownership opportunity to lead the technical development of production GenAI capabilities from the ground up while working alongside a small, highly collaborative engineering organization.What You Will DoLead the architecture and development of production GenAI systems from the ground upDesign and ship RAG architectures, LLM integrations, retrieval pipelines, and agentic workflowsOwn backend architecture across services, APIs, asynchronous workflows, queues, storage, data pipelines, observability, and reliabilityBuild scalable infrastructure that integrates GenAI capabilities into mission-critical software productsDesign systems that support tool use, retrieval, orchestration, and complex AI workflowsMake architectural decisions in ambiguous environments with minimal directionEvaluate technical tradeoffs across performance, reliability, scalability, and product requirementsCollaborate closely with product, engineering, and deployed teams to rapidly iterate based on real-world user needsHelp establish engineering standards and architecture for a growing GenAI platformIdeal Candidate Background6–8 years of professional software engineering experience with deep backend engineering expertiseSignificant hands-on experience building and shipping production GenAI/LLM systemsProven experience taking GenAI products from 0?1, including RAG, agents, retrieval pipelines, tool use, or similar systemsStrong backend and distributed systems fundamentalsExperience designing production services, APIs, asynchronous workflows, queues, storage systems, and data pipelinesStrong programming skills in Python, Go, Java, TypeScript, or similar backend languagesDemonstrated end-to-end architecture ownership in ambiguous product environmentsStrong coding fundamentals and technical problem-solving abilityAbility to independently translate loosely defined problems into production systemsPreferredExperience with agentic workflows, tool orchestration, search, or retrieval systemsExperience with Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, or vector databasesBackground in defense technology, logistics software, applied AI, or other mission-critical systemsExperience working at an early-stage or high-growth technology companyFamiliarity with cloud services, CI/CD, observability, and modern distributed infrastructureAbility to meet applicable requirements for work on sensitive government programsCompensation & Benefits$200,000 – $230,000 base salaryCompetitive equity packageHigh ownership over a greenfield GenAI platformOpportunity to build production AI systems from scratchDirect exposure to real-world users and mission-critical use casesHighly collaborative engineering culture with significant autonomyOnsite opportunities in the Washington, DC area or Seattle