Lead Software Engineer

Lead Backend Engineer – AI Services

Location: Remote (Must be based in US)

Pay: $180k - $210k Base

No Sponsorship Offered

About the Opportunity

A growing SaaS organization is seeking a senior backend engineer to lead the integration of AI capabilities into its existing platform. This hands-on role focuses on backend architecture, AI service delivery, and bringing machine learning solutions from prototype to production.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and enhance backend services within an existing SaaS platform.
• Integrate AI and machine learning capabilities including LLMs, RAG solutions, model serving, predictions, and scoring services.
• Partner with Data Science teams to transition models and prototypes into production environments.
• Develop reusable infrastructure, frameworks, and patterns for future AI initiatives.
• Lead complex technical projects from architecture and design through deployment.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and guide architectural and build-versus-buy decisions.
• Improve platform scalability, performance, reliability, security, and maintainability.
• Communicate technical recommendations and tradeoffs to engineering leadership and stakeholders.

Must-Have Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience.
• Strong hands-on Java backend development experience.
• Experience integrating AI/ML capabilities into commercial or customer-facing software products.

Prefered Background:

• Proven track record taking solutions from prototype through production deployment.
• Strong software architecture and distributed systems design experience.
• Experience working within established production platforms and cloud environments (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Solid understanding of CI/CD, testing, monitoring, security, and software engineering best practices.
• Working knowledge of AI-related technologies such as Python, FastAPI, MLflow, LangChain, Vector Databases, RAG, LLM APIs, or Model Serving.