Chief Software Engineer - AI-Powered, Python

EPAM Systems; Colombia; Remote; COP 388,387,000 - 582,581,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare benefits

Employee financial programs

Paid time off and sick leave

Upskilling and certification courses

Global career opportunities

Job summary

EPAM Systems is seeking a Chief Software Engineer to lead the development of a next-generation AI-powered financial assistant platform. You will guide a small, senior team from design to production, shaping product direction while iterating rapidly with business users.

You will design scalable systems, build Python backends with FastAPI, and implement robust AI evaluation, security, and quality engineering practices to ensure reliable, secure operations across global time zones.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of software engineering experience with Python or comparable languages.
• Strong leadership ability to drive technical direction in a small senior team.
• Strong ownership mindset to take loosely defined problems from discovery to production.
• Expert system design skills including edge cases, trade-offs, and scalable architectures.
• Advanced Python skills including API and service development.
• Strong FastAPI experience or deep experience with comparable Python web frameworks.
• Strong AI engineering skills with LLMs and Gen AI Assisted Development.
• Strong AI evaluation skills including automated evals, test datasets, regression testing, and failure analysis.
• Strong AI security knowledge including data privacy, access controls, prompt-injection risks, and guardrails.
• Strong quality engineering mindset focused on reliability, maintainability, and monitoring in production.
• Strong performance optimization skills across latency, cost, and throughput for AI applications.
• High autonomy and self-governance with minimal process and high trust.
• Advanced English proficiency (C1, Advanced).
• Flexibility to collaborate across US, LatAm, and CET time zones.
• Willingness to learn and adopt new technologies rapidly as the AI ecosystem evolves.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end delivery of an AI-powered financial assistant from design through production rollout.
• Define system designs that balance quality, latency, reliability, and cost for AI features.
• Build backend services and APIs in Python using FastAPI to support chat and reporting workflows.
• Implement AI evaluation and quality engineering with automated tests, regression suites, and monitoring.
• Establish security controls for AI applications including privacy, access control, auditability, and safe handling of sensitive data.
• Validate and harden AI behavior in production through failure analysis and iterative improvements.
• Collaborate directly with business users to gather requirements, refine UX, and ship rapid iterations.
• Review, test, and verify AI-generated code using Gen AI assisted development and coding agents.
• Create guardrails against prompt-injection and other AI-specific risks within production constraints.
• Improve reliability and maintainability through disciplined engineering practices and clear interfaces.
• Contribute to a startup-style environment with lightweight process and high accountability.
• Partner with other senior engineers to align technical decisions and deliver cohesive platform outcomes.

Skills

Python

Leadership

Ownership mindset

System design

API development

FastAPI

LLMs / Gen AI

AI evaluation

AI security

Quality engineering

Performance optimization

Autonomy

English proficiency

Time-zone collaboration

Learning mindset

Tools

AWS

Kubernetes

Terraform

React/Next.js

TypeScript/JavaScript

Node.js

Job description

EPAM is a leading global provider of digital platform engineering and development services. We are committed to having a positive impact on our customers, our employees, and our communities. We embrace a dynamic and inclusive culture. Here you will collaborate with multi-national teams, contribute to a myriad of innovative projects that deliver the most creative and cutting-edge solutions, and have an opportunity to continuously learn and grow. No matter where you are located, you will join a dedicated, creative, and diverse community that will help you discover your fullest potential.

We are looking for a Chief Software Engineer to build a next-generation AI-powered financial assistant platform that brings chat, reporting, and bespoke interfaces into sophisticated investment workflows. You will lead hands-on delivery in a small, highly capable team, shaping product direction while iterating quickly with business users.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end delivery of an AI-powered financial assistant from design through production rollout
• Define system designs that balance quality, latency, reliability, and cost for AI features
• Build backend services and APIs in Python using FastAPI to support chat and reporting workflows
• Implement AI evaluation and quality engineering with automated tests, regression suites, and monitoring
• Establish security controls for AI applications including privacy, access control, auditability, and safe handling of sensitive data
• Validate and harden AI behavior in production through failure analysis and iterative improvements
• Collaborate directly with business users to gather requirements, refine UX, and ship rapid iterations
• Review, test, and verify AI-generated code using Gen AI assisted development and coding agents
• Create guardrails against prompt-injection and other AI-specific risks within production constraints
• Improve reliability and maintainability through disciplined engineering practices and clear interfaces
• Contribute to a startup-style environment with lightweight process and high accountability
• Partner with other senior engineers to align technical decisions and deliver cohesive platform outcomes

Requirements

• 7+ years of software engineering experience with Python or comparable languages
• Strong leadership ability to drive technical direction in a small senior team
• Strong ownership mindset to take loosely defined problems from discovery to production
• Expert system design skills including edge cases, trade-offs, and scalable architectures
• Advanced Python skills including API and service development
• Strong FastAPI experience or deep experience with comparable Python web frameworks
• Strong AI engineering skills with Large Language Models (LLM) and Gen AI Assisted Development
• Strong AI evaluation skills including automated evals, test datasets, regression testing, and failure analysis
• Strong AI security knowledge including data privacy, access controls, prompt-injection risks, and guardrails
• Strong quality engineering mindset focused on reliability, maintainability, and monitoring in production
• Strong performance optimization skills across latency, cost, and throughput for AI applications
• High autonomy and self-governance with minimal process and high trust
• Advanced English proficiency (C1, Advanced)
• Flexibility to collaborate across US, LatAm, and CET time zones
• Willingness to learn and adopt new technologies rapidly as the AI ecosystem evolves

Nice to have

• Amazon Web Services experience
• Kubernetes experience
• Terraform experience
• ReactJS or Next.js experience with TypeScript/JavaScript
• Node.js experience

We offer

• International projects with top brands
• Work with global teams of highly skilled, diverse peers
• Healthcare benefits
• Employee financial programs
• Paid time off and sick leave
• Upskilling, reskilling and certification courses
• Unlimited access to the LinkedIn Learning library and 22,000+ courses
• Global career opportunities
• Volunteer and community involvement opportunities
• EPAM Employee Groups
• Award-winning culture recognized by Glassdoor, Newsweek and LinkedIn

EPAM is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.