Technical Lead – AI-Driven Backend & Distributed Systems

Socotra, Inc.; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus opportunities

Total rewards

Job summary

Avalara is seeking an experienced Technical Lead to architect distributed systems and embed applied AI into our compliance platform. You will join a globally distributed team within the ELR group and report to a Director of Engineering.

This fully remote role offers opportunities to elevate reliability, influence design decisions, and drive AI-enabled features across backend and frontend systems for our worldwide customers.

Qualifications

• BS in Computer Science or Engineering with 12+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Hands-on experience building scalable APIs and services with Java or .NET (C#) and maintainable frontend applications with React (TypeScript).
• Experience with distributed systems, RESTful/GraphQL APIs, system performance trade-offs, load balancing, and high availability engineering.
• Experience with AWS (Azure or GCP welcome), Infrastructure as Code (Terraform), CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitLab), Docker, and Kubernetes.
• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases and automated testing strategies.
• Demonstrated, measurable impact from hands-on AI usage that improved business or engineering outcomes (casual AI usage is insufficient).
• Experience with LLMs and AI architectures, with experience designing and implementing agentic AI systems using frameworks like LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, AutoGen, or CrewAI.
• Deep knowledge of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), Vector databases, prompt engineering best practices, and model selection trade-offs.
• Strong understanding of AI security risks (prompt injection, data leakage) and data privacy/compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR).

Responsibilities

• Architect and deliver scalable, secure backend and frontend systems that support our global compliance platform.
• Lead technical design discussions and influence architectural decisions, collaborating cross-functionally to solve complex technical challenges.
• Increase development efficiency by embedding AI-assisted coding, testing, documentation, and architectural exploration into daily workflows.
• Deliver AI-enabled product features that enhance automation, data processing, and customer-facing intelligence.
• Improve deployment frequency, automated test coverage, and code quality through CI/CD and engineering best practices.
• Reduce production incidents and improve system observability through thoughtful architecture and proactive monitoring.
• Raise team performance standards through active mentoring, peer feedback, and maintaining high standards of accountability.

Skills

Distributed systems

Java or .NET (C#)

React (TypeScript)

AWS

Terraform

Docker

Kubernetes

LLMs/AI architectures

Education

BS in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

GitLab CI/CD

AWS

Terraform

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Avalara is seeking an experienced Technical Lead to architect distributed systems and embed applied AI into our compliance platform. You will join a globally distributed team within the ELR group and report to a Director of Engineering.

This fully remote role offers opportunities to elevate reliability, influence design decisions, and drive AI-enabled features across backend and frontend systems for our worldwide customers.