AI-Platform Customization Engineer Build

Cognizant; Kolkata District, Chennai District, Bengaluru; Hybrid; INR 1,400,000 - 2,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Cognizant is seeking an experienced Platform Engineer to design and develop Backstage plugins in React and TypeScript, with REST/GraphQL APIs and secure integration to external systems. You will customize UI/UX, implement AI and RAG capabilities, and build robust MCP connections and data pipelines.

You will also own developer experience, catalog management, and governance, coordinating with Platform Integration Engineers and customer teams.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and delivering Backstage plugins for front-end and back-end.
• Strong proficiency with React and TypeScript in large-scale applications.
• Ability to integrate REST/GraphQL APIs and external systems.
• Focus on security, performance, and reliability in CI/CD pipelines.
• Familiarity with WCAG accessibility and responsive design.

Responsibilities

• Platform and plugin engineering: Design and develop Backstage plugins with React/TS, REST/GraphQL, auth, DB integration, and external systems.
• User experience customization: Tailor Backstage UI/UX with themes, MUI styling, CSS-in-JS, responsive design.
• AI engineering: Implement RAG using vector databases, embeddings, retrieval optimization, and AI agents.
• MCP and external integrations: Build MCP servers/clients, adapters, webhooks, OAuth/JWT flows, SaaS connectors.
• Developer experience and catalog: Create templates, templates libraries, TechDocs, catalog config, and metadata.
• CI/CD, quality, security, and performance: Develop Jenkins/GitHub/Azure connectors; run tests; code reviews; security scans.
• Observability and health: Dashboards, monitoring integrations, latency/throughput optimization, platform upgrades.
• Documentation, governance, releases: Prepare docs, ADRs, catalog, versioning and release notes.
• Client enablement and tech leadership: Collaborate with Platform Integration Engineers; mentorship; stay current with Backstage updates.

Skills

React

TypeScript

Node.js

REST/GraphQL APIs

Security

CI/CD

Observability

Performance optimization

LLM frameworks

Backstage

Tools

GitHub Actions

Jenkins

Azure Pipelines

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Role & responsibilities

• Platform and plugin engineering: Design and develop Backstage front-end and back-end plugins using React, TypeScript, Node.js, REST/GraphQL APIs, reusable components, authentication, database integration, and external-system integrations.


• User experience customization: Customize Backstage UI/UX through themes, Material-UI styling, CSS-in-JS, custom components, responsive design, WCAG accessibility, and user-experience optimization.


• AI engineering: Implement and customize RAG capabilities using vector databases, embeddings, retrieval optimization, and semantic-search tuning; build and customize AI agents with tool integrations, prompt optimization, autonomous execution, and multi-agent orchestration.


• MCP and external integrations: Develop custom MCP servers and clients, protocol-based discovery, and external-service connectivity; build REST/GraphQL adapters, webhooks, OAuth/JWT flows, third-party SaaS connectors, and data-transformation pipelines.


• Developer experience and catalog: Develop and maintain software templates, scaffolder actions, template libraries, TechDocs, catalog configuration, entity-model extensions, custom metadata, relationships, Kubernetes plugin integration, and entity lifecycle management.


• CI/CD, quality, security, and performance: Build connectors and webhook handlers for Jenkins, GitHub Actions, and Azure Pipelines; establish unit, integration, and end-to-end testing in CI/CD; support code reviews, security scanning, API versioning, backward compatibility, profiling, caching, query optimization, lazy loading, and performance improvement.


• Observability and operational health: Implement dashboards, monitoring integrations, health plugins, metrics exposure, latency and throughput optimization, dependency management, platform upgrades, and technical-debt reduction.


• Documentation, governance, and releases: Create and maintain developer and API documentation, plugin guides, architectural decision records, the plugin catalog, versioning information, dependency records, and release communications; ensure governance alignment and compliance with platform standards.


• Client enablement and technical leadership: Collaborate with Platform Integration Engineers and customer teams; provide guidance, troubleshooting, mentoring, knowledge transfer, and self-service enablement; remain current with Backstage releases, plugin ecosystem developments, LLM frameworks, emerging technologies, and platform upgrade recommendations.