Manager - AI Engineering

ZS; Bengaluru; On-site; INR 5,000,000 - 9,000,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working model

Total rewards package

Global collaboration culture

Job summary

ZS is seeking an experienced Engineering Manager - AI Engineering in Bengaluru to lead the design, delivery, and evolution of AI-powered platforms and services. This hands-on leadership role combines technical judgment with people management to build scalable GenAI systems across products and client solutions.

You will balance hands-on engineering leadership with team development and execution ownership, ensuring both short-term delivery and long-term platform evolution.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with 3+ years in technical leadership or engineering management.
• Strong backend experience in Python frameworks (FastAPI/Flask).
• Hands-on GenAI/LLM integration, prompt pipelines, and AI workflows.
• Experience leading engineers while maintaining technical credibility.
• Ownership of architecture and delivery across multiple services.
• Comfort with ambiguity and pragmatic decision-making.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end technical and delivery responsibility for multiple AI platforms and services.
• Lead and mentor senior engineers, technical leads, and service owners.
• Drive architecture, engineering standards, and execution discipline.
• Act as the primary technical and delivery escalation point.
• Partner with Product, AI/ML, DevOps, Data Engineering, and Consulting teams.
• Oversee GenAI workflows, agentic systems, and integration with enterprise data.

Skills

Backend engineering

GenAI / LLM

Team leadership

Architecture ownership

Delivery management

Python (FastAPI/Flask)

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Python

FastAPI

Flask

Job description

ZS is a place where passion changes lives. As a management consulting and technology firm focused on improving life and how we live it, we transform ideas into impact by bringing together data, science, technology and human ingenuity to deliver better outcomes for all. Here you'll work side-by-side with a powerful collective of thinkers and experts shaping life-changing solutions for patients, caregivers and consumers, worldwide. ZSers drive impact by bringing a client-first mentality to each and every engagement. We partner collaboratively with our clients to develop custom solutions and technology products that create value and deliver company results across critical areas of their business. Bring your curiosity for learning, bold ideas, courage and passion to drive life-changing impact to ZS.

ZS is seeking an experienced Engineering Manager - AI Engineering to lead the design, delivery, and evolution of AI-powered platforms and services. This role combines technical leadership, people management, and execution ownership, and is critical to building scalable, reliable, and high-impact GenAI systems across products and client solutions.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who brings strong engineering judgment, deep GenAI experience, and the ability to grow high-performing teams while owning complex delivery outcomes.

What you'll do:

As an Engineering Manager - AI Engineering, you will:

• Own end-to-end technical and delivery responsibility for multiple AI platforms and services
• Lead and mentor senior engineers, technical leads, and service owners
• Drive architecture, engineering standards, and execution discipline
• Act as the primary technical and delivery escalation point
• Partner closely with Product, AI/ML, DevOps, Data Engineering, and Consulting teams

You will balance hands-on engineering leadership with team development and execution ownership, ensuring both short-term delivery and long-term platform evolution.

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Own system-level architecture and technical decision-making across AI platforms and services
• Guide design and implementation of backend services, APIs, and AI integrations
• Ensure systems are scalable, secure, and production-ready
• Provide technical direction on GenAI workflows, agentic systems, and service orchestration

Engineering Management & Team Leadership

• Manage and mentor senior engineers, technical leads, and service owners
• Set clear expectations around ownership, quality, and delivery
• Support team growth through coaching, feedback, and development planning
• Build a culture of strong engineering fundamentals, accountability, and collaboration

Delivery Ownership & Execution

• Own delivery outcomes across multiple parallel workstreams
• Partner with product and delivery teams to plan, prioritize, and sequence work
• Identify risks early and make pragmatic trade-offs
• Act as escalation point for technical and delivery challenges

AI Platform & Service Enablement

• Oversee development of AI-powered backend services using Python (FastAPI / Flask)
• Enable GenAI use cases by integrating LLMs, prompt pipelines, agentic workflows, and enterprise data systems
• Drive standardization and reuse across AI components where appropriate
• Ensure clear service ownership and operational readiness

Engineering Quality & Governance

• Define and enforce engineering standards, patterns, and best practices
• Review designs and code at a system level to ensure quality and maintainability
• Identify technical debt and guide remediation plans
• Partner with DevOps to ensure observability, reliability, and operational clarity

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Product, AI/ML, DevOps, Data Engineering, and Consulting teams
• Translate business and client needs into sound technical approaches
• Communicate technical trade-offs clearly to non-technical stakeholders
• Support client-facing discussions when required for complex AI systems

What you'll bring:

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including 3+ years in a technical leadership or engineering management role
• Strong backend engineering experience in Python (FastAPI, Flask, or similar frameworks)
• Hands-on experience building, integrating, and scaling GenAI / LLM-based systems, including prompt pipelines, model APIs, and agentic or workflow-based AI solutions
• Experience building and operating AI-enabled or data-intensive systems in production
• Proven ability to lead engineers while remaining technically credible
• Experience owning architecture and delivery across multiple services
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and making pragmatic technical and delivery decisions

Nice to Have

• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• Exposure to consulting or client-facing environments
• Background in platform, shared services, or accelerator-based engineering

What Success Looks Like in This Role

• Engineering teams operate independently with clear ownership
• GenAI systems are scalable, reliable, and reusable
• Delivery is predictable and high quality
• Technical decisions balance speed with long-term sustainability
• Engineers grow in capability, confidence, and impact

How you'll grow:

• Cross-functional skills development & custom learning pathways
• Milestone training programs aligned to career progression opportunities
• Internal mobility paths that empower growth via s-curves, individual contribution and role expansions

Perks & Benefits:

At ZS, your growth matters. We offer a comprehensive total rewards package that supports your health and well-being, financial future, time away, and professional development. With robust skills-building programs, multiple career progression paths, internal mobility, and a deeply collaborative culture, you'll have the opportunity to do meaningful work, expand your capabilities, and thrive as part of a global community. For details on total rewards in India, visit ZS India office locations | Where we work | ZS.

Hybrid working model:

We are committed to giving our employees a flexible and connected way of working. A flexible and connected ZS allows us to combine work from home and on-site presence at clients/ZS offices for the majority of our week. The magic of ZS culture and innovation thrives in both planned and spontaneous face-to-face connections.

Travel:

Travel is a requirement at ZS for client facing ZSers; business needs of your project and client are the priority. While some projects may be local, all client-facing ZSers should be prepared to travel as needed. Travel provides opportunities to strengthen client relationships, gain diverse experiences, and enhance professional growth by working in different environments and cultures.

At ZS, we honor the visible and invisible elements of our identities, personal experiences, and belief systems—the ones that comprise us as individuals, shape who we are, and make us unique. We believe your personal interests, identities, and desire to learn are integral to your success here. We are committed to building a team that reflects a broad variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. Learn more about our inclusion and belonging efforts and the networks ZS supports to assist our ZSers in cultivating community spaces and obtaining the resources they need to thrive.

ZS is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing equal employment and advancement opportunities without regard to any class protected by applicable law.