Principal AI Engineer

NielsenIQ; Chennai District; On-site; INR 1,800,000 - 3,000,000; Full time

Job summary

NielsenIQ in Chennai invites an experienced Principal AI Engineer with Python and generative AI expertise to join our fast-growing analytics platform. You will design autonomous AI agents, build scalable microservices, and lead AI development across the SDLC in a cloud-based, containerized environment.

The role emphasizes hands-on coding, prompt engineering, and collaboration with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality, reliable AI features, leveraging LangChain, AutoGen, and Azure AI

Qualifications

• B.Sc. in Computer Sciences or similar.
• At least 10 years of experience in Python backend development.
• Vast Experience with prompt engineering and optimization (3+ yrs).
• Profound knowledge in OOP and design patterns.
• Experience with Docker containers, Kubernetes and Cloud environments.
• Expertise in testing methodologies (Unit-testing, TDD, mocking).
• Fluent with Relational databases (SQL).
• Good problem-solving and analysis abilities.
• Excellent team player with strong communication skills.
• Self motivated and eager to push changes and develop with us.

Responsibilities

• Design and build autonomous AI agents capable of multi-step reasoning and task execution.
• Improve and develop SDLC process per AI vision.
• Work with LLMs and Agentic Frameworks (AutoGen, LangChain, Microsoft Agent Framework).
• Responsible for implementing micro-services from design to production.
• Take ownership of development, maintenance, testing strategy, design discussions, and operations of the team, with containerized API services.
• Participate in all aspects of agile software development including design, implementation, and deployment.
• Responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle of new product features / components.
• Ensuring application performance, uptime, and scale, maintaining high standards of code quality and thoughtful application design.
• Work with a small, cross-functional team on products and features to drive growth.
• Learning new tools, languages, workflows, and philosophies to grow.
• Research and suggest new technologies for boosting the product.
• Have an impact on product development by making important technical decisions, influencing the system architecture, development practices and more.

Skills

Python backend

AI development

LLMs

Prompt engineering

Docker

Kubernetes

FastAPI

SQL databases

OOP design

Team collaboration

Education

B.Sc. in Computer Science

Tools

LangChain

AutoGen

Azure OpenAI

Azure AI services

Job description

Principal AI Engineer with Python Gen AI (Langraph, Langchain, LLM), Chennai

NIQ, a well-funded company, develops a cloud-based, self-service customer analytics and personalization solution for retailers. This solution helps retailers leverage their customer data to improve loyalty and engagement.

We are seeking an experienced Senior Developer with deep expertise in Python and AI development to join our team. The ideal candidate will have hands-on experience building AI-powered applications and agentic AI systems that can autonomously perform complex tasks.

Responsibilities

• Design and build autonomous AI agents capable of multi-step reasoning and task execution
• Improve and develop SDLC process per AI vision
• Work with LLMs (Large Language Models) and Agentic Frameworks (AutoGen, LangChain, Microsoft Agent Framework)
• Responsible for implementing micro-services from design to production.
• Take ownership of development, maintenance, testing strategy, design discussions, and operations of the team, with containerized API services
• Participate in all aspects of agile software development including design, implementation, and deployment.
• Responsible for the end-to-end lifecycle of new product features / components
• Ensuring application performance, uptime, and scale, maintaining high standards of code quality and thoughtful application design
• Work with a small, cross-functional team on products and features to drive growth.
• Learning new tools, languages, workflows, and philosophies to grow
• Research and suggest new technologies for boosting the product.
• Have an impact on product development by making important technical decisions, influencing the system architecture, development practices and more.

Qualifications

• B.Sc. in Computer Sciences or similar
• At least 10 years of experience in Python backend development
• Vast Experience with prompt engineering and optimization (3+ yrs)
• Profound knowledge in OOP and design patterns
• Experience and knowledge of server-side technologies such as FastAPI, Pydantic, Alembic
• Experience with Docker containers, Kubernetes and Cloud environments
• Expertise in testing methodologies (Unit-testing, TDD, mocking)
• Fluent with Relational databases (SQL)
• Good problem-solving and analysis abilities
• Excellent team player with strong communication skills
• Self motivated and eager to push changes and develop with us.

Agentic AI

• 3+ year building agentic AI systems or autonomous agents
• Experience with agent frameworks and orchestration tools (AutoGen, LangChain, CrewAI or similar)
• Experience with Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI services
• Understanding of ReAct, Chain-of-Thought, and other reasoning patterns
• Knowledge of tool use and function calling in AI systems
• Experience with agent evaluation and testing methodologies
• Understanding of agent safety, reliability, and error handling

Good to have

• Experience in Java backend development
• Experience and knowledge of server-side technologies such as Java, Spring
• Experience with Azure / GCP cloud services
• Experience with large scale SQL / NoSQL databases (SingleStore, Postgres)
• Experience with Agile Development, or Extreme Programming methodologies