Forward Deployed Engineer/Chief Role

EPAM Systems; Turkey; On-site; TRY 5,923,000 - 8,885,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private health insurance

English courses

Mentoring programs

Learning platforms access

Extra leave days

Referral bonuses

Job summary

EPAM Systems in Turkey is seeking a senior engineer to design, build and ship AI-native systems end-to-end, including agents, workflows and RAG harnesses. You will write production‑grade Python, implement integrations, and work closely with SMEs and end-users to validate value.

You will lead decisions on task harnesses, manage failures and ensure observability with tools like LangSmith and Langfuse while deploying on major clouds with containerization and CI/CD.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of engineering experience building production AI/LLM applications.
• Strong agent-design judgment—matching harness to context and policies.
• Ability to lead discovery conversations with SMEs and end-users.
• Hands-on experience with agentic frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph, Semantic Kernel) and major LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini).
• Expert-level Python and solid software engineering fundamentals.
• Strong retrieval and RAG skills, vector databases, embeddings, and context management.
• Experience with cloud deployments (AWS/Azure/GCP) with CI/CD and containerization.
• English at C1 level.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and ship AI-native systems end-to-end — agents, workflows, RAG and harness components.
• Develop evaluation pipelines to prove system usefulness.
• Design for failure in agent loops with retries, fallbacks and human-in-the-loop processes.
• Capture domain knowledge and reusable workflows for repeatable engagements.
• Engage early with clients to shape use cases and assess feasibility.
• Write production-grade Python for integrations, APIs, data access and deployment.
• Collaborate with SMEs and end-users to validate alignment with real workflows.

Skills

Python

Agent design

Client-facing communication

English (C1)

Observability

Tools

LangChain

LangGraph

Semantic Kernel

OpenAI

Anthropic

Google Gemini

LangSmith

Arize Phoenix

Langfuse

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

We are building AI-native solutions for our clients — products where LLM and its harness are the core of the value.

This is a builder's role: you and your team are responsible for building agentic systems, writing the production code, and standing up the evals and observability.

You will work closely with SMEs and end-users to understand where the real value lies, and you design the feedback loops.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and ship AI-native systems E2E — agents, workflows, RAG and the harness: custom tool calling, sandboxing, context engineering and sub-agents, caching, compaction
• Build the evaluation pipelines and use them to prove the system is genuinely useful
• Design for failure in the agent loop: retries, model fallbacks, cost limits and human-in-the-loop on consequential actions
• Capture domain expertise and repeatable workflows so what works on one engagement carries to the next
• Engage early to help shape the use case and check technical feasibility
• Write production-grade Python: integrations, APIs, data access, deployment
• Work directly with SMEs and end-users through interviews, UAT and observing the real workflow, and validate that the system fits how people actually work

Requirements

• 7+ years of engineering experience, with a strong recent track record building production AI / LLM applications (not prototypes or research only)
• Strong agent-design judgment — task-harness fit, matching the harness to the context, failures and policies of the actual task rather than calling a model in a loop
• Capability to operate close to the client: lead discovery and feasibility conversations, work directly with SMEs and end-users, and explain technical trade-offs to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Hands‑on experience with agentic frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph, Semantic Kernel) and major LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini)
• Expert‑level Python and solid software engineering fundamentals
• Strong RAG and retrieval skills: vector databases, embeddings, hybrid search, re‑ranking, chunking and context management
• Proven experience evaluating generative AI quality — LLM-based evaluation, heuristics, custom eval frameworks — and using observability/tracing tools (LangSmith, Arize Phoenix, Langfuse)
• Production deployment experience on at least one major cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP) with containerization, CI/CD
• Sound judgment under ambiguity — scoping, sequencing and making the call on speed vs. quality vs. scope
• English at C1 level

Nice to have

• Experience designing experiments, A/B testing and iterating on AI products against real user behavior and business metrics
• Background in NLP, Data Science or applied ML, with experience moving models into production
• Familiarity with MCP, A2A and Agent Skills, and emerging agent standards
• Experience with enterprise AI platforms (AWS Bedrock AgentCore, Databricks Genie, Microsoft Foundry)
• Exposure to AI governance, security and compliance (guardrails, prompt‑injection prevention)

We offer

• CONTINUOUS UPSKILLING, LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
  • Diversity of tasks and projects
  • Assessment center for objective review of competency level
  • Personal development plan
  • Mentoring programs and leadership development
  • Certification and professional development support
  • Access to learning platforms including more than 2,500 internal courses
  • English courses taught by certified teachers
• CORPORATE BENEFITS
  • Extra leave days
  • Referral bonuses
• COMPENSATION PACKAGE
  • Competitive compensation paid in USD
  • Regular salary and performance reviews
• MEDICAL & HEALTHCARE
  • Private health insurance
  • Well‑being events
• WORKING ENVIRONMENT
  • Recreation areas and kitchens
  • Tea, coffee and snacks
  • Sports equipment and game consoles
  • IT Equipment
  • Microsoft’s Software Assurance Home Use Program (HUP)

Please note that our Talent Attraction Team reviews applications and CVs submitted in English.

EPAM is global leader in AI transformation engineering and integrated consulting, serving Forbes Global 2000 companies and ambitious startups. With over thirty years of expertise in custom software, product and platform engineering, we empower our clients to become AI-Native enterprises, driving measurable value from innovation and digital investments.