AI Backend Engineer: Django + Python, LLMs

Shades Of Web; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Shades Of Web is seeking a Backend Application Developer to build production Django applications that power AI‑driven features. You will design APIs, model data, and create agentic and retrieval systems that enable intelligent products.

You will work across the full request path from API routes to database queries and LLM calls, writing production Django code and integrating PostgreSQL with pgvector for embeddings.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building production backend applications with Python.
• Demonstrable expertise in Django and Django REST Framework, with applications you can show or describe in detail.
• Hands-on experience integrating agentic workflows into production or substantial side projects.
• Practical experience with context engineering designing system prompts, structuring retrieval and tool outputs, and managing context windows for LLM features.
• Demonstrable expertise of PostgreSQL, including schema design, indexing, and query optimization.
• Practical experience with vector databases (pgvector or similar) and embedding-based retrieval.
• Experience with agent frameworks (Pydantic AI or similar) or hand-rolled tool-calling systems.
• A portfolio, GitHub profile, or detailed write-ups of projects demonstrating backend and AI/agentic work.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with internal teams as well as clients.

Responsibilities

• Develop production-grade web applications using Django and Django REST Framework.
• Design and implement scalable RESTful APIs with clean contracts and clear versioning.
• Build LLM-powered features: agent workflows, RAG pipelines, tool calling, and structured output systems.
• Apply context engineering practices design system prompts, manage context windows, and structure retrieval and tool outputs for reliable agent behaviour.
• Design PostgreSQL schemas, including vector storage with pgvector for embeddings and semantic search.
• Integrate LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic) and orchestrate multi-step agent flows.
• Write evals and monitoring for LLM-driven features measure quality, not just uptime.
• Implement async task processing for long-running jobs (LLM calls, data pipelines, batch operations).
• Handle server-side security, data validation, and business logic.
• Optimize query performance, caching strategies, and application throughput.
• Participate in code reviews, architecture discussions, and technical planning.

Skills

Python

Django

Django REST Framework

Agentic workflows

Context engineering

PostgreSQL

pgvector

Vector databases

Pydantic AI

Tool-calling

GitHub portfolio

Communication skills

Tools

PostgreSQL

pgvector

Celery

Redis

OpenAI SDK

Anthropic SDK

Pydantic AI

Job description

Shades Of Web is seeking a Backend Application Developer to build production Django applications that power AI‑driven features. You will design APIs, model data, and create agentic and retrieval systems that enable intelligent products.

You will work across the full request path from API routes to database queries and LLM calls, writing production Django code and integrating PostgreSQL with pgvector for embeddings.