AI Backend Lead - LLM Agents & Scalable Services

Photon; Scottsdale (AZ); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Photon is seeking a hands-on Senior/Lead Backend Engineer with strong experience in AI agents and agentic workflows to design and build scalable backend services. You will integrate LLMs, tool-calling, and AI workflows while collaborating with Product and Business stakeholders.

You will lead, mentor, and deliver across REST APIs, microservices, and event-driven architectures, working onsite in Arizona or Rhode Island.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of backend/software engineering experience in a Senior/Lead role.
• Hands-on development with Node.js/TypeScript and/or Python.
• Experience building AI agents and agentic workflows using LLMs.
• Strong knowledge of LLM tool calling, prompt design, and AI evaluation techniques.
• Experience developing and consuming REST APIs and event-driven architectures.
• Strong understanding of microservices and distributed backend systems.
• Ability to work onsite in Arizona, USA (or Rhode Island) and collaborate with Product/Business teams.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable backend services.
• Build and integrate AI agents, agentic workflows, and LLM-powered apps.
• Implement LLM tool/function calling and prompt engineering.
• Develop REST APIs, microservices, and event-driven services.
• Design reliable integrations across AI services and external systems.
• Partner with Product/Business teams to translate requirements into tech solutions.
• Provide technical leadership, code reviews, and architecture guidance.
• Lead and mentor an offshore engineering pod to ensure quality delivery.

Skills

Backend engineering

Node.js/TypeScript

Python

AI agents / agent workflows

LLM tool calling

Prompt engineering

REST APIs

Microservices

Offshore team leadership

Tools

OpenAI/LLM platforms

Azure OpenAI / AWS Bedrock

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Job description

Photon is seeking a hands-on Senior/Lead Backend Engineer with strong experience in AI agents and agentic workflows to design and build scalable backend services. You will integrate LLMs, tool-calling, and AI workflows while collaborating with Product and Business stakeholders.

You will lead, mentor, and deliver across REST APIs, microservices, and event-driven architectures, working onsite in Arizona or Rhode Island.