AI Engineer - Sr Lead Software Engineer

DataJobs; Jersey City (NJ); On-site; USD 176,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

DataJobs in Jersey City, NJ seeks a Senior Lead Software Engineer to build agentic AI platforms and LLM-enabled cloud services. You will guide cross-functional teams, own critical architecture, and lead production-grade AI applications using AWS/Azure, containers, and serverless designs.

The role requires 5+ years of experience, strong Python and ML frameworks, and a commitment to responsible AI. You will drive AI-assisted engineering practices and ensure secure, scalable systems.

Qualifications

• Formal training or certification in software engineering concepts.
• 5+ years of applied software engineering experience.
• Strong Python engineering skills with PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Expertise with vector storage systems and memory design for agents.
• Experience deploying LLM-backed services to production (APIs, microservices).
• Deep MLOps experience: CI/CD, monitoring, incident response, model governance.
• Cloud-native AI deployment on AWS or Azure, incl. cost/performance optimization.
• Commitment to responsible AI practices and operational excellence.
• Strong communication across product, risk, legal, and compliance teams.
• Experience leading adoption of agentic AI-enabled development practices with enterprise tools.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical guidance to business and engineering teams and align priorities.
• Develop secure, high-quality production code and lead code reviews.
• Own architecture and design decisions affecting product and operations.
• Act as SME to support technical trade-offs and resolve complex problems.
• Evaluate and introduce advanced technologies with risk/benefit analysis.
• Build and operate production-grade LLM applications with agentic patterns.
• Design and deliver cloud-native services on AWS/Azure using containers/serverless.
• Implement retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) solutions for quality control.
• Build reliable service APIs and secure integrations.
• Drive adoption and governance of AI-assisted engineering practices across teams.
• Establish measurable validation standards across the SDLC/TLM toolchain.

Skills

Python

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Vector storage

LLM services

APIs

Microservices

CI/CD

AWS

Azure

Containers

Serverless

RAG

Embeddings

Semantic search

SDLC

TLM

Model governance

Tools

AWS

Azure

CI/CD

Job description

Senior Lead Software Engineer role focused on building agentic AI platforms and LLM-enabled cloud services.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical guidance to business and engineering teams by partnering with external teams to align on priorities, remove blockers, and drive delivery outcomes.
• Develop secure, high-quality production code and lead code reviews; review, debug, and improve others’ code to raise engineering standards.
• Own architecture and design decisions impacting product design, application functionality, and technical operations, including SDLC practices.
• Act as a subject matter expert in one or more focus areas to support technical trade-offs and resolve complex problems.
• Evaluate and introduce advanced technologies when appropriate, presenting clear rationale plus risk and benefit analysis.
• Build and operate production-grade LLM applications, including agentic patterns and tool integrations for enterprise use cases.
• Design and deliver cloud-native services on AWS using containers and serverless architectures with scalability and operational resilience in mind.
• Implement retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) solutions using embeddings, semantic search, and context engineering to improve answer quality and control.
• Build reliable service APIs and integrations with a focus on security, performance, and maintainability.
• Drive adoption and governance of approved AI-assisted engineering practices across teams to improve code quality, delivery speed, and operational outcomes (examples include AI-assisted code review/refactoring, test acceleration, release readiness, incident and root-cause analysis).
• Establish measurable validation standards across the SDLC/TLM toolchain, including secure coding, peer review, and automated testing, while promoting reuse of proven patterns and automation.
• Apply knowledge of Software Development Life Cycle toolchain capabilities, including approved AI-assisted development and automation, to scale automation value.

Requirements

• Formal training or certification in software engineering concepts and 5+ years applied experience.
• Strong Python engineering skills; experience with PyTorch or TensorFlow.
• Expertise with vector storage systems and designing memory for agents.
• Expertise developing long-running autonomous agents using tools, skills, and human-in-the-loop workflows.
• Proven experience deploying LLM-backed services to production (APIs, microservices).
• Deep MLOps experience, including CI/CD, monitoring, incident response, and model governance.
• Cloud-native AI deployment experience on AWS or Azure, including cost and performance optimization.
• Demonstrated commitment to responsible AI practices and operational excellence.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills across product, risk, legal, and compliance teams.
• Demonstrated experience designing and leading adoption of agentic AI-enabled development practices using enterprise-authorized tools, including human-in-the-loop validation, auditability/traceability of changes, and secure handling of sensitive data.
• Strong understanding of responsible AI control expectations in engineering workflows, including security and resiliency implications, data sensitivity, and risk-based governance, with ability to influence senior technical leaders on safe scaling patterns and reuse.

Technologies

• Python
• PyTorch
• TensorFlow
• Vector storage systems
• LLM-backed services
• APIs
• Microservices
• CI/CD
• AWS
• Azure
• Containers
• Serverless architectures
• Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
• Embeddings
• Semantic search
• SDLC
• TLM
• Model governance

Preferred Qualifications, Capabilities, and Skills

• Experience with fine-tuning, adapters, or custom evaluation frameworks.
• Background operating AI systems in regulated environments (finance, healthcare, etc.).
• Experience with prompt engineering and LLM orchestration.
• Knowledge of safety filters, audit logging, and explainability in production systems.
• Experience mentoring senior engineers and leading architecture discussions.
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical roadmaps and priorities.

• Location: Jersey City, NJ (onsite)
• Salary: USD 175,750 - 260,000 per year
• Experience: 5+ years