AI Software Engineer III

Strategic Data Systems, Inc.; Cincinnati (OH); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive base salary

Paid vacation time

Training allowance

Referral bonuses

Job summary

Strategic Data Systems (SDS) is seeking an AI Software Engineer III to join our AI engineering team in a hands-on leadership role. You will design backend services and guardrails, define enforcement points, and mentor engineers on safe coding practices.

The role emphasizes cross-service system behavior and scalable architectures. The position requires 5–8 years of experience with Python and TypeScript, and strong AWS capabilities (Lambda, Fargate, API Gateway).

Qualifications

• 5–8 years of software engineering experience.
• Strong proficiency in Python and TypeScript.
• Experience delivering production systems on AWS (Lambda, Fargate, API Gateway).
• Experience with infrastructure as code tools in production.
• Designs enforcement patterns spanning multiple services.

Responsibilities

• Design and deliver backend services and APIs that enforce system behavior across services.
• Define where enforcement, filtering, and validation should occur within architectures.
• Build cross-service controls and establish patterns engineers implement against.
• Instrument observability across service boundaries with logging, metrics, and tracing.
• Own shared tooling and platform components with broad reach.
• Mentor engineers on safe design, defensive programming, and failure handling.

Skills

AWS

Python

Terraform

TypeScript

LLM integration patterns

Guardrail design

Output filtering

Tools

AWS Lambda

API Gateway

Fargate

Job description

Careers at SDS

AI Software Engineer III

Contract to Hire Cincinnati, OH 1 month ago Location Cincinnati, OH Job Type Contract to Hire Posted 1 month ago

About This Role

For more than three decades, Strategic Data Systems (SDS) has been a software consultancy firm specializing in strategy, technology, and business transformation for Fortune 100 companies, mid-sized firms, and startups. At SDS, we empower our development teams to address our clients’ critical business challenges by leveraging cutting edge technologies. If you seek a workplace where your contributions are truly appreciated, then SDS is the company for you. Join us today to work alongside fellow development specialists and become a crucial part of our dynamic and cohesive community.

Job Title: AI Software Engineer III

Location: Farmington Hills, MI/ Cincinnati, OH (Downtown) PREFERRED > REMOTE EST/CST OK

Years of Experience: 5-8

CONTRACT TO HIRE - MUST BE ABLE TO CONVERT TO FTE W/O SPONSORSHIP

TOP SKILLS:

• AWS
• Python
• Terraform
• TypeScript
• AWS Bedrock is a PLUS!
• LLM integration patterns — prompt injection detection, guardrail design, or output filtering

What You’ll Do

We are looking for a AI Software Engineer to join our AI agentic engineering team. You will design and deliver guardrail components across services, define where and how enforcement should occur in systems, and mentor engineers on safe design and defensive programming patterns. You will also architect backend services, APIs, and integrations that apply software engineering discipline to govern how AI-driven systems behave across the engineering workflow.

This is a hands‑on technical leadership role requiring strong proficiency in Python and TypeScript, a track record of delivering cross‑service systems, and the ability to define enforcement patterns that other engineers follow.

What You'll Do

• Design and deliver backend services and APIs that enforce system behavior across multiple services
• Define where and how enforcement, filtering, and validation should occur within system architectures
• Build cross‑service controls and establish the patterns other engineers implement against
• Instrument and improve observability across service boundaries — structured logging, metrics, distributed tracing
• Own shared tooling and platform components with broad organizational reach
• Mentor engineers on safe design, defensive programming, and failure handling practices

Core Capabilities

• Writes production‑quality code with strong proficiency in Python and TypeScript
• Demonstrates advanced experience working in cloud environments (AWS)
• Demonstrates advanced experience working with Infrastructure as code tools in production environments
• Designs and implements scalable backend services and APIs across service boundaries
• Defines enforcement patterns and interface contracts consumed by other teams
• Thinks in systems — reasons about cross‑service dependencies, failure propagation, and contract stability
• Communicates defensive design principles clearly to other engineers
• Shows strong technical curiosity and forms clear, experience‑backed opinions

What Differentiates This Role

This role is focused on how systems behave under misuse, failure, or unexpected inputs — not on building user‑facing features. At this level, you are defining where enforcement lives and how it works across services, not just implementing within one. You bring both the technical depth to build these systems and the communication skills to make the patterns repeatable by others.

What You Will Bring

• 5–8 years of software engineering experience with strong proficiency in Python and TypeScript
• Demonstrated experience delivering production systems on AWS (Lambda, Fargate, API Gateway)
• Demonstrated experience building production systems on AWS using Terraform
• Experience designing enforcement, filtering, or validation logic that spans multiple services
• Track record of defining interfaces, contracts, or patterns adopted by other engineers
• Ability to mentor junior and mid‑level engineers on defensive design and safe coding practices
• Clear written and verbal communication — able to define and document system‑level enforcement patterns
• Experience designing and building agentic workflows or multi‑agent systems
• Familiarity with LLM integration patterns — prompt injection detection, guardrail design, or output filtering

Nice to Have

• Experience with AWS Bedrock — model invocation, guardrail configuration, or AgentCore runtimes
• Experience with agentic or multi‑step workflow systems or Background in platform engineering or developer tooling roles

What You’ll Get

SDS, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, amnesty, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.

• Competitive base salary
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage
• Optional life and disability insurance provided
• 401(k) with a company match and optional profit sharing
• Paid vacation time
• Paid Bench time
• Training allowance offering
• You’ll be eligible to earn referral bonuses!