Chief Software Engineer - AI-Powered, Python

EPAM Systems Inc; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

EPAM Systems Inc is seeking a Chief Software Engineer to lead a small, high-performing team building an AI-powered financial assistant platform. You will own end-to-end delivery from design through production rollout, shaping product direction in close collaboration with business users.

You will design scalable systems in Python and FastAPI, implement AI evaluation and security controls, and mentor engineers while promoting rigorous testing and reliable operations across US time zones.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of software engineering experience with Python or similar.
• Proven leadership to drive technical direction in a senior team.
• Ownership mindset from discovery to production.
• Expert system design skills with scalable architectures.
• Advanced Python for API and service development.
• Strong FastAPI experience or equivalent Python web framework.
• AI engineering with LLM and Gen AI development.
• AI evaluation, test datasets, regression testing, and failure analysis.
• AI security knowledge: data privacy, access controls, guardrails.
• Reliability, maintainability, and production monitoring focus.
• Performance optimization for latency, cost, throughput.
• High autonomy with strong trust in minimal process.
• Advanced English proficiency (C1).
• Willingness to learn and adopt new AI technologies.
• Nice to have AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform, React/Next.js, Node.js.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end delivery of an AI-powered financial assistant from design through production rollout.
• Define scalable designs balancing quality, latency, reliability, and cost for AI features.
• Build backend services and APIs in Python using FastAPI to support chat and reporting workflows.
• Implement AI evaluation with automated tests, regression suites, and monitoring.
• Establish security controls for AI applications including privacy and access controls.
• Validate AI behavior in production through failure analysis and iterative improvements.
• Collaborate with business users to gather requirements, refine UX, and ship iterations.
• Review, test, and verify AI-generated code with Gen AI assisted development.
• Create guardrails against prompt-injection and other AI-specific risks.
• Improve reliability and maintainability through disciplined engineering practices.

Skills

Python programming

FastAPI

AI/LLM development

System design

Leadership

Kubernetes

Terraform

AWS

JavaScript/TypeScript

API development

AI security

English proficiency

Tools

Kubernetes

Terraform

React/Next.js

Node.js

AWS

Job description

We are looking for a Chief Software Engineer to build a next-generation AI-powered financial assistant platform that brings chat, reporting, and bespoke interfaces into sophisticated investment workflows. You will lead hands-on delivery in a small, highly capable team, shaping product direction while iterating quickly with business users.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end delivery of an AI-powered financial assistant from design through production rollout
• Define system designs that balance quality, latency, reliability, and cost for AI features
• Build backend services and APIs in Python using FastAPI to support chat and reporting workflows
• Implement AI evaluation and quality engineering with automated tests, regression suites, and monitoring
• Establish security controls for AI applications including privacy, access control, auditability, and safe handling of sensitive data
• Validate and harden AI behavior in production through failure analysis and iterative improvements
• Collaborate directly with business users to gather requirements, refine UX, and ship rapid iterations
• Review, test, and verify AI-generated code using Gen AI assisted development and coding agents
• Create guardrails against prompt-injection and other AI-specific risks within production constraints
• Improve reliability and maintainability through disciplined engineering practices and clear interfaces
• Contribute to a startup-style environment with lightweight process and high accountability
• Partner with other senior engineers to align technical decisions and deliver cohesive platform outcomes

Requirements

• 7+ years of software engineering experience with Python or comparable languages
• Strong leadership ability to drive technical direction in a small senior team
• Strong ownership mindset to take loosely defined problems from discovery to production
• Expert system design skills including edge cases, trade-offs, and scalable architectures
• Advanced Python skills including API and service development
• Strong FastAPI experience or deep experience with comparable Python web frameworks
• Strong AI engineering skills with Large Language Models (LLM) and Gen AI Assisted Development
• Strong AI evaluation skills including automated evals, test datasets, regression testing, and failure analysis
• Strong AI security knowledge including data privacy, access controls, prompt-injection risks, and guardrails
• Strong quality engineering mindset focused on reliability, maintainability, and monitoring in production
• Strong performance optimization skills across latency, cost, and throughput for AI applications
• High autonomy and self-governance with minimal process and high trust
• Advanced English proficiency (C1, Advanced)
• Flexibility to collaborate across US, LatAm, and CET time zones
• Willingness to learn and adopt new technologies rapidly as the AI ecosystem evolves
• Nice to have Amazon Web Services experience
• Kubernetes experience
• Terraform experience
• ReactJS or Next.js experience with TypeScript/JavaScript
• Node.js experience