Lead Python AI Engineer

EPAM Systems, Inc.; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare benefits

Paid time off

Upskilling courses

LinkedIn Learning access

Job summary

EPAM Systems, Inc. seeks a Lead AI Engineer to design production-grade AI agents and data-integrated tool APIs in a cloud-native Python environment. You will shape agent architecture, ensure observability, and collaborate with distributed stakeholders to ship high-quality outcomes.

Responsibilities include building AI agents, tool interfaces, and read-only data access, plus developing FastAPI services and SQL queries while enforcing best practices and tests across the codebase.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of production Python development.
• 2+ years building LLM integrations or AI agents.
• Lead-level technical leadership for design and code quality.
• Strong async programming with Python 3.11+.
• Experience with FastAPI and backend microservices.

Responsibilities

• Design production-grade AI agent architectures and tool interfaces.
• Build scoped AI agents with tool-calling and robust orchestration.
• Develop read-only Model Context Protocol servers exposing enterprise data.
• Create FastAPI services and asynchronous task handlers for low-risk actions.
• Write and optimize SQL for cost datasets with partitioning constraints.
• Establish tests, observability, tracing, and distributed logging; enforce monorepo practices.

Tools

Python

AsyncIO

FastAPI

SQL

Docker

Google Cloud

BigQuery

LangChain

LLM integrations

Terraform

Job description

We are seeking a Lead AI Engineer to design and deliver production-grade AI agents and data-integrated tool APIs in a cloud-native Python environment. You will shape agent architecture, ensure reliable observability and schema-compliant access patterns, and collaborate with distributed stakeholders to ship high-quality outcomes.ResponsibilitiesDesign production-grade AI agent architectures and tool interfaces aligned to platform standardsBuild scoped AI agents with tool-calling, structured outputs, and robust prompt/tool orchestrationImplement read-only Model Context Protocol servers that securely expose enterprise datasets to agentsDevelop FastAPI services and asynchronous task handlers to support low-risk actions and ticket generationWrite and optimize SQL for normalized cost datasets while respecting partitioning and clustering constraintsImplement health and readiness probes, structured JSON logging, and distributed tracing for observabilityEstablish unit and integration tests co-located with capability modules to protect critical flowsCoordinate peer code reviews and enforce monorepo structure and engineering excellence practicesCollaborate with product and architecture stakeholders to refine requirements and deliver measurable resultsRequirements5+ years of production software development experience with Python2+ years of hands-on experience building LLM integrations or AI agentsLead-level technical leadership experience guiding design and code qualityStrong project ownership skills for delivering production-grade services end to endAdvanced Python 3.11+ skills with AsyncIO and clean architecture practicesStrong FastAPI skills for building backend microservices and tool APIsStrong SQL skills for authoring and optimizing analytical queriesSolid Docker skills for packaging and running services reliablyHands-on Google Agent Development Kit experience for agent and tool developmentModel Context Protocol experience implementing safe, read-only data access patternsUpper-Intermediate English proficiency (B2) for cross-team collaborationNice to haveGoogle Cloud BigQuery experience optimizing large partitioned datasetsGoogle Vertex AI experience integrating hosted models and evaluation workflowsCI/CD experience building automated test and release pipelinesTerraform experience provisioning and managing cloud infrastructure as codeLangChain experience building agent workflows and tool integrationsWe offerInternational projects with top brandsWork with global teams of highly skilled, diverse peersHealthcare benefitsEmployee financial programsPaid time off and sick leaveUpskilling, reskilling and certification coursesUnlimited access to the LinkedIn Learning library and 22,000+ coursesGlobal career opportunitiesVolunteer and community involvement opportunitiesEPAM Employee GroupsAward-winning culture recognized by Glassdoor, Newsweek and LinkedInEPAM is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.