Senior Software Engineer - AI Copilot (Backend)

Zendesk, Inc.; United States; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work arrangement

Job summary

Zendesk, Inc. is hiring to build and operate backend capabilities for an AI copilot used by customer service teams.

You’ll own substantial features from design through launch and iteration, collaborating with ML scientists and engineers to turn AI capabilities into dependable user-facing experiences. You will deliver features end to end, integrate ML capabilities, and build backend services, APIs, and integrations that power AI-driven experiences.

Qualifications

• 5+ years building and operating large-scale internet-facing applications.
• Fluency in Ruby; Python experience is a plus.
• Solid background in distributed systems, REST APIs, and AWS cloud infrastructure.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and continuous integration and delivery practices.
• Track record of owning features through production delivery with attention to quality.
• Able to adapt to uncertainty and shifting priorities, and collaborate effectively with machine learning specialists.

Responsibilities

• Deliver product features end to end, including design, implementation, testing, release, and follow-up improvements.
• Integrate machine-learning capabilities with scientists and engineers to create reliable product functionality.
• Build and maintain backend services, APIs, and integrations that support AI-driven experiences.
• Contribute to team design and architecture decisions, and translate product needs into scoped engineering work.
• Improve service reliability, performance, and maintainability, including addressing technical debt.
• Support less experienced engineers through code review, pairing, and knowledge sharing.

Skills

Ruby

Python

Distributed systems

REST APIs

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Job description

Role overview

Build and operate backend capabilities for an AI copilot used by customer service teams. You’ll own substantial product features from technical design through launch and iteration, working closely with machine learning specialists and other disciplines to turn AI capabilities into dependable user-facing experiences.

Responsibilities

• Deliver product features end to end, including design, implementation, testing, release, and follow-up improvements.
• Integrate machine-learning capabilities with scientists and engineers to create reliable product functionality.
• Build and maintain backend services, APIs, and integrations that support AI-driven experiences.
• Contribute to team design and architecture decisions, and translate product needs into scoped engineering work.
• Improve service reliability, performance, and maintainability, including addressing technical debt.
• Support less experienced engineers through code review, pairing, and knowledge sharing.

Requirements

• At least five years building and operating large-scale, internet-facing applications.
• Fluency in Ruby; Python experience is a plus.
• Solid background in distributed systems, REST APIs, and AWS cloud infrastructure.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and continuous integration and delivery practices.
• Track record of owning features through production delivery with attention to quality.
• Able to adapt to uncertainty and shifting priorities, and collaborate effectively with machine learning specialists.

Nice to have

• Experience with SQL, data pipelines, or transformation tools such as Snowflake and dbt.
• Exposure to language-model integration, including prompt design, evaluation, monitoring, or multiple providers.
• Familiarity with machine-learning tools, event-driven systems such as Kafka, or metrics-led product development with experiments and staged rollouts.

Benefits and work setup

• Hybrid work, with office collaboration for part of the week and flexibility to work remotely for the remainder.