Staff Software Engineer, AI Product Engineering

Jobtailor

Minnesota

On-site

USD 180,000 - 240,000

Full time

4 days ago

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Job summary

Jobtailor is seeking a senior backend leader to design and operate large-scale AI-enabled systems in production. You will own greenfield 0→1 projects, build scalable Python backends with FastAPI, and integrate OpenAI/Anthropic models.

You will mentor engineers, shape architecture across teams, and ensure reliability, performance, and observability in high‑ownership environments. Collaborating with Product and Design, you translate customer problems into scalable technical solutions and drive

Qualifications

Significant software engineering experience building and operating large-scale backend systems.
Strong hands-on development with Python.
Production experience with FastAPI or Django; FastAPI preferred.
Experience designing APIs, data models, and distributed architectures.
Experience with AWS and PostgreSQL in production environments.
Experience building greenfield or 0→1 products.
Ability to influence architecture across teams.
Excellent communication and cross-functional partnership.
Hands-on experience with AI-native applications and LLM-powered tools.

Responsibilities

Own greenfield and 0→1 AI systems from discovery to production.
Design and build production backend services using Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, and AWS.
Develop AI-native apps using LLMs, agents, orchestration, retrieval, and real-time AI workflows.
Integrate models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and other platforms.
Define scalable APIs, data models, and distributed systems for high-volume AI apps.
Mentor engineers and supervise cross-functional initiatives.
Review designs, code, and drive architectural decisions.

Skills

Python Development

FastAPI

AWS

System Design

Backend Architecture

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Observability

Technical Leadership

Tools

PostgreSQL

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Infrastructure as Code

Observability

Job description

Own greenfield and 0→1 AI systems from technical discovery and architecture through implementation, production launch, monitoring, and iteration
Design and build production backend services using Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, and AWS
Build and evolve AI-native applications using large language models, AI agents, orchestration, retrieval, tool/function calling, and real-time AI workflows
Integrate models and services from OpenAI, Anthropic, and other foundation-model platforms
Design scalable APIs, data models, asynchronous workflows, and distributed services for high-volume AI applications
Influence architecture across reliability, scalability, latency, observability, security, testing, failure handling, and maintainability
Establish reusable engineering patterns and technical standards across teams and workstreams
Evaluate AI behavior in production and build quality measurement, experimentation, evaluation, guardrails, and continuous improvement mechanisms
Partner with Product and Design to translate customer problems into scalable technical solutions
Provide hands‑on technical leadership across complex cross‑functional initiatives
Participate in design, implementation, debugging, and code review
Mentor engineers and guide architectural and engineering trade‑offs
Identify technical risks and drive solutions across systems and teams

Requirements

Significant software engineering experience building and operating large-scale, production-grade backend systems
Strong, recent hands‑on development experience with Python
Production experience with backend frameworks such as FastAPI, Flask, or Django; FastAPI strongly preferred
Experience designing APIs, backend services, data models, asynchronous systems, and distributed architectures
Experience with relational databases such as PostgreSQL and a major cloud platform; AWS strongly preferred
Experience personally designing, building, and launching greenfield or 0→1 products and systems
Experience making architecture decisions affecting multiple systems, teams, or major product capabilities
Strong system‑design skills covering scalability, reliability, performance, failure modes, and operational trade‑offs
Experience across the full software lifecycle, including architecture, implementation, deployment, observability, debugging, incident response, and production iteration
Ability to influence technical direction without formal authority
Strong communication and cross‑functional partnership skills
Ability to operate effectively in ambiguous, fast‑moving environments
Hands‑on production experience building generative AI or AI‑native applications strongly preferred
Experience with LLM‑powered agents, agent orchestration, tool/function calling, RAG, embeddings, vector search, retrieval systems, or real‑time AI interactions preferred
Experience integrating commercial or open foundation models, including OpenAI or Anthropic, preferred
Experience building customer‑facing SaaS or product software in a startup, scale‑up, or similarly high‑ownership environment preferred
Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, observability, and modern cloud‑native engineering preferred
Exposure to TypeScript or modern frontend frameworks helpful but not required

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in building and operating large-scale backend systems, with a strong focus on Python, FastAPI, and AWS. Capable of leading cross‑functional initiatives and mentoring engineers while designing scalable AI‑native applications and architectures.

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