Staff Software Engineer (Techlead) - AI Platform

sentinellabs; United States; Hybrid; USD 54,000 - 91,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work CZ/SK

Paid time off

Private medical care

Pension contributions

RSUs and ESPP

Bonus

Home office allowance

Meal allowance

Wellness allowance

Multi-sport program

Job summary

SentinelLabs is seeking a staff-level backend engineer to lead the design and delivery of a new AI Platform that accelerates AI feature delivery while upholding security, cost, and quality. You will combine hands-on technical leadership with close collaboration with product teams and occasionally contribute to customer-facing AI features that evolve into shared platform services.

The role focuses on core services including agent and Model Context Protocol infrastructure, evaluation pipelines,

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience building and operating backend distributed systems at scale in production.
• Hands-on experience with LLM-powered systems, such as model API integration, retrieval or agent architectures, evaluation pipelines, or LLM observability.
• Demonstrated success leading projects of moderate-to-high complexity end-to-end, including coordinating the work of other engineers.
• Strong coding skills in a mainstream backend language (Python or Java) and solid experience with Kubernetes and cloud infrastructure.
• A product mindset, with experience building customer-facing features and translating user and customer needs into technical decisions.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end design and delivery of core AI Platform services, from ambiguous requirements through production, including evaluation pipelines, agent and MCP infrastructure, and observability tooling.
• Architect solutions with performance, scalability, security, and testability baked in from the start.
• Partner with product teams to build customer-facing AI features where needed, then platformize the patterns that prove valuable.
• Shape the team's technical roadmap, influencing technology selection and build-versus-buy decisions.
• Own operational excellence — reliability, observability, capacity planning, deployment strategy, and blameless postmortems — for the services you build.
• Mentor other engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and technical guidance.

Skills

Distributed systems

Kubernetes

Cloud infrastructure

Python/Java

Tools

Kubernetes

Cloud platforms

Job description

Role overview

This staff-level engineering role leads the design and delivery of a new AI Platform whose mission is to accelerate AI feature delivery while keeping security, cost, and quality bars high. The position blends hands‑on technical leadership with close collaboration with product teams, occasionally contributing to customer‑facing AI features that later evolve into shared platform services. Core services — agent and Model Context Protocol infrastructure, evaluation pipelines, and AI observability — are foundational to every AI capability the organization ships.

Responsibilities

• Lead end‑to‑end design and delivery of core AI Platform services, from ambiguous requirements through production, including evaluation pipelines, agent and MCP infrastructure, and observability tooling
• Architect solutions with performance, scalability, security, and testability baked in from the start
• Partner with product teams to build customer‑facing AI features where needed, then platformize the patterns that prove valuable
• Shape the team's technical roadmap, influencing technology selection and build‑versus‑buy decisions
• Own operational excellence — reliability, observability, capacity planning, deployment strategy, and blameless postmortems — for the services you build
• Mentor other engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and technical guidance

Requirements

• 7+ years of experience building and operating backend distributed systems at scale in production
• Hands‑on experience with LLM‑powered systems, such as model API integration, retrieval or agent architectures, evaluation pipelines, or LLM observability
• Demonstrated success leading projects of moderate‑to‑high complexity end‑to‑end, including coordinating the work of other engineers
• Strong coding skills in a mainstream backend language (Python or Java) and solid experience with Kubernetes and cloud infrastructure
• A product mindset, with experience building customer‑facing features and translating user and customer needs into technical decisions

Nice to have

• Experience in cybersecurity or another regulated, high‑trust domain
• Experience building or operating MCP servers

Benefits and work setup

• Hybrid work in Prague (Karlin) or Brno, or remote within CZ/SK, with Prague‑based employees expected in the office at least two days per week
• Standard five weeks of paid time off plus flexible time off, paid wellness days, and fully paid short‑term sick and nursing leave
• Gender‑neutral parental leave
• Private medical care, life and disability insurance, pension contributions, and global business travel medical insurance
• Employee Assistance Program access
• Restricted Stock Units, an Employee Stock Purchase Plan, and a performance‑based bonus
• Home office allowance, meal allowance, wellness allowance, and a multi‑sport benefit program