Senior RAG Engineer

MCI; Gauteng; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

MCI seeks a Senior RAG Engineer to lead the design and delivery of Retrieval-Augmented Generation systems across enterprise apps. You will guide semantic search, vector databases, and information retrieval, partnering with AI engineers and product teams to build scalable, secure knowledge access.

The role emphasizes technical leadership, mentoring, and evaluating new retrieval technologies while ensuring alignment with security and compliance standards. Location: Gauteng, SA.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS, IS, Data Science, AI or related field.
• Minimum 5 years of software engineering experience.
• Experience designing enterprise-scale Retrieval-Augmented Generation solutions.
• Strong Python and backend development skills.
• Extensive knowledge of embeddings, semantic search, vector databases, and information retrieval.
• Experience building scalable retrieval, indexing and knowledge management systems.
• Experience integrating RAG architectures with LLMs.
• Knowledge of cloud infrastructure and distributed computing.
• Experience leading technical projects and mentoring teams.
• Strong troubleshooting and performance optimization skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of enterprise-grade retrieval and knowledge systems.
• Design scalable Retrieval-Augmented Generation architectures.
• Develop ingestion and indexing frameworks for knowledge.
• Establish retrieval standards and best practices.
• Architect solutions enabling AI-powered knowledge access.
• Drive improvements in retrieval quality and performance.
• Optimize vector search and semantic retrieval capabilities.
• Improve relevance, accuracy, and response quality.
• Design evaluation methodologies and testing frameworks.
• Support knowledge lifecycle management.
• Enable seamless integration with AI applications.
• Collaborate with AI engineers and product teams.
• Integrate retrieval systems with LLMs and AI workflows.
• Develop scalable APIs and retrieval services.
• Maintain governance, security and compliance across platforms.
• Provide technical leadership and mentor engineering teams.
• Evaluate emerging retrieval technologies and frameworks.
• Contribute to AI strategy and innovation initiatives.

Skills

Python

RAG

Semantic search

Vector databases

Information retrieval

LLMs

Cloud infra

Leadership

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Pinecone

Weaviate

Chroma

Milvus

LangChain

LlamaIndex

Haystack

Job description

MCI is one of the fastest-growing tech-enabled business services companies in the US, delivering Customer Experience (CX), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and technology solutions across multiple industries and countries worldwide. Our team uses people, technology and innovation to help organizations improve customer experience and business performance.

Senior RAG Engineer

This role requires expertise in semantic search, vector databases, information retrieval, and Generative AI technologies. You will provide technical leadership while ensuring knowledge retrieval systems are accurate, scalable, secure, and aligned with business needs.

Key Responsibilities

Retrieval Architecture & Platform Design

• Lead the development of enterprise-grade retrieval and knowledge systems.
• Design scalable Retrieval-Augmented Generation architectures.
• Develop enterprise knowledge ingestion and indexing frameworks.
• Establish retrieval standards and best practices.
• Architect solutions that support AI-powered knowledge access.

Search Optimization & Knowledge Management

• Drive improvements in retrieval quality and performance.
• Optimize vector search and semantic retrieval capabilities.
• Improve relevance, accuracy, and response quality.
• Design evaluation methodologies and testing frameworks.
• Support knowledge lifecycle management processes.

Enterprise Integration & Delivery

• Enable seamless integration of retrieval systems with AI applications.
• Collaborate with AI engineers and product teams.
• Integrate retrieval systems with LLMs and AI workflows.
• Support enterprise-wide AI initiatives and deployments.
• Develop scalable APIs and retrieval services.

Governance, Security & Compliance

• Maintain operational excellence and regulatory compliance.
• Implement security controls and data governance standards.
• Monitor platform performance and availability.
• Conduct root cause analysis and issue resolution activities.
• Maintain technical documentation and operational procedures.

Leadership & Innovation

• Provide technical leadership and support organizational AI growth.
• Mentor engineers and technical teams.
• Evaluate emerging retrieval technologies and frameworks.
• Recommend enhancements to platform architecture.
• Contribute to AI strategy and innovation initiatives.

WONDER IF YOU ARE A GOOD FIT FOR THIS POSITION?

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, or related field.
• Minimum 5 years of software engineering experience.
• Experience designing and implementing enterprise-scale Retrieval-Augmented Generation solutions.
• Strong proficiency in Python and backend development.
• Extensive knowledge of embeddings, semantic search, vector databases, and information retrieval techniques.
• Experience building scalable retrieval, indexing, and knowledge management systems.
• Experience integrating RAG architectures with Large Language Models.
• Knowledge of cloud infrastructure and distributed computing environments.
• Experience leading technical projects and mentoring engineering teams.
• Strong troubleshooting and performance optimization skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Experience working within complex enterprise technology environments.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Pinecone, Weaviate, Chroma, Milvus, or equivalent platforms.
• Experience with LangChain, LlamaIndex, Haystack, or related frameworks.
• Knowledge of enterprise search and knowledge management solutions.
• Experience with MLOps and AI deployment pipelines.
• Cloud certifications in AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Knowledge of AI governance, security, and compliance frameworks.
• Master's Degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, or related discipline.
• Experience supporting enterprise AI transformation programs.

This job operates in a professional office environment. While performing the duties of this job, the employee will be largely sedentary and will be required to sit/stand for long periods while using a computer and telephone headset. The employee will be regularly required to operate a computer and other office equipment, including a phone, copier, and printer. The employee may occasionally be required to move about the office to accomplish tasks; reach in any direction; raise or lower objects, move objects from place to place, hold onto objects, and move or exert force up to forty (40) pounds.

All MCI Locations

• Must be authorized to work in the country where the job is based.

Subject to the program and location of the position

• Must be willing to submit up to a LEVEL II background and/or security investigation with a fingerprint. Job offers are contingent on background/security investigation results.
• Must be willing to submit to drug screening. Job offers are contingent on drug screening results. (Does not apply in Canada)

Consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it is the policy of MCI and its affiliates to provide reasonable accommodations when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with a disability unless such accommodations would cause undue hardship. The policy regarding requests for reasonable accommodation applies to all aspects of employment. If reasonable accommodations are needed, please contact Human Resources.

At MCI and its subsidiaries, we embrace differences and believe diversity is a benefit to our employees, our company, our customers, and our community. All aspects of employment at MCI are based solely on a person's merit and qualifications. MCI maintains a work environment free from discrimination, one where employees are treated with dignity and respect. All employees share in the responsibility for fulfilling MCI's commitment to a diverse and equal opportunity work environment.

MCI does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances. MCI will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with local and federal requirements.

MCI will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. We adhere to these principles in all aspects of employment, including recruitment, hiring, training, compensation, promotion, benefits, social and recreational programs, and discipline. In addition, it is the policy of MCI to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified employees who have protected disabilities to the extent required by applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances where an employee works.

MCI helps customers take on their CX and DX challenges differently, creating industry-leading solutions that deliver exceptional experiences and drive optimal performance. MCI assists companies with business process outsourcing, staff augmentation, contact center customer services, and IT Services needs by providing general and specialized hosting, software, staff, and services.

In 2019, Marlowe Companies Inc. (MCI) was named by Inc. Magazine as Iowa’s Fastest Growing Company in the State of Iowa and was named the 452nd Fastest Growing Privately Company in the USA, making the coveted top 500 for the first time. MCI’s subsidiaries had previously made Inc. Magazine's List of Fastest-Growing Companies 15 times, respectively. MCI has ten business process outsourcing service delivery facilities in Georgia, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, California, Kansas, Nova Scotia, South Africa, and the Philippines.

Driving modernization through digitalization, MCI ensures clients do more for less. MCI is the holding company for a diverse lineup of tech-enabled business services operating companies. MCI organically grows, acquires, and operates companies that have synergistic products and services portfolios, including but not limited to Automated Contact Center Solutions (ACCS), customer contact management, IT Services (IT Schedule 70), and Temporary and Administrative Professional Staffing (TAPS Schedule 736), Business Process Management (BPM), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Claims Processing, Collections, Customer Experience Provider (CXP), Customer Service, Digital Experience Provider (DXP), Account Receivables Management (ARM), Application Software Development, Managed Services, and Technology Services, to mid-market, Federal & enterprise partners. MCI now employs 10,000+ talented individuals with 150+ diverse North American client partners across the following MCI brands MCI BPO, MCI BPOaaS, MarketForce, GravisApps, Gravis Marketing, MarchEast, Mass Markets, MCI Federal Services (MFS), OnBrand24, The Sydney Call Center, Valor Intelligent Processing (VIP), BYC Aqua, EastWest BPO, TeleTechnology, and Vinculum.

The purpose of the above job description is to provide potential candidates with a general overview of the role. It's not an all-inclusive list of the duties, responsibilities, skills, and qualifications required for the job. You may be asked by your supervisors or managers to perform other duties. You will be evaluated in part based upon your performance of the tasks listed in this job description.

The employer has the right to revise this job description at any time. This job description is not a contract for employment, and either you or the employer may terminate employment at any time, for any reason.