We are seeking a highly experienced Lead Software Engineer – AI Systems, Architecture & Developer Experience to provide technical leadership across software architecture, AI integration, backend engineering, and developer productivity.
The ideal candidate will have strong hands-on experience building large-scale distributed systems, cloud-native applications, microservices, APIs, and AI/LLM-powered solutions, along with demonstrated technical leadership and mentoring experience.
Key Responsibilities
Technical Architecture & AI Integration
Design and orchestrate multi-agent workflows and stateful AI systems using frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen, or CrewAI.
Integrate foundation models including Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT, and Google Gemini through secure API gateways.
Manage LLM token limits, costs, rate limiting, security, and reliability.
Architect AI-native data models integrating relational databases with vector databases for semantic search and RAG.
Implement white-box testing and continuous evaluation metrics to assess AI outputs for factual correctness, hallucinations, and safety compliance.
Champion secure, reliable, scalable, and maintainable software solutions.
Technical Leadership & Engineering Excellence
Mentor engineering teams and establish engineering standards, best practices, and architectural governance.
Promote secure coding, CI/CD, cloud-native deployment, and modern engineering practices.
Drive AI-assisted engineering velocity by integrating development tools such as Cursor, Claude Code, and Windsurf into the SDLC.
Establish governance policies for responsible AI usage, including data sensitivity, licensing compliance, and security guardrails.
Evaluate existing systems, services, APIs, and data models for modernization, scalability, and performance opportunities.
Architecture & Cross-Team Collaboration
Facilitate technical discussions with Product Owners, Technical Leads, Architects, and Engineering Managers.
Drive conversations around architecture, technical debt, engineering health, AI adoption, and continuous improvement.
Mentor engineers and technical leaders in system design, software architecture, and engineering excellence.
Lead architecture reviews, RFCs, and technical design discussions.
Promote self-service engineering capabilities and platform enablement.
Drive automation initiatives that improve developer productivity and software quality.
Required Technical Skills
Backend & Software Engineering
Deep proficiency in backend development, particularly Java.
Strong experience with microservices architecture and API design.
Proven experience designing and delivering large-scale distributed systems.
Strong understanding of software architecture and modern engineering practices.
Cloud & DevOps
Extensive experience with Docker and Kubernetes.
Strong experience with public cloud infrastructure, particularly AWS.
Experience with cloud-native application development and deployment.
AI & LLM Infrastructure
Hands-on experience developing and deploying production-grade AI agents.
Strong knowledge of prompt engineering and advanced agentic development lifecycle (PDLC) patterns.
Experience with vector databases/technologies such as Pinecone, Milvus, Chroma, or pgvector.
Experience building LLM-powered applications, Generative AI solutions, intelligent automation, or AI agent platforms.
Strong familiarity with AI coding assistants and developer productivity tools.
Understanding of Model Context Protocol (MCP) and its use in connecting AI agents with external systems and databases.
Leadership & Professional Experience
8+ years of professional software engineering experience.
2+ years of experience in a technical leadership role.
Proven ability to influence multiple engineering teams and lead organization-wide technical initiatives.
Experience establishing technical governance and engineering standards.
Strong mentoring and team leadership experience.
Strong communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
Knowledge of application security, security architecture, and cloud security best practices.
Education
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field with 10+ years of experience, OR
Master's degree with 8+ years of experience.
Important Candidate Requirements
Strong backend/software engineering experience is required.
Candidates with predominantly front-end experience and limited backend experience will not qualify.
Current location of residence must be clearly listed on the resume.
Candidates should currently reside in the Chicago or Peoria, IL local area.
Candidates who are open to relocating at their own expense must clearly state their relocation plans/commitment on the resume.
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