Lead Backend Engineer — Python and AI Platform

CodeTiburon is looking for a Lead Backend Engineer — Python & AI Platform to join our team and work closely with one of our long-term clients.
 

About the project

We are a deep-tech company building state-of-the-art LLM-based assistants augmented with knowledge graphs. Our platform combines large language models with structured knowledge systems to create accurate, reliable, and scalable AI assistants.

The project focuses on building the infrastructure and backend systems that power AI applications, including model inference, retrieval systems, knowledge graph integrations, evaluation pipelines, and multi-tenant SaaS capabilities.
 

We are looking for a hands-on Lead Backend Engineer — Python & AI Platform who can actively contribute to development while driving technical direction, architecture decisions, and engineering excellence.
 

Responsibilities:

* Architect and implement scalable backend services and multi-tenant SaaS systems

* Design, deploy, and operate distributed services in Kubernetes-based cloud environments

* Design and operate high-throughput data pipelines (batch and streaming)

* Build APIs and services integrating LLM inference, retrieval systems, and knowledge graphs

* Productionize research-grade AI systems into reliable distributed systems

* Lead technical design and architecture decisions across the platform

* Collaborate closely with engineers, AI researchers, and product stakeholders to define and deliver technical solutions

* Establish engineering best practices around architecture, testing, observability, reliability, and maintainability

* Take ownership of complex technical initiatives from concept through production deployment

* Contribute actively to implementation and remain hands-on with development
 

Requirements (Must Have):

* 7+ years of backend engineering experience

* Strong proficiency in Python and extensive experience building production-grade backend systems

* Strong experience with data pipelines and SaaS architectures

* Strong experience building distributed systems and cloud-native applications

* Strong hands-on experience with Kubernetes in production environments. Candidates should be comfortable deploying, operating, scaling, and troubleshooting distributed applications on Kubernetes and have practical experience with its core ecosystem (networking, storage, observability, autoscaling, and CI/CD integration)

* Proven experience architecting and delivering complex distributed systems in production

* Proven experience leading technical initiatives from architecture through production delivery

* Ability to independently define technical direction and drive execution in ambiguous environments

* Strong understanding of reliability, scalability, observability, and operational excellence

* Strong communication skills and ability to work effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders

* High spoken and written English
 

Nice to Have:

* Go and/or Scala experience

* Hands-on experience with LLM systems (RAG, model serving, evaluation)

* Experience with knowledge graphs, vector databases, or hybrid retrieval architectures

* Experience building AI infrastructure platforms

* Experience with event-driven architectures and large-scale distributed systems

* Experience with message brokers and streaming systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ, Pulsar, NATS, etc.)

* Experience designing retrieval, search, or recommendation systems

* Experience working in startup or early-stage product environments

* Experience with AWS, GCP, or Azure at scale
 

Ideal Candidate:

This role is for a hands-on engineering leader rather than a pure Senior Engineer.

You enjoy solving difficult technical problems, building scalable systems, and turning ambitious ideas into production-ready products. You are comfortable taking ownership and making architectural decisions.

If this sounds like you and your experience aligns with most of the qualifications above, we’d love to hear from you. Please send us your CV.

Thank you for your interest. Each application is carefully reviewed, and candidates whose experience and background best align with the role will be contacted regarding the next steps.