Senior AI Engineer

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior AI Engineer based in Canada.

In this role, you will design and deliver production-grade AI systems that sit at the core of a fast-evolving product ecosystem. You will work across backend engineering and applied machine learning, building scalable architectures that integrate large language models, traditional ML models, and agent-based workflows. The position requires strong ownership of end-to-end systems, from API design to AI inference optimization and background processing pipelines. You will contribute to a Python-based backend environment focused on performance, reliability, and maintainability. Working closely with product and engineering teams, you will help shape how AI capabilities are embedded into real-world user experiences. This is a hands-on, high-impact role where engineering quality directly influences product competitiveness and scalability.

• Design, build, and deploy production-grade AI-powered backend systems using Python-based frameworks and modern backend architectures
• Integrate large language models, traditional ML models, and agentic systems into scalable and performant applications
• Develop and optimize retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines using vector databases and hybrid AI/ML approaches
• Build and maintain high-performance backend services using FastAPI or similar frameworks, with strong focus on scalability and reliability
• Design and manage background processing workflows using tools such as Celery, ensuring efficiency and fault tolerance
• Optimize system performance across AI inference, API latency, and multi-threaded or parallel processing workloads
• Collaborate with product, backend, and frontend teams to deliver cohesive end-to-end AI-driven features
• Debug and resolve complex issues across backend systems, AI models, and user-facing integrations

Requirements:

• 3–5+ years of professional backend engineering experience using Python, FastAPI or Flask, and production-grade systems
• Proven experience deploying and maintaining Python applications in production environments (not experimental or academic-only work)
• Strong understanding of backend system design, software architecture patterns, and performance optimization techniques
• Hands-on experience integrating and working with LLMs, including prompt engineering and context optimization strategies
• Applied machine learning experience, including training, evaluating, and maintaining task-specific models
• Strong experience with background job processing systems such as Celery or equivalent tools
• Solid debugging skills across AI systems, backend services, and distributed architectures
• Strong testing discipline, ensuring reliability for both backend services and AI components
• Familiarity with monitoring, logging, and observability for APIs and background processing systems
• Nice to have: experience with Docker, CI/CD pipelines, and Kubernetes

Benefits:

• Competitive compensation aligned with experience and market standards
• Fully remote work environment within Canada
• High-impact role with direct influence on AI product strategy and architecture
• Opportunity to work on cutting-edge AI systems including LLMs and agent-based workflows
• Small, agile team environment with high autonomy and ownership
• Strong engineering culture focused on production quality and continuous improvement
• Opportunity to shape AI best practices and system design from the ground up
• Exposure to real-world AI applications at scale