Staff AI/ML Full Stack Engineer Lead
Normal, IL (Hybrid--2 days)
Duration:
initial 12-month contract
Pay:$70-75/hr
We are looking for a Staff AI/ML full Stack Engineer Lead to drive the architecture, design, and delivery of enterprise-scale, high-performance applications. This role blends deep hands-on engineering with strategic architectural leadership.
Key Responsibilities
Architecture & Technical Leadership
- Define system architecture, integration patterns, and engineering standards for large-scale applications
- Design end-to-end AI/ML systems, from data ingestion through model deployment
- Establish best practices for scalable, distributed, and maintainable systems
Full-Stack Engineering
- Develop and maintain modern applications using frameworks such as React, Vue, Angular, or Streamlit
- Build backend services using Python, Golang, or Rust
- Design and implement robust APIs (REST and GraphQL) for internal and external integrations
Cloud & Infrastructure
- Architect and deploy cloud-native solutions using AWS and Databricks
- Build and manage containerized environments using Docker and Kubernetes
- Lead infrastructure design with a focus on scalability, security, and performance
DevOps & MLOps
- Implement CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Terraform, Pulumi)
- Design and manage MLOps frameworks, including model monitoring, retraining, and lifecycle management
- Develop agentic AI pipelines and enable collaborative model development workflows
AI/ML System Development
- Design and deploy traditional ML, deep learning, and LLM-based applications
- Build RAG pipelines, embedding workflows, and integrate vector databases
- Define best practices for model serving, data pipelines, and production AI systems
Data & Database Engineering
- Lead database selection, design, and deployment strategies
- Ensure efficient, scalable, and secure data architectures
Performance & Optimization
- Drive system performance improvements, including load balancing and optimization strategies
Collaboration & Mentorship
- Mentor engineers and conduct design/code reviews
- Partner with cross-functional teams to deliver business-aligned solutions
Qualifications
Required
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field
- 10+ years of experience delivering enterprise-grade, cloud-based solutions
- 5+ years of hands-on experience in software development and cloud-based MLOps
- Proven experience with AWS and Databricks for AI/ML deployments
- Strong software engineering skills in Python, with experience in APIs, microservices, and distributed systems
- Experience building and deploying end-to-end AI/ML systems, including traditional ML and RAG-based applications
- Expertise in LLMs, embeddings, and modern AI frameworks
- Hands-on experience with Docker and Kubernetes
- Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and production-grade model monitoring
- Experience designing scalable data pipelines and distributed architectures
- Ability to architect reusable AI/ML pipelines and frameworks for team-wide adoption
Preferred
- Experience with event-driven architectures and messaging systems (e.g., Kafka, NATS, RabbitMQ)
- Familiarity with authentication and authorization frameworks (OAuth2, JWT, SSO)
- Experience with observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry)
- Background in building large-scale enterprise or SaaS platforms
- Proficiency in Golang and/or Rust
- Experience in manufacturing, predictive maintenance, or industrial systems
- Background in controls engineering
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