Staff AI and ML Full Stack Engineer Lead

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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