Senior Backend Engineer – AI Platform

About the role

AI71 is looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to design and deliver the core architecture that powers EDGE Group’s AI transformation. You will be the technical anchor for the "Workstream 2: Build" program, creating secure, on‑premise micro‑services that enable large language models to interact safely with critical ERP and engineering data.

Key responsibilities

• Architect the orchestration layer (Agent of Agents) that coordinates specialized AI workers, handling state, routing, and error management.
• Design and implement API gateways and a Data Access Layer for secure connectivity to SAP S/4HANA, Ariba, and a central data lakehouse.
• Build scalable, containerized micro‑services that deliver low‑latency responses for real‑time market intelligence and design trade‑off analysis.
• Develop backend integrations with vector databases (e.g., Weaviate) and retrieval models for knowledge‑mining chatbots.
• Create robust connectors for external data feeds such as S&P Global and Orbis, managing rate limiting, caching, and normalization.
• Implement defense‑grade security services, including authentication, RBAC, and PII/ITAR redaction before data reaches LLMs.
• Engineer on‑premise, air‑gapped deployments optimized for local GPU clusters.
• Establish comprehensive logging, tracing, monitoring, and observability to meet national‑defense reliability standards.

Required profile

• Proven experience designing and delivering secure, high‑performance backend systems for enterprise or defense environments.
• Deep understanding of micro‑service architecture, containerization, and on‑premise deployment constraints.
• Strong background in integrating ERP systems (SAP, Ariba) and large‑scale data platforms.
• Ability to work within a structured Stage‑Gate delivery model and collaborate across multidisciplinary teams.

Required skills

• API gateway design and implementation
• Micro‑services development and containerization (Docker/Kubernetes)
• SAP S/4HANA and Ariba integration
• Data Lakehouse connectivity
• Vector databases (Weaviate) and retrieval models
• External API integration (e.g., S&P Global, Orbis)
• Authentication, Role‑Based Access Control (RBAC), PII/ITAR redaction
• On‑premise GPU‑cluster optimization
• Logging, tracing, monitoring, observability