Lead Python Developer

Our team is looking for a Lead Python Developer to guide technical strategy and contribute hands-on development within our pod, with an emphasis on backend AI services, LLM orchestration, and agentic experiences. In this position, you'll produce production-ready code, coach fellow engineers, and work across functions with Security, Data, and Infrastructure teams, while collaborating with product and engineering peers based in the US. The role combines embedded leadership with strong technical ownership, guaranteeing observability, reliability, and operational excellence throughout pod services.

Responsibilities

• Define technical direction for the pod and take ownership of architecture decisions within scope
• Produce production code (roughly 50%+ of your time) spanning backend AI services, LLM orchestration, and frontend integration
• Architect and develop Agentic Experiences (AX) featuring streaming, low-latency agent UIs
• Coach 3 Senior Engineers and 1 Data Engineer inside the pod
• Work daily alongside Security, Data, and Infrastructure teams
• Coordinate with product and engineering colleagues located in the US
• Lead design reviews and remove blockers from sprint deliverables
• Uphold observability, SLOs, and reliability benchmarks for pod services

Requirements

• 7+ years in software engineering with proven experience owning complex backend systems from start to finish
• 3+ years working with LLM-era AI/ML platforms like LangChain, LangGraph, or Bedrock in production environments; applicants with stronger pre-LLM ML experience (TensorFlow, scikit-learn) who have recently and clearly shifted toward generative AI will also be reviewed
• Expert-level Python skills for backend services and AI integration, used as the main language for all backend and AI tasks
• Practical expertise with LangChain, LangGraph, and LangSmith to orchestrate multi-step, multi-agent workflows along with evaluation/observability
• Demonstrated experience working with AWS, Docker, and microservices at production scale
• Proficiency with GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, and OpenTofu/Terraform
• Capability in secure coding practices, auth/authz awareness, and data governance as baseline standards
• Strong skills in API design, covering RESTful APIs and microservices
• English ability at B2 level or above

Nice to have

• Strong command of React and TypeScript with the ability to contribute to UI-layer code and review frontend work
• Awareness of MCP (Model Context Protocol) and emerging standards for agent interoperability
• Familiarity with AI evaluation tools like RAGAS or bespoke eval frameworks
• Experience designing and tuning RAG pipelines using vector databases (Amazon Kendra, OpenSearch)
• Knowledge of identity/security areas (IAM, CIAM) and managing unstructured data (images, videos) with prompt context handled via LangGraph State

We offer

• International projects with top brands
• Work with global teams of highly skilled, diverse peers
• Healthcare benefits
• Employee financial programs
• Paid time off and sick leave
• Upskilling, reskilling and certification courses
• Unlimited access to the LinkedIn Learning library and 22,000+ courses
• Global career opportunities
• Volunteer and community involvement opportunities
• EPAM Employee Groups
• Award-winning culture recognized by Glassdoor, Newsweek and LinkedIn