Lead Java Engineer with AI tools (Relocation to Qatar)

We are seeking a Lead Java Engineer with AI tools to join our team, with eventual relocation to Qatar. EPAM is renowned for delivering cutting-edge technological solutions to transform businesses worldwide.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to pragmatic AI architectures such as RAG, agents, copilots, and automation integrated into cloud-native microservices and enterprise data platforms
• Support decisions on when to apply RAG, agents, or conventional approaches
• Implement and apply spec-driven development specs and templates, and support governance and quality gates
• Build and maintain agentic use cases, run and write agents, and implement guardrails defined by the program
• Deliver production solutions including LLM integrations, retrieval, and embeddings or vector stores embedded into Java and Spring Boot services
• Implement observability, rollout and versioning, and CI/CD for prompts, specs, and models
• Deploy and operate solutions on AKS and Azure hosting with guidance from platform and SRE teams
• Contribute to tracking adoption, productivity, quality, and risk KPIs for AI-enabled delivery
• Participate in playbooks, training, documentation, and team mentoring, and share patterns across squads
• Implement responsible AI controls, data handling constraints, and agent guardrails in line with engineering standards

Requirements

• 5+ years of hands-on development experience in Core Java, Spring/Spring Boot, and microservices
• Understanding of cloud-native architecture, Oracle/PL/SQL database concepts, and Kafka
• Experience with GitLab
• 1–2+ years of hands-on delivery experience with LLMs, RAG, and agentic systems in production or strong pilot/enterprise PoC settings
• Understanding of AI concepts, particularly spec-driven development, along with working knowledge of running and writing agents and implementing guardrails
• Experience with LLM providers and/or self-hosted models, prompt engineering, and an evaluation/testing mindset
• Experience with Azure, including AKS and/or Azure Web Apps, and CI/CD with GitLab (Azure DevOps is a plus)
• Strong communication skills and ability to work in a global team
• Practical experience applying spec-driven ways of working in a team setting
• Hands-on experience building and integrating agentic and/or RAG capabilities into real engineering workflows
• Ability to balance cost, productivity, quality, and risk when implementing LLM/agentic solutions
• Production mindset covering testing, observability, safe rollout, and secure-by-design implementation
• English proficiency at B2 level or higher

Nice to have

• Familiarity with React

Benefits

• Private healthcare and life insurance
• End of service gratuity
• Annual air travel tickets for expatriates
• Corporate Programs including Employee Referral Program with rewards
• Learning and development opportunities including in-house training and coaching, professional certifications, and courses

*All benefits and perks are subject to certain eligibility requirements