Senior Backend & AI Engineer – Newsroom Transformation #3137
The Mission
Join a global Newsroom Transformation team working at the intersection of backend engineering, AI, and modern journalism technology. You’ll build scalable backend services while helping integrate AI capabilities into news systems, including LLM orchestration, fine-tuning, RAG, and intelligent automation.
You’ll collaborate with engineering teams and global stakeholders across multiple regions, helping transform how AI and automation power the next generation of newsroom platforms.
The Role
- Backend Engineering: Build and maintain scalable services using Node.js, TypeScript, and Express.js within a distributed microservices environment.
- AI & LLM Integration: Develop AI-powered services using LangChain, prompt engineering, LLM orchestration, and model fine-tuning.
- RAG & NLP: Design and maintain Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) systems that ground AI outputs in trusted news content, with a strong understanding of embeddings and tokenization.
- Model Strategy: Work with models such as Google Gemini, OpenAI, and Anthropic, selecting the right model based on performance, capabilities, and cost.
- MLOps & Observability: Monitor AI and backend performance, including latency, throughput, errors, model quality, bias, toxicity, and concept drift.
- Distributed Systems: Build secure integrations across internal REST/gRPC APIs, third-party vendors, and microservices.
- DevOps & Infrastructure: Containerize services with Docker, manage CI/CD through CircleCI, and support infrastructure using Terraform.
- Global Collaboration: Work closely with distributed engineering teams and stakeholders, presenting technical solutions and contributing to a highly collaborative, asynchronous environment.
The "Must-Haves"
- Backend Engineering: 5+ years of professional backend development experience, ideally within distributed or microservices environments.
- Node.js / TypeScript: Strong hands-on expertise with Node.js, TypeScript, and Express.js.
- Python: Basic to intermediate Python experience for AI/ML development and model-related tasks.
- LangChain: Hands-on experience with LangChain is mandatory.
- AI / LLMs: Strong understanding of NLP, tokenization, embeddings, prompt engineering, LLM fine-tuning, and RAG architectures.
- Cloud & DevOps: Experience with Docker, CI/CD pipelines, and at least one major cloud provider — Google Cloud preferred, AWS acceptable.
- Microservices: Strong understanding of distributed and microservice architectures.
- Global Collaboration: Comfortable working asynchronously across multiple time zones and collaborating with international stakeholders.
The "Bonus" Skills
- Infrastructure as Code: Experience with Terraform.
- Legacy Technologies: Familiarity with PHP.
- Media & Publishing: Experience working in media, publishing, journalism, or newsroom technology.
- GTM Experience: Exposure to startup environments and Go-to-Market strategies.
- Advanced MLOps: Experience with model evaluation, validation, monitoring, and production AI/ML pipelines.
Personal Traits
- AI-Minded Engineer: Excited about applying LLMs and emerging AI technologies to real-world products and workflows.
- Backend Problem Solver: Enjoys building reliable, scalable services and solving complex distributed-system challenges.
- Pragmatic Technologist: Able to evaluate models, tools, and approaches based on technical requirements, quality, and cost.
- Strong Communicator: Comfortable presenting ideas, explaining technical decisions, and working with stakeholders across different regions.
- Self-Driven: Thrives in a remote, asynchronous environment and takes initiative without constant direction.
- Global Collaborator: Enjoys working across cultures, time zones, and engineering teams to deliver high-impact solutions.