Lead AI Full Stack Developer

We are seeking a Lead AI Full Stack Developer to serve as technical anchor and people leader for a high-performing AI teams.

This role combines deep technical contribution with hands-on leadership — setting technical direction, establishing engineering standards, mentoring developers, and personally driving the most complex aspects of AI SDLC and building complex Gen AI solutions. The ideal candidate brings a rigorous Computer Science foundation, mastery-level programming, proven LLM expertise, and command of AI-augmented development practices at scale.

Responsibilities

• Define the technical direction, architecture and engineering standards for AI-enabled SDLC in collaboration with the Solution Architect and CTO
• Lead the design and implementation of AI systems including RAG pipelines, multi-agent platforms and full-stack AI applications
• Contribute hands-on to development by building complex components and conducting code reviews
• Evaluate and select technologies, frameworks, models and cloud services with a focus on reliability, security and cost efficiency
• Establish and enforce coding, testing, documentation and AI tool usage standards across the engineering team
• Mentor and support AI Full Stack Developers through feedback, guidance and career development
• Drive project planning, technical estimation and risk management
• Communicate technical solutions and trade-offs clearly to stakeholders

Requirements

• 8+ years of software development experience including 2+ years in a leadership role
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related field; Master’s or PhD is a strong advantage
• Strong foundation in computer science fundamentals such as data structures, algorithms, distributed systems and system design
• Proficiency in at least one primary programming language (Python preferred) such as Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, Java, C# or Go
• Experience with software architecture and design principles including microservices, event-driven architecture, CQRS, SOLID and domain-driven design
• Experience designing APIs (REST, GraphQL, gRPC) and building full-stack applications
• Experience with relational, non-relational and vector databases
• Hands-on experience with AI systems including RAG architectures, LLM frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex) and agent-based platforms
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure or GCP), Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD and infrastructure as code
• Self-starter with ability to drive initiatives independently and elevate team performance

Nice to have

• Experience with LLM fine-tuning and open-source ecosystems (Hugging Face, vLLM, Ollama)
• Familiarity with LLM evaluation and observability tools (RAGAS, LangSmith, Weights & Biases)
• Experience with event-driven systems, Kafka, RabbitMQ or graph databases
• Exposure to multimodal AI applications (vision, audio, document processing)
• Open-source contributions, SDK/platform development or familiarity with AI governance frameworks

Benefits

• Opportunity to Engineer your Future and to drive the world’s digital transformation with top industry clients
• Personal development program that will allow you to be valued for your strengths
• Wide range of professional trainings and workshops
• Being part of a collaborative, fast-growing, and innovative design team
• Established and accelerated growth toward different career paths, competencies, and roles
• Broad projects variety and possible mobility between projects over the time
• Collaboration in a multicultural environment and exchange of best practices with colleagues around the world
• Varied social benefits, Sports, Transportation and Health programs
• Work-life balance and flexible schedule, team buildings and sport opportunities
• Modern office/collaboration spaces (incl. new Infinity Tower business center, Sofia)
• Hybrid By Design - we provide you with the best productivity options from the 2 worlds. Meet, socialize and enjoy F2F time with your colleagues, while working from the modern EPAM's office for a few days per week and benefit from the EPAM's virtual working environment - making you able to be productive and work from remote for the rest of the week