Senior Software Engineer, AI & Backend

Job Description

Join Our Mission

Nexleaf Analytics is at the forefront of technological innovation, committed to safeguarding public health in low- and middle-income countries. Our cutting-edge solutions, including remote-temperature monitoring for vaccine cold-chain equipment, are operational in over 25 countries, fundamentally supporting vital health infrastructure.

Nexleaf is continuously looking to expand its impact. Data on the performance and utilization of medical equipment is becoming increasingly available, but countries are struggling to integrate and apply this data for action. Nexleaf envisions a ‘Connected Clinic’ – a transformative concept aimed at fostering transparency, accountability, and enhanced health outcomes through the strategic use of data. We believe this approach will shape health services in a way that prioritizes local needs and sustainability, moving beyond donor-driven models to ones that truly resonate with the communities we serve.

Your Role

As a Senior Software Engineer, AI & Backend at Nexleaf, you’ll play a key role in designing and scaling our cloud-based data platform. This service collects and analyzes data gathered from the hardest to reach places on Earth and connects to tens of thousands of IoT/M2M devices across the globe.  These data and services are accessed by users spanning Ministries of Health, global agencies, partner NGOs, and those working in remote, low connectivity environments. You will be responsible for architecting, optimizing, and maintaining backend services that power AI-driven insights and decision-making tools for Ministries of Health, global agencies, and partner NGOs.

Success in this role requires hands-on experience integrating LLMs and AI-driven solutions into production systems. We’re looking for someone who has built, deployed, and optimized AI/ML-powered applications—such as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, multi-agent systems, or intelligent data processing workflows—while ensuring they deliver measurable impact. Candidates who have led end-to-end AI implementations, from designing system architecture to supporting the evaluation of business outcomes, will be especially well-suited. You will work closely with product managers, data scientists, and other engineers to ensure our AI-powered tools are scalable, effective, and aligned with the needs of the public health sector.

Reporting to the Engineering Director, your responsibilities include:

1. Facilitate Technical Decision Making: Evaluate design and architecture decisions for scale, identify potential issues, trade-offs, risks, and the appropriate level of abstraction.
2. Drive Execution and Strategy: Own large portions/modules of the system, improve them, and be the go-to technical expert. Balance execution with strategic objectives.
3. AI Integration & Scalable System Design: Architect and implement AI-driven solutions, such as LLM-powered features, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, or intelligent data processing frameworks. Ensure AI models and services are integrated effectively within the backend system.
4. System Optimization & Reliability: Design and build for reliability and scale. Find opportunities to enhance efficiency, optimize performance, and improve the accuracy of AI-powered workflows.
5. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with product managers, data scientists, and other engineers to refine AI-powered solutions, balancing technical feasibility, user impact, and business priorities, with a focus on swift iteration and execution.
6. Code Review & Standards Enhancement: Conduct comprehensive code reviews and guide the team in improving engineering standards, tooling, and processes. Promote best practices for AI/ML integration in backend systems.
7. Mentorship and Guidance: Act as a trusted mentor and technical guide for the team, coaching and empowering teammates to enhance their performance, particularly in AI-driven development.

Requirements:

1. Education & Experience: BS/MS in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent work experience.
2. Backend Development Skills: 5+ years of experience with Python (or equivalent languages) in backend software engineering, with experience in designing and maintaining scalable web services.
3. Framework Experience: Experience with modern backend frameworks (Django, Laravel, Flask, etc.), with preference to Djano experience.
4. AI & LLM Expertise: Strong experience integrating LLMs into production systems, including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), embeddings, and fine-tuning.
5. AI Model Orchestration: Familiarity with AI model orchestration, multi-agent frameworks, or chaining AI workflows (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex, OpenAI Function Calling).
6. Database & System Design: Experience designing and managing data systems, including vector databases and search/retrieval architectures for AI-powered applications.
7. Production-Ready AI: Proven experience shipping AI-powered applications into production, optimizing, and ensuring reliability at scale.
8. Cloud & Infrastructure: Experience deploying and maintaining AI-powered applications in cloud environments (AWS or GCP preferred).

Why Join Us?

This role offers a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of technological advancements in the health sector, directly contributing to improved health outcomes in underserved communities. You will join a passionate team, driven by a shared mission to make a tangible difference in the world. 

Remote/Time Zone Considerations

This is a fully remote role, with a preference for candidates based in the timezones from U.S. Eastern Time Zone through East Africa (UTC-5 to UTC+3) to align with our primary engineering and product team workflows. Some flexibility in working hours is needed to ensure collaboration across time zones.

Employment Type: Full-Time Employee (FTE) or Independent Contractor

We are open to hiring this role as either a full-time employee or an independent contractor, depending on the candidate’s location, work authorization, and the most appropriate structure for both parties. We are happy to discuss the best arrangement during the hiring process.

Please note, that due to the high volume of applications, our application window will close on April 2, 2025. We encourage you to apply before the deadline to ensure your application is considered.

Compensation

The salary determined by location / local benchmarking process - in the US the range for this position would be $125,000 - $142,000, with adjustments based on experience and location.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision plans
• 14 Public Holidays
• Bonus Days for All Holidays
• 1 Week Summer Break
• 1 Week Winter Break
• 15 Vacation Days
• 15 Pet Inclusive Sick Days
• 401(k) match
• Paid parental leave
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance