Lead AI Engineer

About the Position

We are seeking a Lead AI Engineer to build a central GenAI Platform, empowering hundreds of product teams across the organization with scalable capabilities for rapid development, validation, and deployment of AI agents.

In this role, you will drive the development of impactful AI agents, ensuring faster delivery and greater impact across multiple domains. You'll design and ship full-stack systems, shape platform capabilities, and lead by example through engineering craftsmanship.

This position is based in Lithuania, with relocation support available from EPAM.

This position offers hybrid setup with the flexibility to work from any location in Lithuania, whether it's your home or our dynamic offices in Vilnius and Kaunas.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement full-stack applications, AI agents, and platform components that enable rapid GenAI agent development, validation, and deployment
• Build developer tooling, CI/CD, and observability for safe, fast iteration (evals, canaries, rollout/rollback, cost and quality telemetry)
• Apply secure SDLC and privacy-by-design practices (threat modeling, least privilege)
• Collaborate with product, UX, and domain experts to deliver customer-focused solutions with measurable outcomes
• Apply current LLM patterns (e.g., RAG, retrieval, routing, tool-use, evaluation) to deliver measurable customer value-faster, more reliable AI systems; reduced time-to-decision; improved trust/safety metrics; and lower cost per query
• Lead by example through writing high-quality, maintainable code

Requirements

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience with Python, TypeScript, and AWS/Azure/GCP
• 1+ years of leadership experience
• Strong full-stack development skills in backend (Python, FastAPI, TypeScript) and frontend (TypeScript, Streamlit, Gradio)
• Proficiency in cloud platforms, CI/CD, and Infrastructure as Code
• Expertise in at least one of: AI Agent development and evaluation (LLM platforms, APIs, and frameworks such as LangChain), advanced AI integration patterns (e.g., RAG, Agents), or Site Reliability Engineering, quality engineering, and secure SDLC
• Proven track record delivering secure, scalable, cloud-native, and AI-driven systems
• Background in deploying and evaluating AI solutions at scale
• Familiarity with vector databases (e.g., Qdrant, FAISS, Chroma)
• Capability to assess generative AI quality using retrieval, classification, and LLM-based evaluation metrics
• Strong problem-solving, ownership, and cross-functional communication skills
• English proficiency at B2 level or higher

Nice to Have

• Background in A/B testing, experiment design, and model iteration
• Knowledge of retrieval systems and ranking algorithms
• Familiarity with emerging AI protocols (MCP, A2A, ACP)
• Expertise in cloud/on-prem AI platforms and enterprise AI solutions
• Skills in observability and monitoring tools

Technologies

• Python, TypeScript, PyTorch, Hugging Face, LangChain
• Vector databases (Qdrant, FAISS, Chroma)
• LLM APIs (Azure OpenAI, AWS Bedrock)

We Offer

• Global Community of Experts: Learn from and collaborate with top professionals across 55+ countries.
• Advanced Tech Stack: Work on innovative projects and apply or enhance your expertise in Cloud, Data, AI, and other emerging technologies.
• Industry Leadership: Join the company recognized globally as a leader in Life Sciences and technology, with 12 of the top 15 Life Science companies relying on us.
• World-Class Clients: Make an impact for 340+ Forbes Global 2000 companies, including the world’s 10 top Pharma, Life Science, and MedTech clients.
• Professional Growth: In-house training, mentorship, and resources to help you become a highly valued T-shaped professional, combining deep LSHC expertise with diverse tech skills.
• Hybrid Setup: Enjoy the flexibility to work from anywhere in Lithuania, whether at home or in our dynamic offices in Vilnius and Kaunas.

Other employee benefits

• Private health insurance, including well-being and psychological support
• Participation in the Employee Stock Purchase Plan with a 15% discount
• Access to external educational platforms, including LinkedIn Learning and Udemy
• Employee referral program with bonuses for successful hires
• PERKS discount platform and other exclusive EPAM offers
• Corporate SIM card with unlimited calls and internet

About the Company

EPAM is a leading global provider of digital platform engineering and development services. For over 30 years, our team has helped leading brands navigate the waves of digital transformation, building solutions that help them stay competitive through constant market disruption. With offices in 55+ countries, EPAM has grown in Lithuania to over 1,300+ talented innovators in just 5 years. We foster creativity and unconventional ways of doing things, welcoming like-minded professionals to join us.

Salary

• Salary range: €4.8K-€6.7K gross, based on your experience and interview results.