Senior AI Data Engineer (RAG / Retrieval / Python)

About the Position

We are seeking a Senior AI Data Engineer (RAG / Retrieval / Python) to join our team. You will be responsible for building and maintaining production AI data pipelines and retrieval-driven workflows for a funded AI/data platform. Your role will involve owning the data engineering layer that powers RAG and LLM-integrated features at scale.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain data ingestion pipelines for structured and unstructured external data
• Design and support retrieval pipelines for AI/LLM workflows - chunking, embedding, indexing, metadata enrichment
• Develop Python backend services (FastAPI) that expose data to the broader platform
• Own data flows across Postgres, object storage, vector search, and related stores
• Improve platform reliability and retrieval performance as data volume grows
• Collaborate closely with software engineers and AI teammates to evolve the system

Requirements

• 5+ years of commercial software/data engineering experience
• Strong commercial experience with Python
• Hands-on experience building data pipelines and ingestion workflows
• Hands-on experience with AI/LLM retrieval systems - RAG pipelines, vector search, embedding-based retrieval, or document ingestion / chunking / indexing workflows
• Experience building or maintaining FastAPI or similar Python backend services
• Experience with AWS data/cloud infrastructure
• Experience with unstructured or semi-structured data
• Strong SQL and practical data modeling skills
• Ability to work independently in ambiguous product environments
• Strong written and spoken English - all technical documentation and client reviews are in English

Nice to Have

• Production experience with vector databases such as Pinecone, pgvector, Qdrant, Weaviate, OpenSearch vector search, or FAISS
• Experience with graph databases or connected-data modeling - Neo4j, Amazon Neptune
• Experience with scraping-heavy or connector-heavy ingestion systems
• Experience with LangChain, LangGraph, Haystack, LlamaIndex, or similar orchestration frameworks
• Experience with Terraform
• Experience supporting retrieval quality, latency, and production reliability
• Experience with reranking, hybrid retrieval, or evaluation of retrieval quality
• Experience with AI agent workflows or tool-calling systems
• Experience with data governance, permissions, or enterprise knowledge access

We Offer

• Direct client access - work straight with technical decision-makers, no PM or agency layer in between
• Long-term engagements with well-funded SaaS and regulated-enterprise clients
• Senior-only environment - every peer has 5+ years and a track record we've vetted
• Real production AI work on modern stacks - not legacy maintenance or POC theater
• Fully remote, flexible hours, B2B contractor model with transparent rates
• Growth path into tech-lead and architect roles on multi-year client engagements

About the Company

Insoftex is a company that specializes in AI and data engineering, with offices in Tallinn, Estonia, and Austin, Texas. We work with clients across various industries, including FinTech, Healthcare, and Energy, providing tailored AI solutions and data engineering services.