Tech Lead, Backend & AI Platform

Tech Lead — Backend & AI Platform

Certus Recruitment is hiring for a growth-stage AI infrastructure company in Austin is looking for a Tech Lead to own the backend and AI platform — hands-on in code, hands-on with customers.

The opportunity

You'll architect and build the core of an agentic AI platform — multi-agent LangGraph workflows, document extraction pipelines, validation logic, and the infrastructure that keeps non-deterministic LLM outputs from corrupting downstream state.

This is not a manager role. You'll lead by example in code and design reviews, mentor engineers, and show up credibly in client conversations. If you're a strong IC who avoids customers, this isn't the right fit.

What you'll own

Backend & AI architecture — LangGraph agent graphs, worker orchestration, state management, checkpointing, and human-in-the-loop flows at production scale

Production Python — Writing and reviewing code across the core stack; expect meaningful PRs in your first weeks, not a quarter of ramp-up planning

AI reliability — Validation layers, graceful degradation, observability, and eval harnesses around LLM pipelines (LangSmith)

Mentorship — Guide engineers through ambiguous problems; make architectural calls with incomplete information rather than escalating every decision

Product & client partnership — Translate business requirements into technical trade-offs; participate in client meetings as a credible engineering voice

0-to-1 execution — Prioritize ruthlessly, kill scope that doesn't move outcomes, and ship iteratively in a pre-Series A environment

Tech stack

PythonLangChainLangGraphLangSmithPostgreSQLAWS / BedrockGCPPydanticRAGTypeScript

Hybrid schedule out of Austin, TX. Exceptional remote candidates will be considered. H1B transfer sponsorship available.