Backend Engineer, AI

About the Job: As a Backend Engineer on LaunchDarkly’s AI Configs team, you'll build critical systems such as the web application that customers interact with on a daily basis and distributed systems that power AI evaluations at scale. These systems enable customers to control, monitor, and optimize their GenAI functionality. You’ll primarily work in Go and Python, and will work directly with other technologies and tools such as AWS, CockroachDB, and Datadog. LaunchDarkly’s AI Configs team is on a mission to manage the complete software development lifecycle for GenAI features, from configuring to benchmarking to observing and beyond. This team has a huge opportunity ahead of it; we're growing fast and we need your help writing the next chapter in our story. Responsibilities: Build and maintain scalable backend services and APIs that power the AI Configs product Collaborate with internal stakeholders, including product managers, designers, and other LaunchDarkly engineering teams, to understand real-world challenges and improve GenAI workflows using our own platform. Continuously optimize the performance, reliability, and scalability of backend systems Participate in architecture and design discussions, offering thoughtful input and collaborating with senior engineers to identify tradeoffs and make well-informed decisions Keep up-to-date with the latest developments in the AI field and in software development best practices Take ownership of code in production, participate in on-call rotations, and help improve the reliability and maintainability of our systems over time. Qualifications: 2-4 years of experience with server-side programming languages (e.g. in Java / Scala, Ruby, Python, Golang) Willingness to work 2 days per week in our Oakland, CA office for mentorship and learning purposes. Hands-on experience building GenAI features or working with Large Language Models (LLMs), either through direct model integration or leveraging AI APIs like OpenAI, Google Cloud AI, or AWS Bedrock. Understanding of prompt engineering, fine-tuning models, or deploying AI services in production environments. Experience with designing, implementing, and maintaining RESTful APIs Experience writing production-ready code with emphasis on quality and maintainability Experience with distributed systems or data ingestion Strong computer science fundamentals Committed to working in a communicative, collaborative environment Comfortable navigating ambiguous challenges in a rapidly evolving domain, and excited about staying at the forefront of AI advancements Strong sense of ownership and accountability for delivering impactful solutions Proven ability to work closely with Product and Design teams to define requirements for new features in a fast-paced iterative environment Pay: Target pay ranges based on Geographic Zones* for Level 2: Zone 1: San Francisco/Bay Area or NYC Metropolitan Area, Boston, Seattle - $136,500 - $187,660** Zone 2: Irvine, LA, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa, Austin, Portland, Philadelphia, Chicago - $122,800 - $168,850** Zone 3: All other US locations - $116,000 - $159,500** LaunchDarkly operates from a place of high trust and transparency; we are happy to state the pay range for our open roles to best align with your needs. Exact compensation may vary based on skills, experience, and location. *Within the United States, our geographic pay zones are defined by counties surrounding major metropolitan areas. **Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), health, vision, and dental insurance, and mental health benefits in addition to salary. About LaunchDarkly: Modern software delivery was supposed to be the foundation for a thriving digital business but reality has proven otherwise. Slow, inefficient development cycles, costly outages, and fragmented customer experiences are preventing developers from building their best software. The LaunchDarkly platform helps developers innovate on new features fa ... (truncated, view full listing at source)