AI Backend Engineer

About JuiceLabsWhere creative engineering meets applied AIAt JuiceLabs, we're building vertical AI-native tools that unlock fresh insights and creative superpowers for our clients in advertising, ecommerce, and beyond. We're a nimble team of founders and builders obsessed with using AI to solve real-world problems in novel ways.The OpportunityThis isn't your typical senior engineering role.As a Senior Backend Engineer at JuiceLabs, you'll be a technical leader and hands-on builder rolled into one. You'll architect and build new products from zero to one, mentor engineers, and help define our technical culture—all while working directly with our co-founders on our most strategic initiatives.You'll have genuine ownership: designing scalable distributed systems, establishing engineering best practices, leading technical decisions, and pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI. You'll also guide and grow other engineers, helping them level up while shipping production code yourself.We're looking for someone who brings both deep technical expertise and leadership maturity. If you're the kind of engineer who can architect a complex system in the morning, review code and mentor a teammate at lunch, and prototype a breakthrough AI feature in the afternoon—this role was made for you.What You'll DoTechnical LeadershipArchitect and own critical backend systems and infrastructure decisions across our product suiteDefine engineering standards, code quality practices, and technical roadmapsLead technical design reviews and help the team make sound architectural choicesIdentify technical debt, performance bottlenecks, and opportunities for improvement across the stackHands-On EngineeringBuild core infrastructure in Python (FastAPI, GCP/AWS, Postgres) with a focus on scalability, reliability, and developer experienceDesign and implement complex AI-powered features—from insights to multimodal generation systemsOwn critical projects end-to-end: from architecture to deployment, monitoring, and continuous iterationAI Innovation & ExperimentationPush the envelope with GenAI: experiment with cutting-edge LLMs, agents, and multimodal modelsBuild intelligent systems that go beyond simple API calls—think multi-step reasoning, tool use, and agentic workflowsEvaluate and integrate new AI tools and frameworks as they emergeTeam DevelopmentMentor engineers (2-3 people initially) through code reviews, pair programming, and technical guidanceHelp build and scale the engineering team: contribute to hiring, onboarding, and culture-buildingFoster a culture of ownership, curiosity, and technical excellenceStrategic PartnershipWork directly with co-founders to shape product strategy and technical visionBridge the gap between wild ideas and production reality—help turn moonshots into concrete technical plansRepresent engineering perspectives in product and business discussionsWhat We're Looking ForCore Technical Skills6+ years of backend engineering experience, with deep expertise in Python and modern web frameworksStrong systems design experience: you've built and scaled distributed systems in productionMastery of cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP), databases (SQL and NoSQL), caching, queuing, and observabilityExpert understanding of API design, testing strategies, CI/CD pipelines, and deployment best practicesYou write code that others want to read—clean, documented, maintainable, and testableAI & ML ExperienceHands-on experience building with LLMs and prompt engineeringBonus: experience with model fine-tuning, running local models, or MLOps practicesYou stay current with the AI landscape and have opinions on what works (and what doesn't)Leadership QualitiesExcellent communicator who can explain complex technical concepts to both engineers and non-technical stakeholdersExperience leading technical initiatives from concept to completionComfortable making technical decisions with incomplete information and balancing trade-offsYou know when to build for scale and when to ship an MVPStartup DNAHigh ownership and accountability—you see projects through and unblock yourselfComfortable with ambiguity and rapid iteration; you thrive in 0-to-1 environmentsProduct-minded engineer: you think about user impact and business value, not just technical elegancePragmatic problem solver who balances perfectionism with shipping velocityExcited about wearing multiple hats and figuring things out as you goWhy JuiceLabs?Technical Leadership Opportunity: Help shape our engineering culture and technical direction from an early stage—your influence will compound as we grow.Impact & Influence: Work directly with founders on strategic decisions. Your ideas will shape products used by real customers.AI at the Frontier: Build with the latest AI technology in a production environment. Experiment, learn, and push boundaries daily.Mentorship & Growth: Help build and develop a world-class engineering team while continuing to grow your own technical and leadership skills.Real Problems, Creative Solutions: Tackle meaningful challenges in ecommerce, consumer insights, and creative technology—not toy problems.Ownership Culture: We value builders and leaders, not order-takers. If you want genuine autonomy and responsibility, you'll thrive here.Competitive Compensation: Senior-level salary, meaningful equity, and benefits that reflect your experience and impact.To ApplyWe'd love to hear from you. Send your resume, GitHub profile, LinkedIn, or portfolio to join@juicelabs.aiFeel free to apply directly on this job posting as well.Experience: 6+ yearsLocation: BangaloreReports to: Cofounders