Role context:
This position is for a client with an internal AI department developing scalable applications on top of proprietary AI models, with strong focus on engineering quality and real-world impact.
* Majority of the stack is Python, with some React for web UI (new hires will focus on backend).
* Team of 23 engineers in Portugal (Lisbon & Porto), ~20 globally (UK & Paris).
* Use cases include scaling global user base from 64k → 200k+.
Key responsibilities:
* Develop scalable backend applications leveraging proprietary AI models.
* Build and maintain APIs and services handling large-scale synchronous workloads.
* Optimize code, data structures and memory usage for performance.
* Collaborate with engineering teams across Portugal, UK and Paris.
* Contribute to production-ready AI applications used daily by thousands of users.
Requirements:
* Strong Python engineering skills (beyond scripting).
* Experience with APIs, concurrency, scalable architectures and data pipelines.
* Solid understanding of software engineering principles (architecture, clean code, performance).
* Interest in AI infrastructure and applied AI use cases.
What we're NOT looking for:
* Pure data science / research backgrounds.
* Jupyter notebook–style coding.
* Experience limited to banking/finance environments.