AI/LLM Backend Engineer

Introduction

We are seeking an experienced AI/LLM Backend Engineer to join an existing mobile application project currently in active development. Our existing team is building the application and core product architecture. This role is for a dedicated AI specialist responsible for the AI/LLM integration layer and supporting backend architecture, focusing on production-ready systems rather than general mobile development or prompt writing.

The initial goal is to build a lean and reliable MVP AI architecture using external AI services, designed for flexibility and future expansion. This is a freelance opportunity with potential for long-term collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement the AI/LLM backend integration layer.
• Integrate external LLM APIs.
• Build secure server-side communication with AI providers.
• Implement structured AI inputs and outputs.
• Implement tool/function calling where required.
• Design conversational context and memory.
• Validate and process AI responses before they reach application logic.
• Implement retries, timeouts, error handling, and fallback behavior.
• Protect API credentials and sensitive backend logic.
• Implement logging, monitoring, and usage controls.
• Optimize token usage, latency, and API costs.
• Design the system for future scaling and additional AI providers.
• Work closely with our existing developer and integrate into the current application architecture.

Requirements

• Real experience building production AI/LLM systems.
• Strong experience with Python and backend development.
• LLM API integrations.
• OpenAI or comparable AI platforms.
• Structured outputs / JSON schemas.
• Tool / function calling.
• Conversational AI and context management.
• API and backend security.
• Databases and caching.
• Docker / cloud environments.
• Error handling and fallback architecture.
• AI cost and latency optimization.

Nice to Have

• Experience with MCP (Multi-Cloud Platform), multiple LLM providers, AI evaluation, open-source models, or self-hosted inference.

Benefits

• Opportunity for long-term collaboration after the initial scope.

About Company

(Information not provided in the job description)