Ai Engineering Lead

ZS Associates • Chicago, IL

92d • Hybrid

About The Position

ZS is a place where passion changes lives. As a management consulting and technology firm focused on improving life and how we live it, we transform ideas into impact by bringing together data, science, technology and human ingenuity to deliver better outcomes for all. Here you'll work side-by-side with a powerful collective of thinkers and experts shaping life-changing solutions for patients, caregivers and consumers, worldwide. ZSers drive impact by bringing a client-first mentality to each and every engagement. We partner collaboratively with our clients to develop custom solutions and technology products that create value and deliver company results across critical areas of their business. Bring your curiosity for learning, bold ideas, courage and passion to drive life-changing impact to ZS.

Requirements

• 6+ years of professional software development, including 3+ years leading engineering teams
• Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• Expert-level Python and solid TypeScript/JavaScript; knowledge of Rust/Go preferred; deep knowledge of REST & gRPC APIs, WebSockets, and JWT/OAuth2 identity flows (AzureAD preferred)
• Production experience with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, AWSBedrock, Vertex AI) and vector stores (pgvector, Qdrant) at scale
• Proven success deploying cloud-native systems on AWS/Azure/GCP-networking, IAM, autoscaling, managed databases (RDS/Redshift/), and serverless
• Demonstrated mastery of modern DevOps toolchains: Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, ArgoCD, or similar
• Strong frontend instincts (React/Next.js, Tailwind CSS) and appreciation for well-designed UX
• Deep familiarity with Agile/Scrum, CI/CD, trunk-based development, and trunk-based release strategies (feature flags, blue-green, canary)
• Excellent verbal and written communication; able to convey complex technical ideas to engineers, PMs, and executive stakeholders alike

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end architecture for GenAI products-retrieval-augmented generation, agent orchestration, guardrails, and responsible AI instrumentation
• Make build-vs-buy decisions and select frameworks, libraries, and SDKs (LangGraph, DSPy, etc.)
• Design event-driven, microservices-based systems (Python+FastAPI, Node/TypeScript services) deployed to AWS/Azure/GCP
• Champion DevSecOps including IaC (Terraform), CI/CD (GitHub Actions /Azure DevOps), container orchestration (Kubernetes, EKS/AKS/GKE), observability (Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry)
• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of 3-5 engineers; set clear goals, provide regular feedback, and foster a culture of psychological safety and continuous learning
• Translate OKRs and product roadmaps into quarterly technical plans and sprint-level deliverables
• Facilitate Agile ceremonies (backlog refinement, sprint planning, demos, retros) and drive empirical, data-driven decision making
• Collaborate closely with Product Managers, Designers, and Data Scientists to shape user-centric features and measurable success criteria
• Evangelize engineering excellence-secure coding, performance optimization, automated testing, privacy & compliance (HIPAA, GDPR)

Benefits

• ZS offers a comprehensive total rewards package including health and well-being, financial planning, annual leave, personal growth and professional development
• Our robust skills development programs, multiple career progression options and internal mobility paths and collaborative culture empowers you to thrive as an individual and global team member
• We are committed to giving our employees a flexible and connected way of working
• Travel is a requirement at ZS for client-facing ZSers; business needs of your project and client are the priority
• Travel provides opportunities to strengthen client relationships, gain diverse experiences, and enhance professional growth by working in different environments and cultures

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Industry: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree