Staff AI Application Engineer

RBC • Toronto, ON

2d • Onsite

About The Position

Join RBC as a hands-on technical lead building production-grade GenAI and Agentic AI applications for Cyber, Risk, Regulatory, Control & Security domains. This is an individual contributor role with no direct reports. You'll build the backend services that power autonomous and semi-autonomous AI agents, and work closely with AI Engineers to turn LangChain/LangGraph prototypes into production applications deployed on OpenShift through our CI/CD pipeline. If you want to write Python backend code, ship to production, and work at the intersection of software engineering and agentic AI in a regulated environment, this role is for you.

Requirements

• 5+ years of software engineering experience with strong Python proficiency, including at least 2 years building backend services with Django, FastAPI, or a comparable framework.
• Hands-on experience with Celery or similar async task processing for managing long-running or distributed workloads.
• Strong understanding of API security, including authentication/authorization (OAuth2, JWT), rate limiting, input validation, and secure API design patterns.
• Experience deploying and operating containerized applications on Kubernetes or OpenShift, and working with CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or equivalent).
• Familiarity with GenAI application patterns such as RAG, Agents, Agent orchestration, MCP, A2A, and multi-agent systems.
• Some hands-on experience with LangChain, LangGraph, or similar frameworks is preferred.
• Experience with AI observability and traceability tools (OpenTelemetry, Langfuse, or LangSmith), and proficiency with agentic coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Devin, or similar).

Nice To Haves

• Experience with PostgreSQL, Redis, or vector databases (pgvector, FAISS, Milvus).
• Familiarity with Vue.js or React for occasional cross-stack work.
• Exposure to LLM providers (OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Cohere, Llama), prompt/context engineering, and LLM cost optimization techniques such as token tracking, prompt compression, caching, and model routing.
• Familiarity with monitoring stacks (Grafana, Prometheus) and secure coding practices (SAST/DAST).

Responsibilities

• Build and deploy backend services for Agentic AI applications using Python Django (preferred) or FastAPI, with Celery for async task processing and long-running agent workflows.
• Work with AI Engineers to productionize their agents and proof-of-concepts, turning LangChain/LangGraph prototypes into well-tested backend applications that run reliably in production.
• Deploy and operate applications on OpenShift Container Platform (OCP) and Kubernetes, using the Helios CI/CD pipeline to ship frequently.
• Build and maintain RESTful APIs that serve AI-powered applications, including authentication (OAuth2/JWT), rate limiting, input validation, and security controls appropriate for a regulated bank.
• Integrate AI capabilities into backend services: RAG pipelines, MCP (Model Context Protocol), A2A (Agent-to-Agent Protocol), multi-agent systems, and LLM-powered workflows.
• Profile and optimize AI application performance, including LLM token cost management, caching strategies, latency reduction, efficient agent orchestration, and production observability using OpenTelemetry, Langfuse, or LangSmith.
• Write unit and integration tests for backend services and agent workflows, and participate in code reviews to set the quality bar for the team.
• Mentor other engineers on backend and productionization best practices, collaborate with product owners, data scientists, and business stakeholders, and contribute to secure coding and AI safety guardrails for a regulated financial services environment.

Benefits

• A comprehensive Total Rewards Program including bonuses and flexible benefits, competitive compensation, commissions, and stock where applicable.
• Leaders who support your development through coaching and managing opportunities
• Ability to make a difference and lasting impact
• Work in a dynamic, collaborative, progressive, and high-performing team
• Opportunities to take on progressively greater accountabilities.
• Access to a variety of job opportunities across business and geographies.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed