Ai Engineering Lead

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.
Engineering Lead
We are looking for a hands-on Engineering Lead with a proven track record of delivering large-scale, data-intensive products - most recently Generative AI-powered applications. You wil lguide a cross-functional squad of backend, frontend, data science, DevOps, and QA engineers, setting the technical vision, writing production code, and ensuring that our Agile processes translate business goals into reliable, secure, and scalable software.
What You'll Do:
Technical & Product Leadership

• Own end‑to‑end architecture for Gen AI 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: IaC (Terraform), CI/CD (GitHub Actions / Azure DevOps), container orchestration (Kubernetes, EKS/AKS/GKE), observability (Prometheus, Grafana, OpenTelemetry)
• Remain 50-60 % hands‑on-writing clean, test‑driven code, reviewing MR/PRs, and tackling critical path items.

People & Process Leadership

• 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).

What you'll bring:

• 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 (Azure AD preferred).
• Production experience with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, 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, Argo CD, or similar.
• Strong front‑end 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.

Hybrid working model:
ZS is committed to a Flexible and Connected way of working. ZSers are on-site at clients or ZS offices three days a week. Combined flexibility to work remotely two days a week is also available. The magic of ZS culture and innovation thrives in both planned and spontaneous face-to-face connections.
Perks & 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. A flexible and connected ZS allows us to combine work from home and on-site presence at clients/ZS offices for the majority of our week. The magic of ZS culture and innovation thrives in both planned and spontaneous face-to-face connections.
Travel:
Travel is a requirement at ZS for client facing ZSers; business needs of your project and client are the priority. While some projects may be local, all client-facing ZSers should be prepared to travel as needed. Travel provides opportunities to strengthen client relationships, gain diverse experiences, and enhance professional growth by working in different environments and cultures.
Considering applying?
At ZS, we honor the visible and invisible elements of our identities, personal experiences, and belief systems-the ones that comprise us as individuals, shape who we are, and make us unique. We believe your personal interests, identities, and desire to learn are integral to your success here. We are committed to building a team that reflects a broad variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences. Learn more about our inclusion and belonging efforts and the networks ZS supports to assist our ZSers in cultivating community spaces and obtaining the resources they need to thrive.
If you're eager to grow, contribute, and bring your unique self to our work, we encourage you to apply.
ZS is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing equal employment and advancement opportunities without regard to any class protected by applicable law.
To complete your application:
Candidates must possess or be able to obtain work authorization for their intended country of employment.An on-line application, including a full set of transcripts (official or unofficial), is required to be considered.
NO AGENCY CALLS, PLEASE.
Find Out More At:
www.zs.com
Salary: $180,000.00 - $195,000.00