Principal Engineer (Backend + AI)

Who We Are

Ontic provides software that helps corporate and government security teams identify threats assess risk and respond faster to keep people and organizations safe. Its Connected Intelligence Platform unifies security operations and data into a centralized system of record enabling organizations to conduct risk assessments protect against workplace violence and manage threats and incidents more efficiently. Fortune 500 companies and federal agencies rely on Ontic to support security programs such as executive protection threat intelligence and corporate investigations.

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We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Principal Software Engineer - Backend AI. This role involves designing developing and maintaining scalable backend systems for our product. You will also lead the integration of modern AI technologies to solve complex technical challenges and deliver powerful new features for our platform.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in backend technologies a deep understanding of software architecture and proven expertise in applying and integrating AI/ML services (like LLMs and vector search) into production environments. This is a hands-on engineering role not a data science position.

What you will do

• Lead the architectural design and development of scalable backend systems that integrate modern AI/ML models and services.

• Collaborate on an agile team with Front-end and Back-end Engineers and Product Managers to build and release AI-powered features and enhancements.

• Evaluate and select third-party and open-source AI models (e.g. LLMs embedding models) based on performance scalability and integration feasibilitynot model creation.

• Design and maintain robust data pipelines and APIs to support AI functionalities such as RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) systems.

• Find and address performance and security issues with a specific focus on the unique challenges of AI-driven applications.

• Conduct code reviews provide constructive feedback and ensure code quality and performance optimization.

• Identify and address technical debt ensuring the long-term maintainability and scalability of the backend systems.

• Identify and advocate for engineering best practices across the team especially in the domain of applied AI.

What you should have

• 6 years of experience and expert knowledge of service implementations in languages such as Java Spring boot Elasticsearch MongoDB.

• Proven experience designing and integrating systems with AI/ML services such as LLM APIs (e.g. OpenAI Anthropic open-source models) or vector databases (e.g. Pinecone Milvus).

• Practical understanding of core AI application concepts like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) embeddings and prompt engineering.

• Familiarity with AI orchestration frameworks (e.g. LangChain LlamaIndex) is a strong plus.

• Experience building the backend infrastructure (e.g. APIs data pipelines) to support and serve fine-tuned models would be a significant advantage.

• At least 2 years of experience in a senior or lead role.

• Curiosity about how things work and love to share that knowledge with others.

• Strong Algorithmic & Problem-solving skills.

• Ability to work independently as well as manage the team and figuring out your way in the wild.

• Urge to learn new things & drive for focused milestones based high speed development.

• Experience in dealing with high scale data.

• Experience in managing product lifecycle from beginning to end.

• Familiarity and experience with JavaScript and modern front-end frameworks such as React.

• Interest in modern and RESTful API design principles.

• degree in Computer Science.

Ontic Benefits & Perks

• Competitive Salary

• Medical Vision & Dental Benefits

• 401k

• Stock Options

• HSA Contribution

• Learning Stipend

• Flexible PTO Policy

• Quarterly company ME (mental escape) days

• Generous Parental Leave policy

• Home Office Stipend

• Mobile Phone Reimbursement

• Anniversary & Milestone Celebrations

Dont meet every single requirement Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Ontic we are dedicated to building a diverse inclusive and authentic workplace so if youre excited about this role we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Ontic prioritizes the full inclusion of qualified individuals providing necessary accommodations for those with disabilities to perform essential job functions. If you need assistance during the application or interview process or job tasks please contact us at or call

Required Experience:

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