**This is a 6 month contract role with our client in the Fintech Space.** **** **L** **ead AI Engineer**, you will serve as the absolute technical authority for production-grade AI solutions across our Fintech ecosystem. This is a strategic, high-impact engineering leadership position where you will translate AI strategy into buildable, scalable architecture, moving enterprise AI from isolated pilots into secure, daily production. ## Key Responsibilities - **AI Engineering Leadership:** Set the gold standard for enterprise AI code quality, architecture patterns, API design, and observability while mentoring Full Stack AI and automation engineers. - **Solution Architecture & Delivery:** Own the end-to-end technical design and deployment of high-visibility MVPs, including voice/IVR automation, finance bots, automated testing tools, and internal knowledge copilots. - **Advanced RAG & Agentic Design:** Architect bulletproof Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) structures and agentic workflows embedded with guardrails, evaluation frameworks, and human-in-the-loop controls. - **Model Orchestration:** Define enterprise patterns for when to deploy cloud platforms (Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI), commercial models (Claude), or open-source solutions using frameworks like LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, or Copilot Studio. - **Security & Governance:** Partner with Cybersecurity and Risk teams to safeguard against prompt injection and data leakage, ensuring strict alignment with data privacy laws (POPIA/GDPR). ## Requirements ### Experience & Tech Stack - **8+ years** in software engineering, solution architecture, or platform engineering. - **3+ years** of direct, hands-on experience building and shipping production-grade AI, automation, or advanced data platforms. - Proven track record acting as a technical authority within large corporate or regulated environments. - Deep proficiency in cloud platforms (preferably **Microsoft Azure**) and API-first engineering using **Python** or **TypeScript** (FastAPI, Node.js, NestJS). - Hands-on experience with vector databases, agentic frameworks (**LangGraph, AutoGen**), and LLM evaluation metrics (latency, cost, and hallucination tracking). ### Preferred Bonus Skills - Experience in financial services, fintech, telecommunications, or digital payment channels. - Relevant certifications (*Microsoft Azure AI Engineer Associate, Azure Solutions Architect*). - Exposure to voice AI, conversational IVR, or MLOps/LLMOps governance frameworks.