Staff Software Engineer (GenAI Innovation/ Forward deployed)

We are seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the development of innovative new systems and solutions that make use of a rapidly emerging landscape of frontier AI capabilities. This engineer will help us build out the systems that solve the problems of tomorrow in a scalable way.

This team is forward deployed and focused on proving the true business value of AI foundation models within TV, film, theme parks, and other business groups, and bringing this value to production quickly. We are seeking a candidate well-versed in designing, building and supporting APIs and web frontends and using agentic AI to accelerate development. This team member should be excited about the frontier of AI, able to rapidly prove out new capabilities, and versed in working in matrixed organizations to get work done.
Responsibilities:

- Rapidly research and test new AI technologies, translating raw capability into measurable business ROI.

- Evaluate proposed AI solutions critically, and be willing to say "no" when the underlying problem isn't actually an AI problem.

- Build out backends and data layers by creating new business logic that leverages API standards, NBCU gateways, and established best practices and patterns.

- Deploy and maintain databases and storage for our applications across both SQL and NoSQL environments.

- Design features that span from the application UI down to the underlying APIs.

- Uphold high standards of code quality through rigorous testing and adherence to code standards — including code that's agent-written.

- Develop automated tests for your code, ensuring every function, service, and object works reliably with your team's systems and the broader NBCUniversal portfolio, with attention to cross-device and cross-browser compatibility.

- Collaborate effectively within a multidisciplinary, matrixed organization, using strong interpersonal skills to navigate system complexity and deploy solutions efficiently.

- Deploy to cloud-based platforms and troubleshoot application, cloud, and configuration issues as needed.

- Use code- and test-generation tools to significantly accelerate the delivery of the features and components you build.

- 6+ years of experience in backend or full-stack development, demonstrated through a comprehensive portfolio and related experience.

- Demonstrated systems-thinking capabilities, with the demonstrated ability to design for systemic problems (rather than symptoms).

- Proven ability to independently bring a basic application from idea to delivery, utilizing cross-functional collaboration as needed.

- Experience with Python for application development, AWS, database systems, and SQL.

- Experience with the Python ecosystem, including tools for build, test and deployment.

- Deep understanding of ML practices as they relate to foundation model integration (e.g., tooling and instrumentation, feature/model selection, RAG patterns) and some fine-tuning, deep learning, and training/algorithm insight.

- Ability to think critically about ambiguously stated problems, decipher user preferences versus hard requirements, and effectively use online and on-site resources to find appropriate solutions.

- Understanding of API backends with practical experience in integrating and consuming APIs in front-end projects.

- Ability to be agile (lowercase a), quickly incorporating feedback and adjusting to changing priorities.

- Ability to design, communicate, and implement technical architectures and concepts into scalable solutions and builds.

Desired Characteristics:

- Competent working in secured internal network environments and complex cloud network setups.

- Familiarity with integrating large language models and AI-generated content technologies into applications.

- Familiarity with the development ecosystem evolving around LLM integration, such as LangChain.

- Proven adaptability in a fast-paced, evolving technology landscape, with strong problem-solving ability and a quick learnin