Backend Engineer – AI

A1 is a self-funded AI group, operating in full stealth. We’re building a new global consumer AI application where backend systems are not glue - they are the control plane that connects models, data, users, and product experiences. This is a founding backend role. You will design and build the systems that orchestrate models, manage prompts and evaluation, and power every AI interaction users experience - under real-world constraints like latency, cost, failures, and scale. Why This Role Matters You power every AI interaction users experience You shape how models are orchestrated, evaluated, and improved You directly affect cost, latency, and reliability You build real production AI infrastructure What You’ll Do Design and implement backend services for AI-powered apps Integrate LLMs, vision, speech, and other models Build orchestration pipelines (agents, tools, workflows) Implement prompt management and versioning Build evaluation, logging, and feedback systems Design scalable APIs for mobile and web clients Handle retries, caching, rate limits, and fallbacks Ensure security, privacy, and cost control Requirements 4+ years backend engineering experience Hands-on AI model integration experience Strong proficiency in Python, Node.js, or Go Experience designing REST/gRPC APIs Understanding of AI latency and cost tradeoffs Nice to Have Built AI systems used in production Experience with RAG, vector DBs, or agent frameworks Designed evaluation or monitoring systems Our Team & Culture We operate as a dense, senior, high-performance team. We value clarity, speed, craftsmanship, and relentless ownership. We behave like founders — we build, ship, iterate, and hold ourselves to a high technical bar. If you value excellence, enjoy building real systems, and want to be part of a small team creating something globally impactful, you’ll thrive here. About A1 A1 is a self-funded, independent AI group, focused on building a new consumer AI product with global impact. We’re assembling a small, elite team of ML and engineering builders who want to work on meaningful, high-impact problems.