Staff Backend Engineer (Python)

Staff Backend EngineerPlaylab is a tech non-profit dedicated to helping educators and students become critical consumers and creators of AI.Making sure you fit the guidelines as an applicant for this role is essential, please read the below carefully.We believe that an open-source, community-driven approach is key to harnessing the potential of AI in education. We equip communities with AI tools and hands-on professional development that empowers educators & students to build custom AI apps for their unique context. Over 60,000 educators have published apps on Playlab and the impact is growing every day.At Playlab, we believe that AI is a new design material - one that should be shaped by many to bring their ideas about learning to life. If you're passionate about building creative, equitable futures for students and teachers, we hope you'll join us.The RolePlaylab seeks a Staff Backend Engineer to join our growing Engineering team. As a Staff Backend Engineer, you'll be bridging cutting-edge AI technologies and production systems - taking emerging capabilities and building them into reliable, performant services that power real educational experiences.Examples of the WorkWork with ML to design and build the agent runtime framework that powers goal-directed educational applicationsBuild services that use fine-tuned models to automatically scaffold new apps from high-quality examplesDesign and implement systems for dynamic interface generation (chat to writing editor to interactive simulations)Implement RAG systems and knowledge graph integration for curriculum and educational contentBuild services for processing and analyzing educational conversations at scaleAnd moreExpectationsDesign, build, and maintain production Python services that power AI features with reliability and performanceStay on top of emerging frameworks and Python ecosystem - evaluate new tools that improve our capabilitiesWork cross-functionally with ML engineers, platform engineers, and product to ensure services meet real needsBalance experimentation with production excellence - prototype quickly with new techniques while ensuring production reliabilityWrite comprehensive tests and documentation that make systems understandable and maintainableMentor engineers on Python best practices, service design, and LLM integration patternsQualifications7+ years building production web applications (Python systems)3+ years building Python services at scaleExperience building API services and microservices architectureExperience with FastAPI or similar modern xevrcyc Python frameworksExperience with data processing pipelines and working with databasesComfortable working with AI/ML engineers and understanding their needsThrive in high-agency, high collaboration culturesGreat communication that makes working remote-first workBonus Points For...Strong understanding of working with LLMs and AI APIs in productionBackground in agent frameworks or agentic AI systemsExperience with RAG systems and vector databasesExperience in education or building in edtechExperience with educational technology or mission-driven organizationsExperience with designing creative platformsTechnologiesPython, FastAPI, OpenAI/Anthropic/Bedrock APIs, PostgreSQL, Neo4J, Vector Databases, AWS, Docker, Kubernetes