Lead developer (Python/ Gen AI)

## About the Role We build AI-powered products for startups and scale-ups — from conversational AI agents embedded in enterprise SaaS (legal tech, fintech) to parametric insurance platforms running ML on credit card transaction data. We're Ignite Solutions, and we operate as the full technology team for our clients: not a dev shop, but a strategic engineering partner. We're looking for a Lead Developer who loves building as much as leading. You'll own technical direction on client engagements, but you'll also be in the code every day — writing it, reviewing it, and setting the standard for it. You'll work across domains — AI agents, cloud platforms, mobile apps, and web based apps, and you'll be as comfortable challenging a client's assumptions as you are shipping production Python. ## What You'll Work On - Architecting and building AI-native products, agents, RAG pipelines, LLM integrations, agentic tool use — that solve real business problems, not demos. - Working directly with clients to understand their domain, define the right solution, and set realistic technical expectations - Recommending technology stacks, cloud architectures, and API designs, and then building them yourself - Integrating with third-party systems (industry-specific APIs, government data sources, payment platforms, lab systems, and more) - Leading small engineering teams: hands-on coding, code reviews, mentoring, and day-to-day problem-solving - Representing the technical capability of Ignite in client conversations, including at founder and C-suite level ## What Makes You a Strong Fit ### Non-negotiable: - 7+ years of software engineering experience, with meaningful time in a lead role where you were still writing code daily. - Deep, hands-on Python experience: Flask, Django, or FastAPI; comfortable owning backend architecture and API design end to end - Solid experience with one or more major cloud platforms (AWS preferred; Azure or GCP also relevant) - Proficiency across SQL and NoSQL databases (MySQL, MongoDB; Redis and ElasticSearch are a plus) - Strong communication skills: you can explain a technical decision to a non-technical founder and a senior engineer in the same conversation ### Strong differentiators: - Frontend architecture fluency: you don't need to be a frontend engineer, but you understand how modern frontends are structured, what React (or React Native or Flutter) can and can't do well, where the performance and integration constraints live, and how to make good full-stack decisions with that knowledge. This will set you apart. - Experience building AI agents or agentic systems (LangChain, LangGraph, or equivalent) - Working knowledge of LLMs, RAG, prompt engineering, and LLMOps (LangFuse or similar) - DevOps competence (CI/CD, cloud infrastructure management, deployment pipelines) - Exposure to ML or data science in applied, production settings ## About Us Ignite Solutions is a product engineering firm that works as the embedded technology team for startups that don't want to —