Senior Engineer, Backend & AI Systems

Software Guidance & Assistance, Inc., (SGA), is searching for a Senior Engineer, Backend & AI Systems for a CONTRACT assignment with one of our premier SaaS clients in San Francisco, CA.

The firm is building an AI-native data visualization creative platform, built to turn anyone into a confident data storytelling. Our app, which is in the early alpha stages, helps people go from raw data to compelling, publication-quality charts without needing to be a data scientist or designer.
We're looking for a senior backend engineer with a strong AI systems background to help us build the intelligence layer that makes our service feel like it actually understands data. You'll work across our fluency engine, composition pipeline, and agentic infrastructure, and have a direct hand in how the product reasons about data and communicates with users.

Responsibilities :

• Design and evolve our GraphQL API and the services behind it (Node.js, Postgres, S3, Docker/Kubernetes)
• Build and improve AI-powered features: chart recommendation, data fluency, narrative generation, and agentic workflows that act on user intent
• Own the eval infrastructure by defining what "good" looks like for our AI systems, build LLM-as-judge pipelines, and drive quality improvements from signal
• Work across our composer and fluency engines: the systems that translate user data and intent into visual output
• Contribute to architecture decisions: schema design, data loading and processing patterns, and pipeline orchestration
• Partner closely with frontend engineers and designers (who often work directly in the codebase) to ship full features end-to-end

Required Skills :

• 6+ years of backend engineering experience, with strong TypeScript/Node.js fundamentals
• Hands-on experience building with LLMs: prompt engineering, structured outputs, tool use, retrieval, caching strategies, and cost/latency tradeoffs
• Experience with agentic architectures: multi-step reasoning, tool-calling agents, orchestration patterns, and the failure modes that come with them
• You think carefully about eval infrastructure, not just whether the model works today, but how you'd know if it regressed tomorrow
• You write code that's clear, well-typed, and doesn't require a comment to explain what it does. You are comfortable moving quickly and leveraging AI assistance. You can understand tradeoffs, particularly when it comes to moving quickly and code quality.

Preferred Skills :

• A genuine enthusiasm for data visualization. You find yourself opinionated about when to use a bar chart vs. a line chart, and you know why it matters
• Experience with LangSmith, LangFuse, or similar LLM observability tooling
• Familiarity with React and willingness to read and occasionally contribute to frontend code
• Prior experience in a design-adjacent or creative tools product

SGA is a technology and resource solutions provider driven to stand out. We are a women-owned business. Our mission: to solve big IT problems with a more personal, boutique approach. Each year, we match consultants like you to more than 1,000 engagements. When we say let's work better together, we mean it. You'll join a diverse team built on these core values: customer service, employee development, and quality and integrity in everything we do. Be yourself, love what you do and find your passion at work. Please find us at .

SGA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of Race, Color, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Religion, National Origin, Disability, Veteran Status, Age, Marital Status, Pregnancy, Genetic Information, or Other Legally Protected Status. We are committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, and our services, programs, and activities. Please visit our company to request an accommodation or assistance regarding our policy.

#LI-AC1