Principal Software Engineer CuCa Tech (All Genders) at Zalando

on-site · full time · Visa sponsorship

Responsibilities:
- Own and drive the architecture for Python-based AI/ML microservices that operate in customer-facing, high-volume production environments.
- Design intelligent query routing and automated response workflows with reliable human-in-the-loop fallbacks.
- Partner with Applied Science to productionize experimental models: define APIs, performance targets, monitoring, and retraining pathways.
- Lead department-wide architecture and production-readiness reviews; define MLOps standards, observability, SLOs, and incident-response practices.
- Mentor engineers across teams, run RFCs and design reviews, and enable others to deliver complex features with operational excellence.
- Influence the technical roadmap and align stakeholders (Product, Engineering Management) on strategic automation and scalability initiatives.

Requirements:
- 10+ years building distributed systems and shaping software architecture; recognized expertise in Python.
- Proven record of deploying AI/ML models to production at scale and managing model/infra technical debt.
- Deep knowledge of MLOps practices (CI/CD for models, monitoring, feature pipelines, model rollout strategies) and production readiness.
- Strong skills in system design, data modeling, performance tuning, and scalability planning for high-throughput services.
- Experience leading cross-team initiatives, communicating complex trade-offs to senior stakeholders, and mentoring engineers.
- Pragmatic decision-making, strong communication, and a customer-focused mindset; prior customer-care or conversational AI experience is a plus.