AI Team Lead

AI Team Lead

Engagement Model Independent Contractor Payment in USD Long-term opportunity Open to candidates across Europe Flexible schedule with required overlap with CST time zone

About the Company Our client is modernizing its platform into a global, cloud-native SaaS solution focused on operational excellence for leading industrial enterprises. Operating in 30+ countries and serving Fortune 500 manufacturing clients, the company is embedding advanced AI capabilities into its core product to power productivity, safety, and performance at scale. They are entering a high-growth phase, transforming their architecture and scaling globally.

The Role – AI Team Lead (Innovation Team) This is a highly senior, hands-on leadership position. You will lead the AI Innovation team and define the architecture, standards, and deployment strategy for AI services embedded directly into the company’s SaaS platform. This role combines: Strategic AI roadmap ownership Deep technical architecture Team leadership Enterprise-grade AI governance

Key Responsibilities AI Strategy & Leadership Define and own the AI technology roadmap Lead the design of the AI agent framework Establish governance standards and model integration patterns Monitor AI trends and regulatory developments Hands-On Technical Leadership Architect AI systems using: LLMs Embeddings RAG pipelines Vector databases Design scalable AI systems integrated with microservices Establish MLOps, DataOps, and secure deployment practices Cross-Functional Collaboration Partner with Product and Engineering to embed AI into workflows Mentor AI engineers and data scientists Define best practices for prompt engineering, fine-tuning, and evaluation Governance & Quality Define AI performance metrics and testing frameworks Establish explainability and validation standards Ensure fairness, reliability, and compliance

Requirements 8+ years in software development 3+ years in AI/ML (LLM / Agent experience strongly preferred) 2+ years leading technical teams Proven experience deploying production AI systems Technical Expertise LLMs, embeddings, RAG pipelines Vector databases (Qdrant, Pinecone, FAISS) Python PyTorch, TensorFlow, LangChain (or similar) MLOps and CI/CD REST / GraphQL APIs Microservices architecture AWS (preferred) Experience with public and OSS LLMs Language Requirements Fluent English (mandatory) Fluent Portuguese (mandatory)

Nice to Have Agent frameworks (LangGraph, CrewAI, AutoGen, ElizaOS) AI governance and model safety experience SaaS product integration experience Industrial / manufacturing exposure Advanced degree in AI/ML or related field