Junior Software Engineer
The Junior Software Engineer at Confidential Client will contribute to advancing AI-driven digital identity verification systems by developing and productionizing agent-based AI prototypes. This role involves full software development lifecycle participation, including design, implementation, testing, deployment, and production support within a hybrid work environment. The position is ideal for a recent Master's graduate passionate about AI tooling, eager to learn production system operations, and collaborate with senior engineers to deliver impactful, real-world solutions.
About Careertakes
👉 Important disclosure: Careertakes is a third-party recruiting platform supporting this hiring process. If selected, you will be employed directly by our client, Software Development.
Applicants for this role may also receive access to additional matched opportunities through the Careertakes platform.
What You’ll Do
You will join a small team working to move agent-style AI verification prototypes to production. This is a hands-on engineering role focused on making LLM-driven agent features reliable, testable, and performant in a real service.
- Help take Discovery Agent prototypes (e.g., Vertex AI–based) through the SDLC: design, implementation, testing, and deployment (API and agent access).
- Harden proof-of-concept agent code toward production quality: error handling, observability, testing, and basic cost/latency awareness.
- Build test cases and evaluation checks for agent behavior (different from traditional deterministic-unit testing).
- Support data ingestion and pipeline tasks that feed agents, using AWS and Big Data tooling.
- Work with Product and senior engineers to convert business requirements into shipped features.
- Learn and contribute to production support: monitoring, alerting, and incident response for an AI-driven service.
What You’ll Bring
We’re hiring an early-career engineer (strong fit for recent or soon-to-graduate Master’s students) who has built projects using modern AI tools and wants to continue learning in production.
- 1–2 years of software engineering or development experience (internships, research projects, or industry experience welcomed).
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a closely related field.
- Solid foundation in Python and/or another backend language; able to write clean, readable, testable code.
- Understanding of SQL and/or NoSQL databases and basic API design (REST).
- Exposure to cloud infrastructure (AWS preferred) via coursework, internships, or personal projects.
- Some experience or coursework involving data pipelines or processing (beneficial but not required).
- Self-starter mindset: comfortable with ambiguity and can move projects forward with minimal supervision.
- Genuine curiosity about AI tooling and prior hands-on experimentation (projects, hackathons, coursework).
- Driven to ship end-to-end, usable products rather than perfecting a single component.
- Willingness to learn production practices: CI/CD, monitoring, on-call basics, and incident troubleshooting.
- Strong collaborator with clear communication skills.
Nice to Have (Optional)
- Coursework or projects using orchestration tools (Apache Airflow, Dagster), OpenSearch/Elasticsearch, or Big Data tools (Spark, Presto/Trino, Hive).
- Familiarity with TypeScript/React/Node.js for full-stack work.
- Exposure to Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform, AWS CDK).
- Interest or coursework in identity verification, fraud detection, security, or fintech.
- Experience with LLM APIs (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Vertex AI/Gemini) or agent frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen) at a project level.
Level-Setting on AI Experience
You do not need professional AI-product experience. We’re looking for curiosity and self-directed, hands-on learning:
- Comfortable using AI coding assistants (Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor) as part of your workflow.
- Have built at least one project where an LLM did more than simple Q&A—tool/function-calls, chaining steps, retrieval, or coordinating multi-step goals.
- Interested in the practical engineering problems of making LLM-based systems reliable and observable.
Work Model & Location
This is a full-time, permanent position based in the San Diego office with a hybrid model (typically 3 days per week on-site). Candidates must be able to work from the San Diego, CA location as required.
Why Join
Our client (Confidential Client) operates in Software Development and is building scalable, production-grade systems that help organizations verify identity and reduce fraud. You'll gain experience shipping AI-driven features in a production environment, exposure to modern cloud and data tooling, and mentorship from senior engineers. Benefits for full-time employees generally include health, dental, vision, retirement match, paid time off, parental leave, and an education stipend; specifics vary by location and will be discussed during the hiring process.
Equal Opportunity & Hiring Transparency
Careertakes and our client are Equal Opportunity Employers committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We prohibit discrimination or harassment of any kind. To support a fair and efficient hiring process, AI tools may be used to assist with application review or resume screening. These tools do not replace human decision-making. Final hiring decisions are made by people.
If you have questions about how your data is used, please contact us directly.
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