Backend Engineer(AI Stack) at Ladder Africa

Rank: Mid to ****Senior-level

Location: Hybrid (Ghana)

Commitment: Full Time

Salary: GHS 9,600 - 16,000

We’re a trailblazing fintech startup building a smart wealth management powerhouse that accelerates financial freedom for all. Our solutions span personal finance, DeFi, and artificial intelligence. If this is your jam, and you’re passionate, forward-thinking, biased for execution and impact, we’d love to have you.

What you’ll do day-to-day

We are seeking a talented Backend Engineer to architect and optimize backend solutions, with a focus on data engineering, AI, and large language model (LLM) implementations. As an LLM Backend Engineer at Ladder, you’ll be responsible for developing, scaling, and maintaining LLM-based applications and services. You will work closely with our AI, systems, and cross-functional product delivery teams to drive our mission forward by delivering AI-driven insights and tools that elevate our users' experience. You will be expected to:

       i.          Understand and analyze product requirements and communicate with the product and AI teams

     ii.          Write clean, high-quality, high-performance, and scalable backend code for LLM integration

    iii.          Design, develop, and maintain APIs that support AI-driven applications and interact with large language models

   iv.          Optimize database interactions, manage data flows, and implement efficient data caching techniques for LLM applications

     v.          Coordinate with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment with business objectives and compliance standards

   vi.          Participate in code reviews, technical planning, and LLM model fine-tuning sessions

  vii.          Implement automated testing platforms, monitor AI service performance, and support deployment of new AI-driven features

viii.          Stay updated on advancements in LLM technology and bring the best practices to our team

Work Hours

This role is expected to put in a total of 40 hours of quality work weekly between 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM GMT.

Main Stack

       i.          LLM Frameworks: OpenAI, LangChain

     ii.          Programming Language: Python,

    iii.          LLMOps: fastAPI, Guardrails-ai + Semantic router + Redisvl(SemanticCache/llmcache)

   iv.          Backend Framework: FastAPI, Django (DRF)

     v.          Data store: PostgreSQL, Redis for caching

   vi.          CI/CD: GitHub Actions, Docker

  vii.          Infrastructure: AWS, Kubernetes

Requirements

       i.          Proven experience in backend development, ideally in data engineering, AI/ML, or large language model applications

     ii.          Strong proficiency in Python, with demonstrated expertise in frameworks like FastAPI and Django

    iii.          Proficiency in designing RESTful APIs and managing high-traffic AI model requests

   iv.          Knowledge of database optimization, query handling, and data flow for LLM data pipelines

     v.          Familiarity with Docker, cloud infrastructure (AWS preferred), and CI/CD tools

   vi.          Ability to communicate effectively across teams, bringing clarity to technical and product discussions

  vii.          A sense of ownership and an innovative mindset with an ability to identify areas for AI-driven improvements

Nice to have:

       i.          Interest in experimenting with emerging LLMs and AI techniques to push the boundaries of what's possible

     ii.          Experience with LLM frameworks (e.g., Hugging Face, OpenAI API, LangChain) and integrating LLMs into backend systems