# Lead AI Engineer
**Company:** [Airwallex](https://scaleengineer.com/companies/airwallex)
Lead AI Engineer role at Airwallex focusing on building and scaling the Kai AI assistant platform. You'll own technical design, team leadership, and product delivery for an agentic AI system serving 250,000+ global businesses, while establishing engineering excellence standards for LLM-powered financial solutions in a fintech environment.
**Role:** Engineering Manager
**Seniority:** Lead
**Locations:** SG - Singapore
**Salary:** 180000–250000 SGD
[Apply](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/airwallex/02234e0a-e1fc-4b23-b3e6-513200e4ff80)
Canonical: https://scaleengineer.com/jobs/airwallex/lead-ai-engineer
---
## Responsibilities

- Lead and develop high-performing engineering team: Manage, coach, and mentor a diverse team of AI, backend, and frontend engineers. Set clear performance expectations, foster an inclusive high-performance culture, establish technical standards through code reviews and architectural guidance, and drive hiring to build world-class talent.
- Design scalable agentic AI architecture: Define and evolve technical architecture for agent orchestration, context retrieval systems, tool integrations, identity and access control, observability frameworks, and evaluation pipelines. Make informed trade-offs across quality, latency, reliability, cost, security, and time-to-market to support Kai's growing capabilities.
- Deliver production-grade AI features end-to-end: Lead feature discovery, technical execution, launch strategy, and iterative improvement for Kai. Establish clear product success metrics, instrument customer journeys with observability, incorporate real-world feedback, and continuously enhance the assistant's usefulness and trustworthiness for financial workflows.
- Implement evaluation and safety release disciplines: Build versioned, repeatable evaluation practices measuring task success, groundedness, tool execution accuracy, safety compliance, and domain-specific failure modes. Define launch criteria, staged rollout mechanisms, automated rollback procedures, and proactive monitoring to detect model, prompt, and data regressions.
- Engineer resilient, scalable production systems: Drive engineering excellence across service architecture, API design, data pipelines, reliability engineering, performance optimization, cost efficiency, comprehensive testing strategies, incident response protocols, and operational readiness. Define and continuously improve SLOs for mission-critical Kai services.
- Collaborate cross-functionally across the organization: Partner closely with Product, Design, Data Science, and Security teams to translate business requirements and model capabilities into secure, coherent customer experiences. Communicate technical decisions, architectural constraints, and risk assessments clearly to leadership and stakeholders.
- Champion responsible AI action-taking patterns: Lead implementation of robust authentication, authorization, permission verification, auditability logging, and human-in-the-loop controls for agentic actions. Ensure Kai operates predictably and safely within regulatory obligations while serving sensitive financial operations.
- Build reusable AI platforms and developer tooling: Create shared agent frameworks, developer tools, quality assurance frameworks, and engineering standards that enable multiple teams to safely and efficiently ship high-quality AI experiences across Airwallex products.

## Requirements

### education

- {"name":"Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field","description":"Formal education in computer science, software engineering, mathematics, or equivalent discipline, or equivalent professional experience demonstrating strong fundamental computer science knowledge."}

### technical

- {"name":"Distributed systems design and implementation","description":"Experience designing fault-tolerant, highly available systems with considerations for consistency models, consensus algorithms, service orchestration, and inter-service communication patterns."}
- {"name":"Backend engineering and APIs","description":"Proficiency in building scalable backend services, designing robust APIs, implementing event-driven architectures, and managing data consistency across distributed systems."}
- {"name":"LLM and AI systems engineering","description":"Hands-on experience integrating language models into production systems, managing model versioning, implementing prompt management strategies, evaluating model performance, and monitoring AI-specific failure modes."}
- {"name":"Observability and monitoring systems","description":"Experience implementing comprehensive observability solutions including structured logging, distributed tracing, metrics collection, alerting strategies, and building dashboards for complex system behavior analysis."}
- {"name":"Data pipeline and retrieval systems","description":"Knowledge of building reliable data pipelines, implementing semantic search or vector similarity search, managing knowledge bases, and ensuring data quality for machine learning systems."}

### experience

- {"name":"8+ years software engineering experience","description":"Deep background in building large-scale systems with proven ability to design, architect, and ship complex products end-to-end. Demonstrated expertise in managing technical debt, optimizing system performance, and maintaining production reliability."}
- {"name":"2+ years engineering leadership or mentorship","description":"Formal experience leading, managing, or mentoring engineering teams. Track record of building strong, high-performing teams, establishing technical culture, conducting effective code reviews, and developing team members into senior engineers."}
- {"name":"Hands-on agentic architecture experience","description":"Deep practical experience designing and operating scalable agentic systems, agent orchestration frameworks, or distributed backend systems. Familiarity with agent state management, context retrieval, tool integration, and orchestration patterns."}
- {"name":"AI platform and product engineering","description":"Proven understanding of LLM integration engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems, model inference optimization, prompt engineering, evaluation metrics, observability for AI systems, and managing changing model behavior in production."}
- {"name":"Quality, reliability and operational excellence","description":"Disciplined approach to evaluation practices, monitoring strategy, incident management, performance optimization, and operational readiness. Experience establishing and improving SLOs, implementing observability solutions, and building quality into the development process."}
- {"name":"Security-first system design mindset","description":"Understanding of secure software architecture, authentication and authorization patterns, data protection principles, auditability requirements, abuse prevention, and compliance considerations—particularly relevant for systems handling sensitive financial data."}

## Skills

### required

- {"name":"Engineering Leadership","description":"Ability to lead, mentor, and grow engineering teams; establish technical culture; conduct effective code reviews; drive architectural decisions; and foster psychological safety and high performance."}
- {"name":"Agentic AI Architecture Design","description":"Deep understanding of agent orchestration, tool use patterns, context management, decision-making workflows, and implementing resilient agentic systems in production environments."}
- {"name":"LLM Integration and Deployment","description":"Practical experience integrating language models into applications, managing model lifecycle, implementing inference optimization, handling model updates, and mitigating common LLM failure modes."}
- {"name":"Production System Design","description":"Expertise in building scalable, reliable, and secure production systems with focus on high availability, performance optimization, incident response, and operational excellence."}
- {"name":"AI Quality and Evaluation","description":"Experience establishing evaluation frameworks for AI systems, defining success metrics beyond accuracy, implementing monitoring for model drift, and iterating on quality through instrumentation and testing."}
- {"name":"Security and Compliance","description":"Understanding of authentication, authorization, data protection, auditability, and compliance requirements—essential for fintech systems handling sensitive financial operations."}

### preferred

- {"name":"Fintech or payments domain knowledge","description":"Familiarity with financial services, payments infrastructure, regulatory requirements, or previous experience building systems in regulated industries adds significant value."}
- {"name":"Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)","description":"Hands-on experience building or scaling RAG systems, managing knowledge bases, semantic search implementation, or vector database optimization in production."}
- {"name":"Prompt engineering and model tuning","description":"Practical knowledge of prompt engineering techniques, few-shot learning, model fine-tuning, and systematic approaches to improving model behavior for specific tasks."}
- {"name":"Multi-team coordination and cross-functional collaboration","description":"Experience leading initiatives across multiple teams with different specialties (data science, security, infrastructure, product), managing dependencies, and aligning technical work with business objectives."}
- {"name":"Open-source contributions or publications","description":"Demonstrated thought leadership through technical publications, conference talks, open-source contributions, or proven track record influencing industry best practices in AI engineering."}
- {"name":"Observability and SRE practices","description":"Experience designing comprehensive monitoring strategies, implementing SLO frameworks, building observability platforms, and establishing reliability practices for complex distributed systems."}

## Tech stack

### tools

- {"name":"OpenAI API or other LLM providers","description":"Access to large language models through APIs or self-hosted solutions. Integration with GPT-4, Claude, or open-source models like Llama."}
- {"name":"Git and GitHub","description":"Version control system for managing code, facilitating collaboration, and maintaining engineering standards across the team."}
- {"name":"Docker","description":"Containerization platform for packaging applications, ensuring consistency across development, testing, and production environments."}
- {"name":"Jenkins, GitLab CI, or GitHub Actions","description":"CI/CD tools for automating testing, building, and deployment pipelines. Essential for maintaining code quality and rapid iteration."}
- {"name":"Datadog, New Relic, or Prometheus","description":"Observability and monitoring platforms for tracking system performance, collecting metrics, analyzing logs, and alerting on anomalies."}
- {"name":"Jira and Confluence","description":"Project management and documentation tools for coordinating team work, tracking issues, and maintaining technical documentation."}

### others

- {"name":"Agent orchestration platforms","description":"Experience with frameworks and patterns for building multi-step agents, managing agent state, handling tool interactions, and implementing robust error handling."}
- {"name":"RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) systems","description":"Knowledge of building pipelines that retrieve contextual information from knowledge bases and integrate it with LLM prompts for accurate, grounded responses."}
- {"name":"Prompt engineering and management","description":"Expertise in crafting effective prompts, managing prompt versions, implementing A/B testing for prompts, and systematic evaluation of prompt quality."}
- {"name":"AI evaluation and testing frameworks","description":"Tools and methodologies for evaluating AI system performance, testing for bias, measuring task success rates, and detecting failure modes specific to financial operations."}
- {"name":"Security and compliance frameworks","description":"Knowledge of authentication protocols (OAuth, SAML), authorization models (RBAC, ABAC), encryption standards, and compliance requirements for financial systems."}

### databases

- {"name":"PostgreSQL","description":"Robust relational database widely used in fintech for transactional data, financial records, and structured data requiring ACID compliance."}
- {"name":"Vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, or Milvus)","description":"Specialized databases for storing and querying embeddings, essential for implementing retrieval-augmented generation and semantic search in AI systems."}
- {"name":"Redis","description":"In-memory data store commonly used for caching, session management, rate limiting, and real-time data processing in high-performance systems."}
- {"name":"DynamoDB or Cassandra","description":"NoSQL databases for handling massive scale, real-time data, and distributed systems requiring high availability and partition tolerance."}

### languages

- {"name":"Python","description":"Primary language for AI/ML systems, data pipelines, and backend services at most fintech and AI-forward companies. Essential for working with LLM libraries and frameworks."}
- {"name":"TypeScript/JavaScript","description":"Used for frontend applications, backend services, and real-time applications. Common in modern fintech stacks for API development."}
- {"name":"Java or Go","description":"Often used for high-performance backend services, microservices architectures, and distributed systems in enterprise fintech environments."}

### frameworks

- {"name":"LangChain or LlamaIndex","description":"Popular frameworks for building agentic applications, managing LLM chains, implementing RAG systems, and orchestrating complex AI workflows."}
- {"name":"FastAPI or Django","description":"Modern Python frameworks commonly used for building robust APIs, microservices, and backend systems that power AI applications."}
- {"name":"React or Vue.js","description":"Frontend frameworks for building user interfaces that interact with AI systems, displaying real-time data, and providing financial dashboards."}
- {"name":"Kubernetes","description":"Container orchestration platform for deploying and scaling AI services, managing microservices, and ensuring high availability in production environments."}

## Benefits

### benefits

- {"name":"Competitive equity package","description":"Stock options reflecting your leadership role and contribution to Airwallex's growth trajectory as a unicorn-valued fintech platform."}
- {"name":"Comprehensive health and wellness coverage","description":"Medical, dental, and vision insurance with dependent coverage. Access to wellness programs, mental health support, and fitness benefits."}
- {"name":"Generous paid time off","description":"Competitive annual leave, sick leave, and paid professional development days. Support for work-life balance and flexibility."}
- {"name":"Learning and development opportunities","description":"Budget for conferences, training courses, certifications, and continuous learning. Access to industry experts and mentorship from senior leadership."}
- {"name":"Flexible work arrangements","description":"Hybrid work flexibility with modern office facilities in Singapore. Ability to collaborate with global teams across 27 offices worldwide."}
- {"name":"Parental leave and family support","description":"Enhanced parental leave policies beyond statutory requirements. Family-friendly benefits and childcare support."}
- {"name":"Performance bonuses","description":"Annual performance-based bonus structure tied to personal, team, and company objectives."}
- {"name":"Professional development and career advancement","description":"Clear career progression opportunities within Airwallex's rapidly expanding AI and engineering teams. Mentorship from experienced executives."}

## Compensation

- **max:** 250000
- **min:** 180000
- **currency:** SGD
- **stockOptions:** true

## Interview process

### steps

## Full description
## **About Airwallex**

Airwallex is the only unified payments and financial platform for global businesses. Powered by our unique combination of proprietary infrastructure and software, we empower over 250,000 businesses worldwide – including Brex, Navan, Qantas, SHEIN and many more – with fully integrated solutions to manage everything from business accounts, payments, spend management and treasury, to embedded finance at a global scale.

Proudly founded in Melbourne, we have a team of over 2,300 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 27 offices around the globe. Valued at US$11 billion and backed by world-leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Visa, Mastercard, Robinhood Ventures, Sequoia, Salesforce Ventures, DST Global, and Lone Pine Capital, Airwallex is leading the charge in building the global payments and financial platform of the future. If you’re ready to do the most ambitious work of your career, join us.

## **Attributes We Value**

We hire successful builders with founder-like energy who want real impact, accelerated learning, and true ownership. You bring strong role-related expertise and sharp thinking, and you’re motivated by our mission and [operating principles](https://www.airwallex.com/us/operating-principles). You move fast with good judgment, dig deep with curiosity, and make decisions from first principles, balancing speed and rigor.

You're humble and collaborative; turn zero‑to‑one ideas into real products, and you “get stuff done” end-to-end. You use AI to work smarter and solve problems faster. Here, you’ll tackle complex, high‑visibility problems with exceptional teammates and grow your career as we build the future of global banking. If that sounds like you, let’s build what’s next.

# **About the team**

Kai is Airwallex’s AI assistant, designed to help customers to accomplish complex financial work with great speed and control. We are building trusted agentic experiences that can understand intent, retrieve the right business context, reason over product and data, and take appropriate actions.

As Engineering Lead, you will own the technical design, execution, and people leadership for Kai engineering team. You will turn rapidly evolving LLM and agent capabilities into reliable, observable, and safe production systems that solve meaningful customer and business problems.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You will set a high bar for architecture and engineering quality, grow a strong team, and work closely with Product, Design, Data, Security, Infrastructure, and domain teams across Airwallex. You will balance rapid learning with the rigor required for a global fintech platform.

# **What you'll do**

As the Lead engineer in our Generative AI department, you will lead the team and help define the technical and strategic vision for next-generation AI solutions. You will drive engineering excellence across Kai. Your work will set the standard for AI engineering excellence, paving the way for the next wave of intelligent products and services.

This role is based in Singapore.

## **Responsibilities:**

* **Lead and grow an exceptional team:** Manage, coach, and develop a team of AI, backend, and frontend engineers. Set clear expectations, build an inclusive high-performance culture, and raise the engineering bar through hiring, feedback, and technical mentorship.
* **Evolve technical architecture for Kai:** Define and evolve the architecture for agent orchestration, context and retrieval, tool integrations, identity and access control, observability, and evaluation systems. Make sound trade-offs across quality, latency, reliability, cost, security, and time to market.
* **Build trusted AI products:** Lead the delivery of production-grade AI features from discovery through launch and iteration. Establish clear product and model success metrics, instrument customer journeys, and use real-world feedback to continuously improve Kai’s usefulness and trustworthiness.
* **Make evaluation and safety release disciplines:** Build repeatable, versioned evaluation practices for task success, groundedness, tool use, safety, and domain-specific failure modes. Define launch criteria, staged-rollout and rollback mechanisms, and monitoring that detects regressions as models, prompts, and data evolve.
* **Deliver resilient, scalable systems:** Drive engineering excellence across service design, APIs, data pipelines, reliability, performance, cost efficiency, testing, incident response, and operational readiness. Define and improve SLOs for critical Kai services.
* **Partner across the business:** Work closely with Product, Design, Data, Security teams to translate business needs and model capabilities into secure, coherent customer experiences. Communicate technical decisions and risks clearly to stakeholders.
* **Enable responsible action-taking:** Champion robust authentication, authorisation, permission checks, auditability, and human-in-the-loop patterns for agent actions. Ensure Kai behaves predictably and appropriately in the context of Airwallex’s customers, products, and regulatory obligations.
* **Build for leverage:** Create reusable agent platforms, developer tooling, quality frameworks, and engineering standards that allow multiple teams to safely ship high-quality AI experiences.

# **Who you are**

We're looking for people who meet the minimum qualifications for this role. The preferred qualifications are great to have, but are not mandatory.

## **Minimum qualifications:**

* **Experienced engineering leader:** You have 8+ years of software engineering experience, including 2+ years leading, managing, or formally mentoring engineers. You have a track record of building strong teams and delivering complex products end to end.
* **Hands-on Agent builder:** You have deep experience designing and operating scalable agentic architecture, backend or distributed systems.
* **AI product and platform fluency:** You understand the engineering realities of retrieval, model integration, agent workflows, evaluation, observability, and changing model behaviour.
* **Quality and reliability driven:** You bring a disciplined approach to evaluation, monitoring, incident management, performance, and operational readiness. You know that AI quality requires measurement and iteration, not intuition alone.
* **Security-minded:** You understand secure software design and appreciate the importance of authentication, authorisation, data protection, auditability, and abuse prevention in systems that access sensitive data or initiate actions.

#singapore

## **Applicant Safety Policy: Fraud and Third-Party Recruiters**

_To protect you from recruitment scams, please be aware that Airwallex will not ask for bank details, sensitive ID numbers (i.e. passport), or any form of payment during the application or interview process. All official communication will come from an @_[_airwallex.com_](http://airwallex.com) _email address. Please apply only through_ [_careers.airwallex.com_](http://careers.airwallex.com) _or our official LinkedIn page._

_Airwallex does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms/recruiters. Airwallex will not pay any fees to search firms/recruiters if a candidate is submitted by a search firm/recruiter unless an agreement has been entered into with respect to specific open position(s). Search firms/recruiters submitting resumes to Airwallex on an unsolicited basis shall be deemed to accept this condition, regardless of any other provision to the contrary._

## **Equal opportunity**

Airwallex is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Airwallex is considered based on merit, qualifications, competence and talent. We don’t regard color, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, ancestry, citizenship, sex, marital or family status, disability, gender, or any other legally protected status when making our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.