Senior Software Engineer - AI

The Role

The Senior Software Engineer is a leader within the engineering space, enabling their team and collaborating closely with cross-functional teams to build applied Generative AI capabilities for the Seequent Evo geoscience data platform. Based in Christchurch (working in an office-based model), you will solve complex technical challenges, provide mentorship, and directly influence how Gen AI is integrated and operated at scale. As the founding member of this brand-new team, you will also play a key role in hiring and growing the team over the next year to help our global users understand semantic data, automate workflows, and interact with AI agents.

In this role, you will have the opportunity to:

• Architect and develop complex software applications, components, and integration services, choosing appropriate modelling techniques and utilizing modern cloud services.
• Research and implement advanced Gen AI frameworks, including Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems, semantic search, vector databases, and Agent-to-Agent protocols.
• Plan, schedule, and coordinate software releases across multiple teams, managing the entire release lifecycle while ensuring deliverables meet quality and security standards.
• Manage small projects or sub-projects independently, preparing realistic plans, managing risks, tracking schedules, and ensuring alignment with organizational standards.
• Support engineering leadership by mentoring and guiding team members, driving personal development, and leading design and code reviews to ensure robust software construction.

Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Experience:

• A Bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, or an equivalent technical field.
• 7+ years of professional experience in software engineering roles, with at least 1 year of hands-on experience building and operating Gen AI products using LLMs in production.
• Deep knowledge of RAG systems, semantic search, vector databases, and optimizing knowledge retrieval for production environments.
• Practical familiarity with agentic frameworks like Model Context Protocol (MCP) or Agent2Agent (A2A) protocols to expose services to AI applications.
• Strong experience in cloud development, containerized systems (Docker/Kubernetes), CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and building FastAPI services.

Assets:

• The ability to work autonomously, leveraging discretion to address complex issues while planning, monitoring, and executing targets within time and quality constraints.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills to influence stakeholders, facilitate cross-functional collaboration, and make key technical decisions that impact project success.
• Proficient problem-solving skills to navigate diverse, complex technical or professional tasks using investigative, creative, and innovative approaches.
• Strong mentoring capabilities to share deep industry and domain knowledge effectively while evaluating and promoting software security, privacy, and ethical practices.
• Flexibility to work in our Christchurch office three days a week, with the adaptability to coordinate with global teams across different time zones when required.