AI Data Engineer

About Ascendion

Ascendion is a full-service digital engineering solutions company. We make and manage software platforms and products that power growth and deliver captivating experiences to consumers and employees. Our engineering, cloud, data, experience design, and talent solution capabilities accelerate transformation and impact for enterprise clients. Headquartered in New Jersey, our workforce of 6,000+ Ascenders delivers solutions from around the globe. Ascendion is built differently to engineer the next.

Ascendion Engineering to elevate life

We have a culture built on opportunity, inclusion, and a spirit of partnership. Come, change the world with us:

• Build the coolest tech for world’s leading brands
• Solve complex problems - and learn new skills
• Experience the power of transforming digital engineering for Fortune 500 clients
• Master your craft with leading training programs and hands-on experience

Experience a community of change makers!

Join a culture of high-performing innovators with endless ideas and a passion for tech. Our culture is the fabric of our company, and it is what makes us unique and diverse. The way we share ideas, learning, experiences, successes, and joy allows everyone to be their best at Ascendion.

Role : Senior Backend Engineer - AI & Data Engineering

Location: 100% Remote

Role Overview

We are seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to build scalable data systems and AI-powered workflows for enterprise productivity products. The ideal candidate will have strong backend engineering, data pipeline, cloud, and practical LLM experience.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and maintain synthetic data-generation systems and scalable ETL/data-processing pipelines.
• Build reliable backend services, APIs, and cloud-based solutions.
• Integrate LLMs and develop automated frameworks to evaluate AI output quality.
• Implement data validation, automated testing, and monitoring to improve system reliability.
• Optimize data storage, retrieval, orchestration, and distributed processing.
• Collaborate with engineering and product teams to deliver maintainable solutions.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of software or data engineering experience.
• Strong backend programming skills in Python, Java/Spring Boot, C#/.NET, or equivalent.
• Hands-on experience building ETL pipelines and scalable data-processing workflows.
• Practical understanding of LLMs, AI systems, prompting, and model limitations.
• Cloud engineering experience and knowledge of data storage, modeling, and retrieval.
• Experience with automated testing, data validation, and pipeline reliability.
• Knowledge of orchestration, asynchronous processing, and distributed systems.

Preferred Skills

• Apache Spark, PySpark, Kafka, or equivalent technologies.
• LLM integration and AI output evaluation.
• Workflow orchestration tools such as Apache Airflow.
• SQL/NoSQL databases, data lakes, CI/CD, and observability.

Ideal Candidate

• A hands-on engineer with strong analytical and problem-solving skills who can independently build, troubleshoot, and maintain reliable backend and data systems while supporting evolving AI initiatives.

Salary Range: The salary for this position is between $150,000 - $155,000 annually.  Factors which may affect pay within this range may include geography/market, skills, education, experience and other qualifications of the successful candidate.

Benefits The Company offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements: [medical insurance] [dental insurance] [vision insurance] [401(k) retirement plan] [long-term disability insurance] [short-term disability insurance] [personal days accrued each calendar year. The Paid time off benefits meet the paid sick and safe time laws that pertains to the City/ State] [12-15 days of paid vacation time] [6-8 weeks of paid parental leave after a year of service] [9 paid holidays and 2 floating holidays per calendar year] [Ascendion Learning Management System] [Tuition Reimbursement Program]

Want to change the world? Let us know.

Tell us about your experiences, education, and ambitions. Bring your knowledge, unique viewpoint, and creativity to the table. Let’s talk!