AI/Automation Development Lead

About this role

Job Description: Department:   IT Operations — AI, Automation & Tech Ops  

Location:   New York (Hybrid)  

Reports To:   Engineering Manager — AI, Automation & Tech Ops  

ROLE OVERVIEW  

The AI/Automation Development Lead is the hands-on technical leader for a small, high-output development team building AI-native applications and agentic automation systems. This is a coding-first role: you will write production code daily,   lead   by example in the codebase, and set the technical standard for a growing engineering function.  

The defining characteristic of this role is that AI is not a feature you bolt on — it is how you build. You develop with Claude Code or equivalent AI-assisted tools as your default workflow. You design and implement agentic AI systems — autonomous agents, skills, tool-use patterns, and multi-step automation workflows — as core deliverables, not side projects. The stack (Flask/Python, React, Azure, MySQL) is the toolbox; agentic AI development is the craft.  

You will take architectural direction and scoped requirements from the Engineering Manager, then own the technical execution: building, shipping, reviewing code, and driving the team to deliver.   Approximately 60 –70% of your time is hands-on development; 30–40% is technical leadership, code review, and team coordination.  

HANDS-ON DEVELOPMENT — AI & AGENTIC SYSTEMS  

• Design and build agentic AI solutions as a primary focus: autonomous agents, skills, tool-use patterns, and multi-step automation workflows using LLM platforms (Claude, OpenAI, Copilot)  

• Develop AI-powered applications that integrate agentic capabilities into enterprise workflows — replacing manual processes with intelligent automation  

• Build full-stack applications using Flask/Python backends and React frontends, deploying to Azure Container Apps  

• Develop with Claude Code or equivalent AI-assisted tools as your default workflow — AI-assisted development is the baseline expectation, not a nice-to-have  

• Design and   maintain   MySQL database schemas, write performant SQL, and build ETL pipelines for enterprise data workflows  

• Implement end-to-end solutions incorporating data pipelines, automation workflows, and AI capabilities across multiple active codebases  

• Work within established CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps, enforce branch protection policies, and own Git workflow discipline across the development team  

TECHNICAL LEADERSHIP & TEAM DEVELOPMENT  

• Provide technical direction and hands-on code review for a combined team of onshore and offshore developers  

• Establish and enforce development standards: branching strategy, PR-based workflows, test coverage expectations, and deployment procedures  

• Drive adoption of AI-assisted development practices across the team as a practical approach to accelerating delivery  

• Conduct regular code reviews and pair programming sessions to raise the team’s technical bar  

• Facilitate knowledge sharing and cross-training across time zones to reduce single-point-of-failure risks  

• Participate in hiring and onboarding as the engineering function grows  

EXECUTION & DELIVERY  

• Take architectural direction and scoped requirements from the Engineering Manager and drive them through to production-ready code  

• Own delivery timelines for development workstreams, balancing speed with sustainability — the ability to say “yes, and here’s what it’ll take” is valued over unconditional commitment  

• Build solutions that work within established governance frameworks (Legal, Security, CIO approval chains) without treating compliance as an obstacle  

• Ensure applications meet compliance requirements (ICF/JSOX, data privacy regulations) by design through code quality and testing discipline  

• Participate in discovery sessions and requirements gathering alongside the Engineering Manager for complex projects  

REQUIREMENTS  

Technical Expertise  

• 5+ years of full-stack development experience with Python/Flask and React or equivalent modern frameworks  

• Practical experience designing and building agentic AI workflows — autonomous agents, skills, tool-use patterns, and multi-step automation using LLM platforms (Claude, OpenAI, or equivalent)  

• Proficiency   with AI-assisted development tools (Claude Code, Cursor, or similar) as a daily working practice, not occasional experimentation  

• Strong experience with Azure cloud services, particularly Azure Container Apps, Key Vault, and containerized deployments  

• Expert-level SQL and hands-on experience with relational database administration, schema design, and performance optimization (MySQL preferred, Postgres or equivalent acceptable)  

• Solid Git workflow management: branch protection policies, PR-based promotion flows, merge conflict resolution, and the discipline to enforce them across a team  

• Working knowledge of CI/CD deployment workflows in Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions — you   won’t   own pipeline development, but you need to work fluently within them  

• Experience with ETL pipeline development using Azure Data Factory or equivalent platforms  

• API development and integration experience (REST, webhooks, OAuth/SCIM flows)  

Leadership & Collaboration  

• Experience leading or mentoring a small development team, including distributed/offshore team members  

• Strong code review discipline and ability to raise the technical bar for others  

• Comfort working within structured governance and approval processes  

• Clear communication skills — able to explain technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders and translate engineering constraints into plain language  

• Experience with Agile/Scrum practices and comfort with iterative delivery  

Mindset  

• Engineering fundamentals first: you write clean, maintainable code and expect the same from your team, whether the code was AI-assisted or hand-written  

• Ownership mentality — you see a broken pipeline, a drifting schema, or

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