Data Engineer, AI Backend

Toppan Merrill

. Publish and own the AI backend’s API specification, starting with a working stub, then build and operate the production services behind it .

Posted 11/3/2026full-timeRemote • United StatesMid-LevelSenior💰 $130,000 - $165,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in building and operating production data pipelines and services, particularly in Python and related technologies. Strong capabilities in API specification management, data modeling, and ensuring data quality and observability in AI backend systems.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Python ProgrammingData Pipeline DevelopmentAPI Specification ManagementDatabricks or Apache SparkData Quality and Observability

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Hard Skills

Data EngineeringBackend EngineeringProduction ServicesFastAPIData ModelingPipeline ReliabilityTesting PracticesInformation RetrievalEvaluation Dataset CreationRetrieval-Augmented Generation

Soft Skills

Cross-Team CollaborationCommunication

Tools & Technologies

DatabricksApache SparkFastAPIAzure Data ServicesEDGARXBRL

Industry Keywords

SEC FilingsDocument DataCitation IndexProvenanceSource Traceability

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

ApacheAzurePythonSpark

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Publish and own the AI backend’s API specification, starting with a working stub, then build and operate the production services behind it
Keep the API contract stable and communicate changes clearly to dependent teams
Build a document-context service that provides relevant context from the attorney’s document while respecting access permissions
Build ingestion, processing, and indexing pipelines for SEC filings from EDGAR to support peer-company analysis
Create a citation index connecting AI-generated answers to exact source sentences in underlying filings
Build services routing requests across multiple AI models with logging, monitoring, reliability controls, and usage and cost visibility
Develop and maintain pipelines producing evaluation data for data scientists to validate AI quality
Establish data-quality, observability, and operational standards for the AI backend
Own AI backend data services and pipelines from initial design through production operation
Collaborate with data scientists, the editor team, and platform engineers
Within the first 90 days, own the API specification and stub, stand up the document-context service in a test environment, and initiate SEC filing ingestion for an initial set of companies

Requirements

What you’ll need

5+ years of professional data engineering or backend engineering experience in Python
Experience building and operating production data pipelines at scale using Databricks, Apache Spark, or a comparable platform
Experience building and operating production Python services (FastAPI or similar), including APIs other engineering teams depend on: publishing, versioning, and maintaining a stable contract
Experience working with text or document data, search, indexing, or information-retrieval systems
Strong data modeling, pipeline reliability, testing, and observability practices
A track record of delivering against firm milestones with cross-team dependencies
Preferred: Experience with retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) or vector/hybrid search in production
Preferred: Experience building citation, provenance, or source-traceability capabilities for search or AI-generated answers
Preferred: Experience with SEC filings, EDGAR, XBRL, or other complex financial and regulatory documents
Preferred: Experience with Azure data and AI services, including multi-model routing, usage monitoring, and cost controls
Preferred: Experience building evaluation datasets or pipelines for generative AI

Benefits

Comp & perks

Enhanced Medical, Dental, Vision, and Life insurance for employees and dependents
Employer Contribution to 401(k)
Paid time off including vacation, sick, community involvement, bereavement, jury duty, and holidays
Paid parental leave
Paid community involvement/volunteer days
Wellness Resources and Employee Assistance Programming