Senior Software Engineer

We are seeking a talented Senior Software Engineer to join our dynamic team working on an innovative healthcare-focused Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system. In this role, you will play a crucial part in developing and maintaining a production-scale RAG system that integrates document retrieval with responsive generation to yield accurate and context-aware answers. Your responsibilities will include designing, implementing, and operating comprehensive RAG workflows, while collaborating closely with data engineers, platform teams, and product partners to deliver robust, scalable, and observable systems that enhance healthcare solutions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Architect, implement, test, and maintain end-to-end RAG workflows, ensuring seamless integration and operation.
• Ingest and normalize diverse document sources effectively.
• Generate and manage embeddings, index and query vector databases, retrieve relevant passages, apply reranking or fusion strategies, and create effective prompts for LLMs.
• Build scalable, low-latency services and APIs (Python preferred; familiarity with other languages is a plus) while ensuring high production reliability through monitoring and alerting.
• Integrate with vector databases and optimize embedding pipelines for enhanced performance in terms of latency, throughput, and cost.
• Design and implement MLOps workflows including model/version management, experiments, feature stores, and CI/CD for ML-driven services.
• Develop strong data governance practices around ingestion, data provenance, quality checks, and access control measures.
• Work collaboratively with data engineers to enhance retrieval quality through effective embedding strategies, prompt engineering, and evaluation metrics, such as precision/recall and user-centric metrics.
• Implement monitoring and observability mechanisms for RAG components, focusing on latency, success rate, retrieval quality, and data drift.
• Ensure adherence to security, privacy, and compliance protocols related to authentication, data masking, and PII handling.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering with a focus on designing and delivering production systems.
• Proficiency in programming (Python required; NodeJs preferred).
• A deep understanding of retrieval-augmented or application-scale NLP systems, with practical experience in building RAG pipelines.
• Hands-on expertise in ML workflow tools and MLOps practices, including model serving and CI/CD for Machine Learning.
• Experience with cloud infrastructure and modern software practices (AWS/GCP/Azure; Docker; Kubernetes).
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills coupled with excellent communication abilities to work within cross-functional teams.
• Familiarity with data governance and security best practices.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with agentic workflow tools (e.g., LangGraph) and knowledge of prompt engineering for LLMs.
• Familiarity with evaluating different LLMs and knowledge of methodologies for assessing retrieval and QA systems.
• Experience in data processing frameworks (SQL, Pandas, Spark) and managing large-scale data pipelines.
• Background in performance optimization for low-latency AI services.
• Experience with monitoring tools for system visibility and troubleshooting.
• Expertise in cost optimization and minimizing token usage within RAG systems.
• Comfort in designing and implementing security measures tailored for data-intensive AI systems.

Join Elsevier, a globally recognized information analytics company focusing on scientific, technical, and medical (STM) research. As a leading publisher, we provide vital tools and services across various fields, enabling researchers and professionals to make impactful contributions.

Base Pay Range: $95,300 - $158,800, with geographic differentials applicable. For positions performed in New Jersey, the base range is $107,646 - $171,954. This role is also eligible for an annual incentive bonus.

We prioritize your well-being, offering a comprehensive benefits package tailored for your specific location.

Elsevier is committed to an equitable hiring process. Should you require accommodations during the application process, please inform us of your needs.

We are an equal opportunity employer, ensuring fairness in employment practices for all candidates.