Tech Lead (Entry-Level): AI Simulation & Backend

About the Role

We are looking for an ambitious engineer ready to step into their first leadership role.

At Preferences AI, we are transforming market research by deploying surveys to both real people and advanced AI agents. As Tech Lead, you will own meaningful parts of our platform end to end, from the backend infrastructure that moves survey data at scale, to the simulation environments that bring our generative AI customer personas to life.

This is a role for someone who wants the technical depth of a senior individual contributor and the ownership of a team lead, without waiting five years to get it. You will write code every day, and you will also help shape what the team builds next.

What You Will Work On

Depending on your strengths and interests, you will take the lead on core components of our platform:

• The AI Simulation Engine. Orchestrating multi-agent LLM systems that create dedicated testing environments. This includes features like "time-lapse" simulations that inject market shifts (an economic change, a competitor launch) to model how our AI agents' preferences evolve.
• Real-Time Data Pipelines. Designing high-throughput, event-driven infrastructure to process large volumes of survey data from human respondents and AI agents simultaneously.
• Speed and Privacy. Reducing latency between a survey response and our analytics dashboard, while working with secure, distributed infrastructure to maintain anonymised digital identities.
• Platform Foundations. Setting the standards our codebase grows into: testing, deployment, documentation, and the architectural decisions that are much cheaper to get right early.

Your Responsibilities

• Own the design, build, and deployment of specific backend and AI simulation features, from first sketch to production.
• Break larger initiatives into clear, achievable pieces of work and help junior engineers and interns deliver them well.
• Write clean, well-documented, efficient code, and raise the bar for the code around you through thoughtful reviews.
• Contribute to architecture discussions and product strategy sessions. We want your opinion on what we build, not just how.
• Test, debug, and optimise complex agent interactions and high-volume data flows.
• Act as a technical point of contact for the rest of the business, translating between engineering realities and commercial goals.

The Tech Stack You'll Work With

Python, Node.js, Cloud Services (Google GCP), event-driven architectures (such as Cloud Pub/Sub), and LLM agentic orchestration. You do not need to have used all of these. You need to be the kind of engineer who picks them up quickly.

Why This Role Is Exciting

You will get deep, practical exposure to two of the most in-demand areas in technology today: generative AI orchestration and scalable backend architecture. Because we are a small team, the logic you build directly governs how our digital personas behave and how quickly our clients receive real-time market intelligence.

You will also be building your leadership craft in a setting where it actually counts: small enough that your decisions are visible, supported enough that you are not doing it alone.

What We Are Looking For

• A B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Roughly 1–3 years of professional software engineering experience, including at least one project you owned from start to finish.
• Strong programming skills in Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, or Go.
• Genuine interest in generative AI, large language models, and backend system architecture.
• Clear written and verbal communication. As a lead, how you explain a decision matters as much as the decision itself.
• The judgement to know when to ask for help, and the initiative to move without being asked.

Bonus Points For

• Experience building and maintaining APIs in production.
• Database design and management.
• Prior experience mentoring interns or junior engineers, formally or informally.
• Familiarity with blockchain or distributed ledger concepts.

Working With Us

We are based in Fortress Hill, Hong Kong, and we strongly prefer someone who can join us in the office. A great deal of what we do (debugging a simulation, arguing through an architecture decision, onboarding a new intern) simply happens faster in person.

Compensation is competitive and reflects both your experience and the scope of ownership in this role. We are happy to discuss specifics early in the process.