Senior Lead API Engineer (AI)

TL;DR

Senior Lead API Engineer (AI): Leading the technical definition and lifecycle of Parts eCommerce APIs to power digital experiences with an accent on API governance and scalability. Focus on designing AI-enabled APIs, integrating LLMs, and ensuring high-performance RESTful and event-driven architectures.

Location: Chicago or Peoria, Illinois, USA. Sponsorship and relocation are not available.

Salary: $128,470 - $208,770

Company

World-leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, utilizing its digital arm, Cat Digital, to build industry-leading technology solutions.

What you will do

• Act as the technical product owner for Parts eCommerce APIs, managing contracts, versioning, and roadmaps.
• Design and enforce API quality standards for performance, security, and operational readiness.
• Implement API proxies and policies using Apigee, Azure API Management, or AWS API Gateway.
• Guide teams in building RESTful and event-driven APIs to ensure consistency across the eCommerce platform.
• Collaborate with SRE teams to ensure APIs are observable and operable via monitoring and alerting.
• Mentor engineers on API design patterns, usage, and platform standards.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience (5+ years with a Master's in Computer Science).
• Proven experience in designing, governing, or operating AI-enabled APIs and integrating LLMs.
• Proficiency with message brokers (Kafka, RabbitMQ) and various datastores (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, DynamoDB).
• Experience with public clouds (AWS, Azure) and CI/CD tools like Jenkins or Azure DevOps.
• Strong knowledge of computer science fundamentals, data structures, and algorithms.
• Must be based in the US; sponsorship and relocation are not provided.

Nice to have

• Familiarity with Model Context Protocol (MCP) for AI agent discovery.
• Understanding of agent-to-agent (A2A) interaction patterns.
• Experience with TDD/BDD and testing tools like Cucumber.
• Expertise in writing and debugging multi-threaded applications.

Culture & Benefits

• Opportunity to work with a Fortune 100 leader on a global scale.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Financial security through 401(k) savings plans, HSA, and FSAs.
• Generous paid time off, including vacation, holidays, and volunteer days.
• Support for lifelong learning via tuition reimbursement and career development.
• Inclusive environment with parental and adoption benefits.