Backend & Data Engineer — Multimodal AI Platform - Freelance

Location: Fully remote (Canada) Duration: Milestone-based freelance contract Overview A large-scale organization is building a next-generation multimodal AI platform to process vast volumes of imagery, video, and audio. The platform will perform automated first-pass analysis using computer vision, speech-to-text, and language models, then route findings to human experts for review and validation. This is a software architecture, integration, and data-engineering effort that assembles best-in-class existing AI services into a robust, vendor-agnostic, API-first production platform designed to scale into the petabytes. The role focuses on building the ingestion pipeline and data backbone that manages original media, AI-generated metadata, human-validated results, and full traceability. Key Responsibilities Build a media ingestion pipeline handling multiple imagery, video, and audio formats Design and implement a repository for original media, AI and operator-validated metadata, contextual data, workflow status, and evaluation results with end-to-end traceability Architect a system for serious scale supporting hundreds of terabytes growing into petabytes, tens of millions of managed objects, and heavy daily search load Develop documented REST APIs across every major capability Implement fast, reliable search and retrieval functionality Required Qualifications 6+ years in backend/data engineering with production ownership of large systems Demonstrated delivery of data platforms and object/blob storage at multi-hundred-terabyte-or-larger scale with specific examples of systems and scale operated Strong REST API design and implementation experience Hands-on experience with search/retrieval technologies (Elasticsearch/OpenSearch, vector stores) and metadata management at scale Prior delivery of systems of comparable scale and complexity, with references or portfolio Based in Canada and able to contract as an independent professional Preferred Qualifications Experience with media/broadcast formats (MXF, HEVC/AVC, XDCAM) and large-file handling Experience with cloud data platforms and orchestration tooling (Kafka, Airflow, Spark) Knowledge of data governance, lineage, and cataloging Experience delivering complex software systems for government or regulated industries Work Location & Requirements Fully remote position Must be based in Canada Independent contractor engagement (not employment) Selection process includes review of background and past work, followed by a short technical assessment/coding exercise

Build a scalable media ingestion pipeline and data backbone for a multimodal AI platform processing imagery, video, and audio. Design and implement REST APIs and search functionality to manage petabytes of data and AI-generated metadata.

Requires over 6 years of experience in backend/data engineering with a proven track record of managing large-scale data platforms (hundreds of terabytes). Candidates must be based in Canada and have expertise in REST APIs and search/retrieval technologies.

Relevées dans la description du poste. Confirmez les exigences importantes ci-dessus.

• Backend Engineering
• Data Engineering
• REST API Design
• Elasticsearch
• OpenSearch
• Vector Stores
• Object Storage
• Metadata Management
• Media Ingestion Pipelines
• Kafka
• Airflow
• Spark
• Cloud Data Platforms
• Data Governance
• Data Lineage
• Software Architecture

• Software
• Data & Analytics
• Technology
• Engineering
• Science & Research

Expérience minimale

5+ ans

Langue de l’offre

anglais

Heures de travail

40 heures par semaine

Niveau d’expérience

Mid-Senior level