Lead Software Engineer (AI) - Onsite - Reston, VA - Freewheel

FreeWheel, a Comcast company, provides comprehensive ad platforms for publishers, advertisers, and media buyers. Powered by premium video content, robust data, and advanced technology, we’re making it easier for buyers and sellers to transact across all screens, data types, and sales channels. As a global company, we have offices in nine countries and can insert advertisements around the world.

Job Summary

This job leads the design and delivery of AI-enabled product capabilities that bring agentic workflows, intelligent automation, and practical decision support into FreeWheel’s applications. It helps create reusable patterns and scalable solutions that allow teams to apply AI consistently across products, business workflows, and customer-facing experiences while ensuring those capabilities are reliable, useful, and maintainable. The role is pivotal in driving product innovation, cross-functional alignment, and the ongoing improvement of AI capabilities that support FreeWheel’s business and product objectives. 

Job Description

Preferred Qualifications 

• 6+ years of experience in software engineering, with strong focus on AI/ML systems in production 

• Strong programming skills in Python (Go a plus) 

• Experience building and deploying Agents or LLM-based applications into production environments 

• Experience with distributed systems and real-time inference architectures 

• Knowledge of core AI domains such as NLP, recommendation systems, or time series modeling 

• Experience with model lifecycle practices (evaluation, monitoring, retraining, and iteration) 

• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and AI tooling ecosystems 

• Ability to translate business problems into scalable AI solutions and drive implementation end-to-end 

Job Description

• Creating, enabling, and driving innovation by bringing agentic workflows and AI capabilities into FreeWheel’s applications, helping teams unlock new ways to automate work, improve decision-making, and deliver more intelligent product experiences. 

• Leading the design and development of AI-enabled product capabilities, including services and workflows that help teams deliver practical insights and automation. 

• Ensuring AI features are reliable, useful, and maintainable as they move from development into customer-facing products. 

• Establishing reusable patterns that help teams apply AI capabilities consistently across applications and business workflows. 

• Designing and delivering AI solutions that meet product and business requirements across modern cloud-based environments. 

• Understanding how AI capabilities connect across products and services so teams can troubleshoot issues, assess impact, and improve outcomes. 

• Partnering with product, data, and other engineering teams to clarify business problems and turn them into scalable AI-enabled solutions. 

• Improving performance, responsiveness, cost, and scalability for AI-powered features. 

• Contributing to technical decisions that shape how AI capabilities are built, evaluated, and improved over time. 

• Leading major technical initiatives and collaborating across teams to deliver high-quality product outcomes. 

• Mentoring engineers on practical AI development, system design, and production-quality engineering practices. 

• Consistent exercise of independent judgment and discretion in matters of significance. 

• Regular, consistent and punctual attendance. Must be able to work nights and weekends, variable schedule(s) as necessary. 

• Other duties and responsibilities as assigned. 

Responsibilities:

• Leading the development and implementation of innovative software and web applications, ensuring they align with business objectives and user requirements
• Integrating new systems seamlessly with existing infrastructure, focusing on scalability, security, and continuous performance improvement
• Mentoring team members and providing technical training, fostering a collaborative environment for knowledge sharing and professional growth
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure successful application integration, advocating for best practices in software development
• Participating in or leading peer programming sessions, design sprints, or prototyping sessions
• Driving the creation, maintenanc