Mid -Senior AI Engineer
Pubblicato il 09-08-2026 - KIWI VAPOR in Venezia
About us
KIWI is not just a company, it's a revolution. Since 2019, we have been passionately committed to creating innovative solutions that improve people's lives, helping as many smokers as possible quit smoking. With our headquarters in Croatia and a rapidly expanding international presence, our goal is to become the reference brand in Europe and a global benchmark in the e-cigarette industry.
Non si lasci sfuggire questa occasione: si candidi rapidamente se la sua esperienza e le sue competenze corrispondono a quanto descritto di seguito.
Our products combine cutting-edge design, innovative technology and a strong commitment to sustainability, proving that changing the world is possible, one step at a time.
KIWI is looking for a Mid-Senior AI Engineer to join its international team.
The role
We're looking for a Mid-Senior AI Engineer to help us build and maintain our internal AI stack — a greenfield, privacy-first platform you'll help shape from the ground up. Hands‑on role with direct exposure to the tech lead: solid operational autonomy on day‑to‑day work, with architectural and stack decisions discussed, mentored, and approved before go‑live. You'll work closely with whoever drives the technical roadmap, with a clear path to grow into wider ownership over time — you won't be working in isolation.
What you’ll build (core)
- Italian‑language audio/voice AI pipelines on on‑prem infrastructure (privacy by design)
- Autonomous LLM agent orchestration with cost, turn, and human‑in‑the‑loop guardrails
- Custom MCP servers and tooling: resumable LLM session orchestration, integration with internal tools
- Italian NLP: sentiment and topic models, multilingual embeddings,
domain‑specific document classification
You’ll also touch
- AI integration with the company's ERP and e‑commerce platforms
- OCR on domain‑specific documents
- Operational PHP work on existing e‑commerce codebases (debug, maintenance, small changes)
Core technologies
- Python 3.11+, async ecosystem, testing, structured logging
- Applied LLMs: Anthropic Claude (SDK and headless mode), Ollama, local runtimes on Apple Silicon, Whisper
- Agent tooling: building custom MCP servers, resumable session orchestration, integration with internal tools
- Italian NLP: spaCy, Italian‑specific sentiment and topic models, multilingual embeddings
- On‑prem deploy on macOS, secure remote access
- Agentic Git workflow: parallel worktrees, issue-driven, PRs with mandatory human review
Must Have
- 2–4 years in AI/ML engineering or Python backend, with hands‑on LLM experience (production exposure a strong plus)
- At least one NLP/AI pipeline or LLM feature shipped beyond the prototype stage
- Familiarity with the MCP ecosystem: either you've built a custom MCP server, or you understand tool design, schema, and error‑handling well enough to build one with guidance
- Comfortable with Anthropic/OpenAI APIs, including tool‑use and basic cost management
- Working PHP knowledge (debug, maintenance,
small developments on existing codebases)
- Italian native or C1; fluent technical English
- Collaborative approach: able to discuss and justify technical choices, open to reviews, mentoring, and scope revisions
Nice to Have
- You've experimented with local LLM runtimes (Ollama, MLX, vLLM) and understand their trade‑offs
- Experience with ERP platforms (Odoo or similar), even just on the integration side
- Experience with Magento or PHP‑based e‑commerce platforms
- Exposure to autonomous agents with guardrails (cost cap, turn cap, human xysqume escalation)
Engagement & compensation
- Independent consulting engagement via Italian VAT (P.IVA) — KIWI is a Croatia‑based company and this role is structured as a professional services engagement with an Italy‑based specialist who already operates as an independent consultant
- Monthly flat fee of € 4,000–5,000 VAT included for the services defined in the project scope, subject to renegotiation if scope or duration changes
- Consulting engagement tied to project milestones and deliverables, renewable based on outcomes achieved
- The overall fee takes into account agreed periods of unavailability planned in advance
- Accommodation and logistics costs are reimbursed for the on‑site project ramp‑up period in Buje
- Dedicated budget for training and conferences to keep growing
Work mode
Full onboarding and shadowing on‑site at Buje, Croatia for the first 6 months, with company‑paid accommodation to make this phase as smooth as possible. After onboarding, we move to a hybrid/remote‑friendly model, with the exact arrangement agreed together based on how the role and the team have settled in.
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