Skechers IT division is transforming our engineering practice by embracing high-performing, cloud native APIs and applications using a modern technology stack that includes serverless, microservices, containers, Boomi iPaaS, QA, and zero-touch delivery pipelines. Additionally, Skechers is enabling our business with AI through the development and adoption of private, proprietary AI technologies. The Lead Generative AI Engineer is a key role within the Software Engineering and Architecture organization and will be central to continually developing and improving our Generative AI platform and technologies within Skechers.

The Lead GenAI (GenerativeAI) Engineer will spearhead the development of Skechers’ proprietary Generative AI tools. This role is at the forefront of enhancing our private GenAI platform and Large Language Models (LLM) and is pivotal in enabling future GenAI use cases within our platform. The Lead GenAI Engineer will collaborate and work with high-velocity software engineering teams and coordinate across various departments to bring our GenAI capabilities to new heights. The candidate should be an experienced and motivated technologist who possesses a unique balance of technical depth and strong interpersonal skills.

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of Skechers’ Generative AI tools, including privately instanced LLMs, our private GenAI platform, and GenAI use cases.
• Coordinate with cross-functional teams including security, UI/UX, data integration, architecture, and several business units to integrate and refine our AI solutions.
• Develop and maintain scalable AI pipelines using AWS services such as Bedrock, Sagemaker, Lambda, EC2, and S3.
• Utilize Amazon Web Services (AWS), Claude LLM, Stable Diffusion, keyword vector search, retrieval augmented generation (RAG), and GDPR-compliant practices in daily tasks.
• Develop and deploy chatbots, business-focused use cases, and additional GenAI tools, ensuring robust, functional, scalable, secure, and user-friendly solutions.
• Stay up to date with the latest advancements in generative AI and apply them to solve business problems.
• Implement leading practices in AI model training, testing, and validation.
• Execute against the product backlog efficiently, ensuring quick resolution of issues and leading practices in development and deployment.
• Assist with QA to ensure all user test cases are defined and tested.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• No

Job Requirements

• Proficiency in AWS services, including but not limited to Bedrock, Sagemaker, Lambda, EC2, and S3.
• Strong command of generative AI models, including but not limited to Claude LLM and Stable Diffusion
• Strong command of keyword vector search, retrieval augmented generation (RAG), and GDPR-compliant data handling.
• Strong programming skills in Python and familiarity with AI frameworks such as LangChain.
• Experience with agile methodologies and tools, specifically JIRA by Confluence.
• Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and the ability to coordinate across multiple teams.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to lead a small team.
• A passion for innovation and keeping abreast of the latest trends in generative AI.
• Experience with Docker and container orchestration systems such as AWS ECS/EKS/Fargate
• Experience with AWS CloudFormation and CodeDeploy for CI/CD pipelines
• Proficient in using SQL and NoSQL databases such as MySQL and CloudantDB or MongoDB, Redis is a plus 
• Proficient in using software developing tool including Git, Jenkins and Postman
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills and able to mentor junior engineers
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, an independent worker with high degree of self-motivation

Education and Experience- 

• B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or equivalent or proven years of experience.
• 8+ years of experience in software development, including some experience with generative models.
• 3+ years of experience with backend server language Python. Java/Scala a plus.
• 5+ years of experience in developing REST APIs with JSON, HTTP protocol, Postman and/or curl
• Web development experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Experience with AWS Lambda, API Gateway, S3, is a plus
• Experience working with the Dell Boomi Platform
• Working knowledge of Linux, Windows, SQL and NoSQL database systems (MongoDB), and networking.
• Experience integrating with 3rd party APIs.
• Experience working with DevOps teams on implementing CI/CD pipelines and monitoring/alerting.
• Ability to communicate complex topics with precision and accuracy.
• Ability to categorize and communicate requirements accurately and effectively.
• Experience working directly with business facing groups outside of development is a plus.
• Experience working within an Agile team a plus.

The salary range for this position is $120,000-$175,000 USD per year.

About Skechers
Skechers (NYSE: SKX), a global, Fortune 500® brand develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle and performance footwear, apparel, and accessories. Developing comfort technologies is the foundation of all we do – delivering stylish, innovative, and quality products. Serving over 180 countries and territories, Skechers connects customers to products through department and specialty stores, e-commerce and digital stores, and through our more than 5,200 company-and third-party-owned retail locations. Headquartered in Southern California, with offices and distribution centers around the globe, Skechers has spent 30 years helping people of all ages look and feel good.

Equal Employment Opportunity
Skechers is committed to providing a safe, inclusive, and respectful work environment. Skechers provides equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants for employment without regard race, color, religion, gender, gender identification and expression, national origin, marital status, age, disability, genetic information, military status, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic established by local, state or federal law.

Reasonable Accommodation
Applicants for employment who require a reasonable accommodation to apply for a job should request appropriate accommodation by emailing [email protected].
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each job responsibility satisfactorily.  The skills, abilities and physical demands described are representative of those duties that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities, who are otherwise qualified for the job position, to perform the essential functions.