Software Engineer Lead

About Acuity Inc.

Acuity Inc. (NYSE: AYI) is a leading industrial technology firm focused on applying technology to solve challenges in spaces, lighting, and other areas. The company operates through two major divisions, Acuity Brands Lighting (ABL) and Acuity Intelligent Spaces (AIS), developing and marketing products and services that positively impact people's lives. Acuity drives growth by innovating new products like lighting controls, building management solutions, and integrated audio, video, and control platforms, aiming to enhance customer outcomes, market share, and returns. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Acuity employs approximately 13,000 talented associates worldwide.

Role Overview

This position is for a Lead Engineer specializing in AI and Python who will influence the technical trajectory by providing leadership and collaboration. Responsible for leading an impactful AI engineering team, the role includes technical ownership with direct influence on product outcomes. The engineer will work closely with stakeholders to craft cloud-native, container-first, enterprise-grade solutions. This is a hands-on leadership role involving writing production code, guiding proofs-of-concept, validating architecture, establishing engineering standards, mentoring, and hiring to build a strong technical team culture.

Responsibilities

• Lead and define the technical strategy for an AI engineering team, maintaining hands-on involvement and setting a performance example.
• Develop and deploy cloud-native, container-first scalable services engineered for enterprise readiness from inception.
• Collaborate with architects and key stakeholders to design architectures, align on technical patterns, and implement strategic decisions.
• Translate AI capabilities from initial research and proofs-of-concept into secure, reliable production systems.
• Write maintainable, high-quality Python code focusing on object-oriented design, typing, asynchronous programming, and service robustness.
• Promote best practices in code quality assurance, continuous integration/delivery, container usage, Kubernetes operations, and cloud-based service management.
• Manage technical trade-offs and prioritization balancing innovation with long-term platform sustainability.
• Lead recruitment, onboarding, and team development efforts fostering a collaborative, high-performance engineering environment.
• Provide mentorship through code reviews, paired programming, and technical feedback to empower engineer growth and ownership.
• Stay up-to-date with emerging AI technologies and cloud tools, integrating valuable new approaches.

Required Qualifications

• Extensive professional software engineering experience, typically over 10 years, with proven impactful delivery.
• Demonstrated leadership in technical design discussions, team guidance, mentoring, and elevating engineering standards.
• Advanced Python programming expertise including OOP, typing, asynchronous coding, and building robust service architectures (FastAPI preferred).
• Experience in designing and implementing reliable, observable, and performant REST APIs and service integrations.
• Mandatory practical cloud experience using major hyperscalers, preferably Azure, also valued AWS/GCP knowledge.
• Strong proficiency with container technologies including packaging, deployment, and troubleshooting across environments.
• Preferred Kubernetes skills involving deployment, operation, and cluster-level debugging or motivated to rapidly learn these competencies.
• Familiarity with modern DevOps methodologies, CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, Azure DevOps), and effective Git branching strategies.
• Commitment to software quality through unit and integration testing (PyTest), rigorous code reviews, and balancing delivery with discipline.
• Knowledge of security principles for modern applications, including authentication/authorization (OpenID, OAuth2) and secure development workflows (container scanning).
• Experience working in Agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban; SAFe advantageous) and effective collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Hands-on experience with both SQL (PostgreSQL preferred) and NoSQL databases including data modeling and operational support.
• Comfortable using Linux for software development, debugging, deployment, and system troubleshooting.

Preferred Skills

• Experience with generative or agentic AI frameworks such as MAF, LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI, Hugging Face, OpenAI APIs, Claude code, focusing on production readiness beyond proof-of-concept.
• Knowledge of event-driven architectures and scalable integration approaches applicable to enterprise and IoT environments.
• Deep expertise with Azure services (Resource Groups, VNETs, Cosmos DB, serverless) or broad cloud platform engineering.
• DevSecOps capabilities including integrating security in code pipelines and enhancing safeguards without hampering developer velocity.
• Active interest in cutting-edge AI technologies including transformers and deep learning principles.
• Basic understanding of web application development and front-end frameworks like React or Next.js considered a plus.

Tools and Technologies Used

• Agile tools: Jira, Azure DevOps
• Collaboration platforms: Confluence, Miro, Microsoft Teams
• Development environments: Git, VSCode, Docker
• Testing utilities: Postman, PyTest
• Cloud & DevOps platforms: Azure, ArgoCD, GitHub Actions

Diversity and Inclusion

Acuity Inc. is committed to equal opportunity employment, ensuring all qualified candidates are considered regardless of race, color, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability, religion, veteran status or any legally protected characteristics.

Additional Information

The company provides accommodations for applicants with disabilities throughout the hiring process. Candidates requiring assistance can contact the company with details of their needs.

Acuity Inc. warns against recruitment scams where imposters impersonate representatives requesting personal or financial information; the company never asks for payments during hiring.