Senior AI Systems & Local LLM Engineer (Smart Home & Agentic AI)

About The ClientThe client is a Dubai-based real estate and hospitality developer creating technology-led, wellness-focused living environments. It brings together design, engineering and artificial intelligence to deliver smart, future-ready communities. Its teams work at the intersection of property, technology and longevity. The client is now expanding its technology organisation to build proprietary AI and smart-living capabilities.About The RoleWe are seeking a versatile Senior AI Systems & Local LLM Engineer who bridges the gap between state-of-the-art frontier models, smart home automation systems, and self-hosted, local LLM infrastructure. You will architect, deploy, and scale local inference engines, real-time voice and avatar agents, and complex agentic workflows, while maintaining full ownership over our virtualized infrastructure and IoT setups.If you thrive on rapid prototyping ("vibe coding" with high velocity), love running local hardware and virtualized environments, and prefer pragmatism over slow-moving bureaucracy, this role is for you.Key ResponsibilitiesLocal LLM & Inference Orchestration: Deploy, tune, and maintain self-hosted LLM setups using tools like LMStudio, Exo, vLLM, and Ollama. Integrate locally trained/fine-tuned weights into production environmentsAgentic Workflows & Avatars: Design and wire up autonomous AI agents using frameworks like OpenClaw, Hermes, and custom agentic graphs. Build real-time voice agents and interactive AI avatars for seamless human-computer interactionSmart Home & Voice Integration: Integrate local AI voice agents and agentic control layers directly into Home Assistant for low-latency, privacy-focused automation and interactive controlHybrid Model Routing: Build resilient middleware that routes queries dynamically between high-throughput local models and top-tier frontier APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini)Infrastructure & Virtualization: Provision, manage, and optimize enterprise compute nodes using Linux (Ubuntu/Debian) and Proxmox VE. Handle GPU passthrough, container orchestration, and resource allocationFull-Stack AI Integration: Develop high-concurrency backend services, real-time streaming endpoints (WebSockets/SSE), and API layers using Python (FastAPI/AsyncIO) and Node.jsRequirementsCore RequirementsExperience: 3-5 years of software or AI engineering experience with a strong portfolio of deployed production systemsHome Assistant Mastery: Hands-on experience integrating custom components, local voice pipelines, or LLMs into Home AssistantRapid Development ("Vibe Coding"): Exceptional speed and fluency leveraging modern AI-assisted coding tools (Cursor, Copilot, Windsurf) to write clean, working code quicklySystems & Virtualization: Comfort operating in raw Linux environments, managing Proxmox hypervisors, and configuring LXCs/VMs for GPU workloads and smart home servicesLanguage Proficiency: Strong, production-grade skills in Python and Node.jsLocal AI Ecosystem: Hands-on experience with local model deployment, quantization formats (GGUF, EXL2, AWQ), and multi-device local compute clusters (Exo/LMStudio)Agentic Frameworks: Familiarity with agent orchestration paradigms, tool use, local memory storage, and frameworks like Hermes or OpenClawPreferred / Nice to HaveExperience with IoT communication protocols like MQTT, Matter, and Zigbee (Zigbee2MQTT / ZHA)Experience fine-tuning local models (Unsloth, QLoRA, Axolotl)Familiarity with real-time audio pipeline tools (WebRTC, Deepgram, ElevenLabs) and local TTS/STT stacks such as Whisper, Piper, and XTTSActive homelabber or self-hosting enthusiast with real-world experience managing physical/virtual GPU rigs and smart home setupsTech Stack HighlightsInference & Orchestration: LMStudio, Exo, vLLM, Ollama, OpenClaw, HermesVirtualization & OS: Proxmox VE, Linux (Debian/Ubuntu), Docker, LXC, GPU PassthroughSmart Home & IoT: Home Assistant, MQTT, Matter, ZigbeeBackend Development: Python (FastAPI, AsyncIO), Node.js, WebSockets / SSEFrontier APIs: OpenAI, Anthropic, GeminiBenefitsCompensation & BenefitsCompetitive Tax-Free Salary: A market-leading monthly package in AED, commensurate with experiencePerformance Incentives: Rewards linked to quality and delivery outcomes, per Company Internal PolicyVisa & Medical Insurance: Full UAE visa sponsorship and comprehensive health coverPaid Leave: As per Company Internal Policy and UAE Labour LawAnnual Flight Ticket & End-of-Service Gratuity: As per UAE market practice and labour lawTop-Tier Tooling: Modern hardware, dedicated GPU compute and leading AI development toolsLearning & Career Growth: Certification and conference support, with a clear path to leadershipAutonomy & Impact: Build the AI function from the ground up and shape how AI is deployed in the physical world