Tech Lead- RiskAI Pilot

Youth Innovation Lab (YI-Lab) is a not-for-profit civic tech company that works at the intersection of emerging cutting-edge technological tools and their applications by equipping young professionals to solve emerging challenges in our community. YI-Lab’s mission statement is, ‘to engage young people to bridge science to people and policy through innovation’. YI-Lab harnesses indigenous knowledge, citizen science approach, develops low-cost technological solutions, promotes open data, promotes entrepreneurship, and conducts evidence-based advocacy campaigns. YI-Lab provides a conducive environment for young people to co-create solutions for inclusive development.

About the project 
RiskAI (Beta1.0) is an agentic, AI-powered climate and disaster risk intelligence platform designed to translate complex hazard, climate, and disaster data into localized, actionable insights for decision-makers, schools, and communities in Nepal. Built as the country’s first modular RiskAI architecture, the platform integrates existing national and global datasets such as historical disaster records, hazard maps, and climate data and presents them through role-based, user-friendly outputs.

YI-Lab invites dynamic and enthusiastic Nepali citizens to apply for the following position. 

Role Summary

The Tech Lead will provide overall technical leadership and architectural direction for the RiskAI pilot. The role is responsible for system design, AI integration strategy, data architecture, and ensuring high-quality, secure, and scalable delivery of an agentic AI platform.

1. Technical Leadership & Architecture

·       Lead the overall technical architecture and system design of the RiskAI platform.

·       Translate project objectives and learning goals into a clear technical roadmap aligned with sprint cycles.

·       Review and approve backend architecture, APIs, data pipelines, and AI workflows.

2. AI & Data Integration

·       Design and oversee integration with the National, Global Portal API for historical disaster and hazard data.

·       Guide development of the Climate Risk Documentation Interpretation AI Agent.

·       Oversee integration of vector databases and structured knowledge bases (DRR policies, acts, bulletins).

·       Ensure effective Nepali-language AI support and localization strategies.

3. Quality, Security & Ethics

·       Ensure compliance with data security, privacy, and ethical AI principles.

·       Implement role-based access controls and secure data handling practices.

·       Ensure system scalability and robustness for future expansion.

4. Team Coordination & Mentorship

·       Provide technical guidance and mentorship to backend developers.

·       Coordinate closely with product teams, DRR experts, and community stakeholders.

·       Support monitoring, learning, and documentation of technical outcomes throughout the pilot.

Required Qualifications, Experience and Skills

·       Bachelor's degree in computer science, Software Engineering, Data Science, or a related field (or equivalent professional experience).

·       Minimum 7–10 years of professional experience in software development or system architecture.

·       At least 3 years in a technical leadership or solution architect role.

·       Proven experience designing and deploying AI/ML-driven platforms, preferably NLP or agentic AI systems.

·       Demonstrated experience integrating government or large-scale data portals/APIs.

·       Experience with cloud-based architectures (AWS, GCP, or Azure).

·       Prior experience working on DRR, climate, civic tech, or public-sector digital platforms is highly desirable.

·       Experience working in agile or sprint-based project environments.

·       Strong understanding of AI/ML pipelines, LLM orchestration, and agent-based systems.

·       Experience with vector databases (e.g., FAISS, Pinecone, Weaviate, or similar).

·       Proficiency in backend frameworks and API design.

·       Knowledge of data security, role-based access, and ethical AI practices.

·       Familiarity with Nepali-language NLP or low-resource language systems is an advantage.