About us
KIWI is not just a company, it's a revolution.
Since ****, 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.
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 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 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.
#J-*****-Ljbffr

📌 Mid -Senior Ai Engineer (Friuli-Venezia Giulia)
🏢 KIWI VAPOR
📍 Friuli-Venezia Giulia