Software Engineer, Backend (AI)
Get to Know the Team
Applied AI Team is a group of passionate engineers committed to architecting, crafting, and maintaining internal tooling systems, frameworks and platforms that elevate the very core of our business operations. With unyielding, we create functional applications that not only enhance productivity but also redefine efficiency for Grab employees. Join us in this journey as we pioneer the future of technology, pushing the boundaries of what's possible to shape Grab's success.
Get to Know the Role
As a Software Engineer on our team, you will be the technical backbone of LLM-Kit, Grab's framework for building, deploying, and monitoring LLM and agentic applications, and the standard starting point through which teams across the organization ship AI products. You will build the libraries, scaffolding, and CLI that give engineers a paved road from empty repo to a production LLM service: pre-configured FastAPI project structure, a default ReAct agent with MCP integration, GrabGPT connectivity, Vault-backed secret management, auth helpers, guardrails, built-in observability, and evaluations wired in out of the box.
You will report to the Engineering Manager and work onsite at the Grab Office.
This role is onsite based in our Petaling Jaya, Malaysia office.
The Critical Tasks You Will Perform
- Develop Framework Features End-to-End
Independently build complex library and tooling features, agent and MCP integrations, scaffolding templates, CLI subcommands, config and secret management, auth helpers, guardrails, and evaluation hooks, from conception through release and adoption.
- Design Clean and Composable Abstractions
Design the abstractions teams build on: clean, composable interfaces over LangChain, LangGraph, FastAPI, and MCP adapters.
- Build Well-Architected Python Libraries and CLIs
Build well-architected Python libraries and CLIs (and Go where it fits Grab's tooling), with rigorous packaging and dependency hygiene on uv, strict semantic versioning, backwards compatibility guarantees, and consistent API conventions across the SDKs.
- Implement Quality and Governance Layers
Build and operate the platform's quality and governance layers: OpenTelemetry distributed tracing and Datadog metrics baked into generated services, structured logging, Vault secret injection, OIDC/workload-identity authentication, prompt-level guardrails against common adversarial attacks.
- Ensure Framework Reliability and Support
Ensure the framework is for the teams that depend on it. Participate in on-call and support rotations, triage breakages in scaffolding, dependency, and deployment paths, conduct root cause analysis, and be part of post-mortems.
What Essential Skills You Will Need
- 2+ years of professional software development experience with a history of delivering successful solutions. Fresh Graduates are welcome.
- Proficiency in server-side programming, specifically Python and Golang.
- Hands-on experience with LLMs (Large Language Models), LangChain, and LangGraph for conversational AI development.
- Practical experience with cloud providers (AWS), containerization (Kubernetes), and CI/CD pipelines.
- Grasp of data structures, algorithms, distributed systems, and multi-threading.
- An advocate for automated testing (unit, integration) and writing concise technical documentation.
- Experience with a relational database such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, or Oracle
About Grab and Our Workplace
Grab is Southeast Asia's leading superapp. From getting your favourite meals delivered to helping you manage your finances and getting around town hassle-free, we've got your back with everything. In Grab, purpose gives us joy and habits build excellence, while harnessing the power of Technology and AI to deliver the mission of driving Southeast Asia forward by economically empowering everyone, with heart, hunger, honour, and humility.
Life at Grab
We care about your well-being at Grab, here are some of the global benefits we offer:
- We have your back with Term Life Insurance and comprehensive Medical Insurance.
- With GrabFlex, create a benefits package that suits your needs and aspirations.
- Celebrate moments that matter in life with loved ones through Parental and Birthday leave, and give back to your communities through Love-all-Serve-all (LASA) volunteering leave
- We have a confidential Grabber Assistance Programme to guide and uplift you and your loved ones through life's challenges.
What We Stand For at Grab
We are committed to building an inclusive and equitable workplace that enables diverse Grabbers to grow and perform at their best. As an equal opportunity employer, we consider all candidates fairly and equally regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, family commitments, physical and mental impairments or disabilities, and other attributes that make them unique.
View our location
For over a decade, Grab has seamlessly connected Malaysian people to a range of services—food, groceries, rides, and more. Take a tour and get to know this one-stop destination for making life more convenient for the local community.
Meet the Engineering team
From software developers to security specialists, our people thrive on experimenting with fresh ideas and implementing them for users. Solve real-world problems, find purpose in your work and work across borders to help drive Southeast Asia forward.
Engineering at Grab is synonymous with holding yourself accountable for impacting the lives of millions of partners, be it drivers, passengers or merchants. Every line of code can have a big positive or negative impact on our consumers, which is why every little change requires thorough thought processes and a deep understanding of systems and scale.
“ ”
Learning within the Engineering team never stops, especially with the sponsored learning resources. You need to stay curious and be willing to take ownership to join and succeed in the team.
“ ”
Everybody at Grab understands the necessity of balance. We all believe that what we’re doing here is important, we’re genuinely changing people’s lives for the better, but we also understand that this shouldn’t come at the cost of your personal life.
“ ”
The Application Process
What can you expect when you apply for a role at Grab? Here’s what our hiring process looks like.
Step 1: Apply.
We have a range of open roles from Marketing to Engineering and everything in between. Find the one that’s best for you and show us why you’re our next teammate.
Step 2: Getting to know you.
Next, you’ll have a video or phone interview with one of our recruiters to chat about you, the role, and your past work experiences.
Step 3: Testing, testing… 123.
Some roles might require assessments and/or a technical competency interview. For other roles, there might be an additional interview – speak with your recruiter for application details.
Step 4: Is it a culture match?
Finally, we’ll find out how we fit together, if your career vision aligns with our mission, how you embody the 4 H's, and your working style and personality.
