What Skills to Look For When Hiring a Voice AI Developer
2 min read · Bolcho
Voice AI has a specific skill set that generic 'AI developer' listings miss. Here's what actually matters when you're evaluating someone to build a production voice agent.
The core stack
A capable voice AI developer is comfortable across the whole pipeline: speech-to-text, an LLM brain, text-to-speech, and the real-time media layer that ties them together. Bonus points for bring-your-own flexibility — swapping any stage for a better provider.
They should also know telephony: inbound and outbound calling, SIP or a managed carrier, and the quirks of routing a phone number to an agent.
The things that break in production
Latency and natural turn-taking are the two hardest to get right — an agent that talks over people or pauses awkwardly feels broken no matter how smart it is. Ask how they measure and cut latency, and how they handle barge-in.
The other silent failure is field capture: an order number or pincode misheard by one digit. Good developers validate captured values against your real data before the agent reads them back, turning a recognition problem into a lookup.
Multilingual and dialect handling
In India especially, callers code-switch — a Hindi sentence with English numbers, or a regional language mid-call. Look for developers who've handled language-boundary detection in real time, not just single-language demos.
Ask which languages and dialects they've actually shipped, and how the agent decides when to switch.
Find voice AI experts on Bolcho
Bolcho's experts marketplace lists vetted people who build production voice & chat agents. Filter by skill, language and experience, see rates and availability, and message them directly — many are verified. Browse at bolchoai.in/experts.
Hire a vetted voice AI expert
Browse voice AI engineers and consultants on Bolcho — filter by skill and language, then message them directly.
Frequently asked questions
Do they need machine-learning expertise?
Not usually. Most production voice AI is integration and product engineering on top of existing models. Latency, telephony and conversation design matter more than training models.
How do I test these skills quickly?
Give a short paid trial: one real flow on a live number. Ask them to demonstrate handling a misheard number and a mid-call language switch.
Where can I find developers with these skills?
The Bolcho experts marketplace lists developers by skill (LiveKit, telephony, RAG) and language, many with a verified badge.