AI/ML Engineer 2

Job Summary

Responsible for the end-to-end design, development, and deployment of advanced AI and machine learning solutions in support of D&Z AI initiatives. This senior engineering role requires equal expertise in generative AI Application development and traditional machine learning, spanning the delivery of LLM-based agents, RAG systems, MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers, and predictive models to production. The AI/ML Engineer 2 owns complex projects independently, drives technical architecture decisions, evaluates and integrates emerging AI tools and frameworks, and mentors junior team members through code review and technical guidance. This role collaborates directly with cross-functional stakeholders to scope, design, and integrate AI/ML solutions into business processes, and communicates complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Designs, builds, and deploys production-grade generative AI applications including AI agents, RAG chatbots, workflow automations, and MCP servers using modern frameworks and vector databases. 30%
• Designs, develops, and deploys production-grade predictive models using machine learning techniques across regression, classification, clustering, and time series. 20%
• Authors custom skills, prompts, slash commands, and evaluation harnesses to accelerate team delivery and improve AI application quality, using AI coding tools such as Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor. 15%
• Defines and owns production monitoring, drift detection, online/offline metrics, and retraining strategies for AI/ML systems; applies statistical methods and evaluation frameworks to validate outputs and drive iterative improvement. 10%
• Owns data engineering and pipeline infrastructure underlying AI/ML systems, including retrieval architectures, embeddings, context engineering, and model training/fine-tuning workflows. 10%
• Reviews code, mentors junior engineers, and contributes to team-wide engineering standards, documentation, and internal knowledge management patterns. Presents results and delivers live demonstrations of AI/ML solutions to technical and executive audiences. 15%

KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities)

• Deep hands-on experience building production LLM applications with leading providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, open-source models); expertise in prompt engineering, context engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) with vector databases, AI agent design, tool use, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) server development; experience authoring custom skills and building evaluation harnesses for LLM systems.
• Proficiency in ML frameworks (scikit-learn, XGBoost, PyTorch, TensorFlow); strong foundation in statistical analysis, hypothesis testing, feature engineering, model optimization, deployment, and monitoring of predictive models across regression, classification, clustering, and time series; ability to design and validate experiments, define online/offline metrics, and apply quantitative methods to production problems.
• Strong proficiency in Python as the primary language across ML and AI application development; comfort writing production-grade, maintainable, well-tested code.
• Strong SQL skills with expertise in data extraction, cleaning, transformation, and pipeline development for structured and unstructured data; experience deploying ML/AI workloads across on-premises infrastructure and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP).
• Proficient in Git, branching strategies, code review, and CI/CD pipelines; experience with containerization, API development, and observability (logging, tracing, cost and token monitoring) for LLM applications; proficient use of AI coding tools (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor) including configuring them, authoring custom skills and commands, and integrating them into team workflows; familiarity with guardrails and security considerations for production AI systems.
• Ability to lead technical discovery with stakeholders, make architecture decisions, review code, mentor junior engineers, and raise the technical bar across the team.
• Skilled at creating dashboards, data visualizations, live demos, and technical presentations to convey complex AI/ML findings to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experienced in gathering requirements, working in cross-functional teams, and producing clear documentation, user guides, and technical reports.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Arts/Sciences (BA/BS) in IT, Computer Science, or related field highly preferred Required
• Will consider 7 years relevant experience in lieu of degree
• 4+ years of relevant experience
• Great attitude and team player.
• Successful completion of background screening process.

Essential Functions

• Visual acuity (e.g., needed to prepare and analyze data, to transcribe documents, to view a computer, to read, to inspect objects, to operate machinery)
• Manual Dexterity (e.g., picking, pinching, typing, or other working that uses the fingers)
• Grasping (e.g., use of hand to apply pressure)
• Hearing
• Talking
• Capacity to think, concentrate and focus over long periods of time
• Ability to write complex documents in the [English] language
• Ability to read complex documents in [English] language
• Capacity to express thoughts orally (e.g., accurately, quick and loudly convey spoken instructions to workers)
• Capacity to reason and make sound decisions
• Ability to regularly perform all job functions at Company’s office or work site

Compensation and Benefits

In compliance with this state’s pay transparency laws, the salary range for this role is $101,840.00 – $165,490.00. This is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, as final offer amount may vary based on factors including but not limited to experience and geographic location. (The specific programs and options available to an employee may vary depending on date of hire, schedule type, and the applicability of collective bargaining agreements).

We care about our employees and it shows. Our staff receive a competitive salary and a comprehensive benefits package which includes medical/Rx, dental and vision coverage; life, AD&D and disability insurance; flexible spending accounts; 100% paid maternity leave for up to 12 weeks, parental leave, family leave, other paid time off; voluntary benefits and discount programs to meet our employees’ individual needs including pet insurance for our furry family members!