Senior AI Engineer

Zurich Australia; North Sydney Council; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

5 weeks annual leave

Hybrid work arrangement

AUD$500 wellbeing payment

AUD$295 new starter e-voucher

Tree planting initiative

Job summary

Zurich Australia seeks a Senior AI Engineer to join our ML/AI Engineering chapter and help build agentic AI capabilities across the organisation. You will translate complex problems into secure, observable AI services and guide teams through the lifecycle from discovery to production.

The role emphasizes collaboration with product, design and engineering, delivering scalable AI solutions with robust guardrails, observability and cost management in a hybrid work environment.

Qualifications

• Significant software engineering experience.
• Hands-on AI/LLM production experience.
• Experience with LangGraph, AWS Strands or AgentCore.
• Deep AWS engineering capability across Bedrock, Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, SageMaker, ECS, S3 and IAM.
• Strong full-stack skills: TypeScript, Node.js, Python; React/Next.js.
• Experience designing REST/GraphQL APIs and auth patterns (OAuth, OIDC, JWT, IAM).
• Experience with DevSecOps, IaC, CI/CD, testing and security-first engineering.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and operate production-grade agentic AI solutions.
• Create reusable AI services, reference patterns and guardrails.
• Establish evaluation pipelines, observability and cost controls.
• Develop secure APIs and integration services.
• Assess architecture and present evidence-based recommendations.
• Embed DevSecOps and secure-by-design practices.

Skills

Software engineering

AI/LLM production

AI agents frameworks

LangGraph

AWS Strands

AgentCore

Model Context Protocol

Guardrails patterns

Secure APIs

REST APIs

GraphQL APIs

OAuth

OIDC

JWT

IAM

AWS CDK

Terraform

TypeScript

Node.js

Python

React

Next.js

CI/CD

Testing

Security-first

Tools

Bedrock

Lambda

API Gateway

DynamoDB

SageMaker

ECS

S3

IAM

Terraform

AWS CDK

LangGraph

AgentCore

AWS Strands

Job description

A new transformational adventure awaits you...How does 5 weeks of annual leave, a fulfilling career you'll genuinely enjoy, and working for a reputable organization that promotes wellbeing and drives digital transformation sound to you? As one of Forbes 2024 'World's Best Employers' and Fortune's 'World's Most Admired Companies' for 2025, Zurich - a leader in the insurance industry, is on a journey towards a brighter future ... A brighter future for you - focused on your career, your wellbeing, and your community - as well as our customers and the planet. Join us on this thrilling journey as we work towards our vision of becoming Australia's leading digital insurer. If you're eager to be part of a values-driven global organisation that's experiencing real growth and transformation, and if you share our commitment to making a tangible difference and taking continuous steps towards a sustainable future for our people, customers, communities, and our planet, then keep reading! Let's create a brighter future together, let's make a differenceIt's important to know, what you do matters. At Zurich, we don't just cover, we care. Our Technology team builds and operates the platforms, data and digital capabilities that power our insurance business. As our Senior AI Engineer, you will join the ML/AI Engineering chapter and help build Zurich's agentic AI capability. This includes the shared services, engineering patterns and technical guardrails that enable teams to move AI solutions from early experimentation into safe, reliable production. This is a senior, hands-on engineering role with scope to influence how AI is delivered across the organisation. You will take complex customer and business problems and turn them into secure, observable and maintainable AI services. You will work across the full lifecycle, from discovery and technical design through to build, integration and production operation, while helping other engineering teams adopt consistent and scalable approaches. You will also be responsible for the following:

• Design, build and operate production-grade agentic AI solutions using large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, multi-agent orchestration, tool use and prompt engineering.
• Create reusable AI services, reference patterns and technical guardrails that allow squads across Zurich to deliver AI solutions more quickly, consistently and safely.
• Establish evaluation pipelines, observability and cost controls so agent quality, reliability, performance and production run costs can be measured and actively managed.
• Develop secure APIs and integration services that connect large language models with enterprise platforms, applying clear contracts, authentication, authorisation and data protection controls.
• Assess architecture and system design options, define service boundaries and integration approaches, and present evidence-based recommendations covering security, reliability, scalability and cost.
• Embed DevSecOps and secure-by-design practices through infrastructure as code, CI/CD automation, testing, least-privilege access, input validation and secrets management.

Important to your success - let's grow togetherYou are a curious and pragmatic engineer who enjoys turning ambiguity into working software. You bring a clear point of view, test ideas with evidence and collaborate well with product, design, subject matter experts and engineering teams. You are comfortable influencing technical outcomes without formal authority and enjoy lifting capability through code review, pairing and mentoring. In order to be successful, you will have the following:

• Significant software engineering experience, including hands-on experience designing, building and operating AI or large language model-based systems in production.
• Production experience building AI agents with modern frameworks such as LangGraph, AWS Strands or AgentCore, together with Model Context Protocol and applied agentic AI patterns.
• Deep AWS engineering capability across services such as Bedrock, AgentCore, Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB or RDS, SageMaker, ECS, S3 and IAM, supported by infrastructure as code using AWS CDK or Terraform.
• Strong full-stack engineering capability using TypeScript, Node.js and Python for backend services, plus React or Next.js for frontend development, component design and state management.
• Proven experience designing REST and GraphQL APIs, including API contracts, documentation and authentication patterns such as OAuth, OIDC, JWT and IAM.
• Applied capability across AI evaluation, guardrails, observability, cost management, MLOps, architecture documentation, CI/CD automation, automated testing and security-first engineering.

Belong. Zurich is here to support youThere are so many reasons why Zurich is a great place to be and the right choice for you, but here are just a few.

• Enjoy 5 weeks of annual leave for permanent staff through our Z leave initiative, along with 15 days of personal/carer's leave as we empower our people to manage their own wellbeing. Plus, access to Family Care (parental leave).
• Benefit from a hybrid working arrangement - 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home per week for full-time employees.
• Access programs to stay healthy and feel healthier, receive an AUD$500 wellbeing payment per year, and a AUD$295 new starter e-voucher for your work-from-home setup (flex work - hybrid working), along with other great benefits through our Shine portal.
• Grow and thrive in your career with our award-winning training programs. We support and encourage your development because our strength lies in our people, and we value your individuality.
• Work with global, diverse, and inclusive teams; explore your passions, fuel innovation, drive equity, collaborate, and make a positive difference beyond your role.
• Take advantage of global mobility opportunities across more than 200 countries worldwide.
• Volunteer and work in our state-of-the-art Green Star rated offices (when you are in the office) and dress for your day.
• We plant a tree for every new employee.
• Not to mention our various employer of choice awards/memberships - WGEA; Family Inclusive Workplace; Gold AWEI Employer, Pride in Diversity ... to name a few.

We could go on, but the main point is that Zurich is a great place to be, where you can truly belong, be yourself, maintain work/life balance, and thrive in a supportive environment. Zurich is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to ensuring that our recruitment process is fair and accessible for all candidates. If you require any special accommodations to participate in our recruitment process, we encourage you to please let us know at the time of your application.