AI Engineer

American Psychological Association; Washington (District of Columbia); Remote; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work eligibility

Job summary

The American Psychological Association seeks an AI Engineer to design, build and operate agentic AI and RAG services that automate multi-step workflows safely and reliably. You will partner with engineering and business stakeholders to deliver observable AI systems with guardrails and measurable quality.

Candidates bring 5–10 years of software engineering, a CS-related degree, hands-on production experience with agentic apps and RAG, and proficiency in Python, Angular/TypeScript, and AWS

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field; equivalent practical experience considered.
• 5–10 years of software engineering, including 1 to 2 years of building production grade Generative AI solutions (agentic applications and/or RAG).
• Hands‑on experience taking both agentic applications (multi‑step, tool‑calling) and RAG systems (retrieval → generation) to production, with deep expertise in at least one and solid working knowledge of the other.

Responsibilities

• Design and build agentic AI applications that carry out multi‑step tasks, with explicit tool boundaries, permissions, and safety controls for predictable behavior.
• Build and maintain RAG solutions end‑to‑end (ingestion, embeddings, retrieval, generation), tuned for relevance, latency, and reliability.
• Define practical quality metrics for agents (task success, tool‑call correctness) and retrieval (relevance, coverage) and iterate on the results.
• Integrate tools and data sources via MCP or similar standard interfaces for secure, reusable access.
• Deliver Angular/Node interfaces and APIs that make agentic and RAG capabilities usable by business teams.
• Deploy and operate AI services on AWS (e.g., Lambda, ECS/EKS) with sound logging, monitoring, and error handling (retries, fallbacks, guardrails).
• Enable workflow automation and integration by identifying high‑value repetitive processes and delivering AI‑driven automation layers that integrate into enterprise systems and platforms.
• Create and maintain technical documentation for architectures, interfaces, evaluation approaches, and operational runbooks to support maintainability and auditability.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with product/business stakeholders to translate workflows into well‑scoped deliverables and to validate outcomes against measurable success criteria.
• Other duties as assigned.

Skills

Advanced Python

Angular/Node TS

CI/CD

AWS

Agent frameworks

RAG basics

Tool calling safety

Git

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering or related field

5–10 years software engineering

Production-grade Generative AI experience

Tools

OpenSearch

Pinecone

pgvector

Job description

Note: APA operates on a 37.5-hour work week with one-hour lunch breaks each day. APA sets salaries based on several considerations, including years of relevant experience, level of education, and previous staff and/or governance experience at APA.

The AI Engineer role designs, builds, and operates agentic AI and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) services that automate multi-step business workflows safely and reliably. The position partners with engineering and business stakeholders to deliver deployable, observable AI systems with measurable quality, strong guardrails, and ongoing iteration as tools and best practices evolve.

Education and Experience Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field; equivalent practical experience considered.
• 5–10 years of software engineering, including 1 to 2 years of building production grade Generative AI solutions (agentic applications and/or RAG).
• Hands‑on experience taking both agentic applications (multi‑step, tool‑calling) and RAG systems (retrieval → generation) to production, with deep expertise in at least one and solid working knowledge of the other.
• Built and shipped production services and APIs on AWS, with attention to reliability, latency, and cost.
• Comfortable with full‑stack delivery using Angular and Node/TypeScript to expose AI capabilities to users.
• Familiar with CI/CD and standard operational practices (automated builds/releases, monitoring, alerting).

Technical Skills Required:

• Advanced Python for backend/AI service development, plus Angular/Node (TypeScript) for full‑stack delivery.
• Practical experience with at least one agent framework (e.g., LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI) and safe tool calling design (clear tool boundaries, permissions, validation).
• Solid understanding of RAG: chunking, embeddings, retrieval, and basic reranking, with at least one vector store (e.g., OpenSearch, Pinecone, pgvector).
• Ability to evaluate and improve AI systems using practical quality signals, agent task success and to catch regressions.
• Working knowledge of AWS deployment (serverless and/or containers) with logging, monitoring, and alerting.
• Familiarity with responsible/secure AI basics: least privilege, data access controls, and guardrails.
• Git‑based source control and CI/CD, with reliable release and rollback practices.
• Clear communication and a collaborative, delivery‑oriented mindset.

Responsibilities:

• Design and build agentic AI applications that carry out multi‑step tasks, with explicit tool boundaries, permissions, and safety controls for predictable behavior.
• Build and maintain RAG solutions end‑to‑end (ingestion, embeddings, retrieval, generation), tuned for relevance, latency, and reliability.
• Define practical quality metrics for agents (task success, tool‑call correctness) and retrieval (relevance, coverage) and iterate on the results.
• Integrate tools and data sources via MCP or similar standard interfaces for secure, reusable access.
• Deliver Angular/Node interfaces and APIs that make agentic and RAG capabilities usable by business teams.
• Deploy and operate AI services on AWS (e.g., Lambda, ECS/EKS) with sound logging, monitoring, and error handling (retries, fallbacks, guardrails).
• Enable workflow automation and integration by identifying high‑value repetitive processes and delivering AI‑driven automation layers that integrate into enterprise systems and platforms.
• Create and maintain technical documentation for architectures, interfaces, evaluation approaches, and operational runbooks to support maintainability and auditability.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with product/business stakeholders to translate workflows into well‑scoped deliverables and to validate outcomes against measurable success criteria.
• Other duties as assigned.

Other Duties as Assigned:

• Provide advisory support to stakeholders on opportunities to improve operational efficiency using agentic workflows and RAG‑enabled automation.
• Research and recommend emerging AI tooling, evaluation methods, and responsible AI practices that reduce technical debt and improve system quality over time.

About APA:

The American Psychological Association (APA) represents 146,000 psychologists, students, and affiliates, primarily in the U.S. and Canada but also in other countries around the world. APA is a scientific and professional organization with about 500 employees and is categorized as a 501(c)(3) along with its 501(c)(6) companion organization, APA Services, Inc.

APA offers a generous employee benefits program, including Remote Work/Flexible Scheduling; a 401(k) option with employer match of up to 4%; medical, dental, and vision insurance options and an outpatient mental health benefit; paid personal/vacation time plus 12 paid holidays; Family/Medical Leave; tuition assistance; an Employee Assistance Program (EAP); short‑and long‑term disability insurance; and more.

Job Location: Remote:

APA jobs may be considered for remote work eligibility as defined in APA’s Flexible Work Policy and are subject to approval. Remote work employees may not work from the following states or U.S. territories: Alaska, California, Colorado, Guam, Hawaii, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, U.S. Virgin Islands, Washington, Wyoming.

Final candidates will be required to successfully complete a background check as a condition of employment. Any required consent forms and additional information will be provided during the final stages of the hiring process.

The American Psychological Association is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, personal appearance, familial status, family responsibilities, matriculation, political affiliation, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law. #LIremote

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
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