AI Engineering Lead / Principal AI Engineer

Madison-Davis, LLC; Pasadena (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Madison-Davis, LLC is seeking an AI Engineering Lead to establish and scale enterprise AI capabilities. The role combines hands-on engineering with technical leadership, focusing on designing, building, and deploying secure AI solutions that drive business transformation.

The candidate will shape AI engineering standards, develop production applications, and collaborate with technical and business teams to deliver scalable AI solutions in a regulated environment.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering, data engineering, or AI experience.
• Experience with APIs, microservices, and distributed systems.
• Azure experience including Azure OpenAI and Databricks.
• Experience with RAG, vector databases, embeddings, and LLM workflows.
• Understanding of AI governance and security practices.
• Experience in regulated industries.

Responsibilities

• Design and build enterprise AI applications.
• Develop RAG solutions and agentic AI workflows.
• Build scalable APIs and cloud-native services.
• Create AI engineering standards and deployment practices.
• Partner with security, compliance, and business teams.
• Evaluate AI platforms and emerging technologies.
• Support AI governance and responsible AI practices.
• Mentor engineers and influence future AI capabilities.

Skills

Software engineering

Data engineering

AI

APIs & microservices

LLMs

RAG

Vector databases

Embeddings

LLM workflows

Security governance

Tools

Azure OpenAI

Databricks

Job description

A financial services organization is seeking an AI Engineering Lead to help establish and scale enterprise artificial intelligence capabilities. This role combines hands-on engineering with technical leadership and will focus on designing, building, and deploying secure AI solutions that support business transformation.

The ideal candidate brings strong software engineering, cloud architecture, data engineering, and Generative AI experience. This person will help shape AI engineering standards, develop production applications, and partner with technical and business teams to deliver scalable AI solutions.

Responsibilities:

• Design and build enterprise AI applications
• Develop RAG solutions and agentic AI workflows
• Build scalable APIs and cloud-native services
• Create AI engineering standards and deployment practices
• Partner with security, compliance, and business teams
• Evaluate AI platforms and emerging technologies
• Support AI governance and responsible AI practices
• Mentor engineers and influence future AI capabilities

Role Requirements:

• 10+ years of software engineering, data engineering, or AI experience
• Experience with APIs, microservices, and distributed systems
• Azure experience including Azure OpenAI and Databricks
• Experience with RAG, vector databases, embeddings, and LLM workflows
• Understanding of AI governance and security practices
• Experience in regulated industries

Nice to Have:

• AI Center of Excellence experience
• MLOps or LLMOps experience
• Enterprise search experienceExperience building AI teams

How We Work:

• Hands-on ownership and technical leadership
• Collaboration across technology and business teams