AI Innovation Engineer

Jobtailor; Madison (WI); On-site; USD 90,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous vacation, holidays, and sick leave

Competitive insurance and savings accounts

Retirement benefits

Job summary

The University of Wisconsin Madison is seeking an AI Innovation Engineer to drive AI and Automation processes that improve operational efficiency. This role involves developing cloud-based workflows and applications while collaborating with stakeholders across the campus.

Candidates should possess strong software development skills, especially in JavaScript/TypeScript or Python, and experience with AI tools like GitHub Copilot. Offering competitive benefits and flexible remote work options.

Qualifications

• 5 years of software development experience, including AI engineering.
• 2 years of programming experience in JavaScript/TypeScript or Python.
• Experience designing and implementing AI workflows.

Responsibilities

• Develop cloud-based AI solutions.
• Test and validate AI agents for reliability.
• Manage a cloud-based application platform.
• Build features using AI coding tools.

Skills

Software development experience

AI engineering

Advanced programming in JavaScript/TypeScript or Python

Designing and implementing agentic AI workflows

AI-assisted development tools experience

Application management in public cloud platforms

Infrastructure as Code tools

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Tools

Terraform

AWS

GCP

Kubernetes

CI/CD pipelines

Job description

Job Summary

The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) is an exciting and dynamic work environment grounded in organizational principles that include family and personal life/work balance; an inclusive, respectful, and supportive work environment; professional development opportunities; innovation; and alignment with the campus's teaching, learning, and research missions. DoIT provides core IT infrastructure services to the university, develops and implements services for the university and, in some cases, for the Universities of Wisconsin, plays a major role in managing the state‑wide higher education network and regional networks.

The Integrated Business Solutions team, within the Division of Information Technology, is looking for a highly skilled AI Innovation Engineer who will collaborate with stakeholders and colleagues across UW‑Madison campus and university partners to drive administrative AI and Automation processes to improve operational efficiency.

The candidate should enjoy working independently on an agile team to design, develop and implement custom applications and work on AI initiatives. They should also have experience in using Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI agents. This position will be expected to collaborate with cross‑functional teams and IT colleagues to deliver quality solutions.

Responsibilities

• Developing cloud‑based workflow and interactive AI solutions.
• Testing and validating AI agents to ensure accuracy and reliability.
• Assisting in the management of a cloud‑based application platform including utilization, observability and security functions.
• Understanding of data strategy, cybersecurity and risk practices.
• Using AI coding tools to build features more rapidly while making sure the code is secure, reliable, and fits our platform.

Key Responsibilities

• Leads sub‑functional team for application development or enhancement
• Prepares program documentation and training requirements
• Develops, prepares, or modifies technical specifications for complex projects, system integrations, and upgrades
• Designs and implements test plans, and prepares systems test data
• Conducts analysis for the evaluation and selection of vendor software solutions and packages
• Reviews application design specifications, codes new applications, and makes enhancements to existing applications
• Assist in the adoption of agentic AI solutions
• Maintains cloud hosted infrastructure and integrations
• Reviews application modules for quality assurance and checks compliance with application architecture standards
• Trains and provides technical guidance to lower level staff
• Conducts systems analysis, reviews and interprets system requirements, and develops detailed system design specifications for system integration and upgrades
• Contributes to the development of data structure and systems performance strategies

Employment Details

This position is eligible for any of the following: 100% remote work; partial remote work; or fully on‑site. Remote work requires an approved flexible work arrangement (FWA), which is reviewed and approved annually. An FWA requires successful candidates to possess their own high‑speed internet and phone to perform the work on a university‑provided computer. Per University policy, transportation between home and assigned work location is not payable/reimbursable and will be at the employee's expense.

Required Qualifications

• Software development experience (preferred 5 years) including AI engineering (preferred 1 year)
• Advanced programming experience in JavaScript/TypeScript or Python (preferred 2 years)
• Proven experience designing and implementing agentic AI Workflows and applications
• Hands‑on experience with AI‑assisted development tools (Claude Code, Github Copilot or Gemini Code Assist)
• Experience with managing applications in public cloud platforms (AWS or GCP)
• Demonstrated experience with Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform or OpenTofu.

Preferred Qualifications

• Strong understanding of clustering algorithms.
• Experience with DevOps practices and building CI/CD pipelines
• Experience in higher education or large enterprise environments
• Experience with Kubernetes and container orchestration at scale

Education

Bachelor's Degree Preferred Minimum

Compensation

Starting salary will be based on experience and qualifications. Well qualified applicants can expect to earn between $90,000 - $135,000, with final salary based on experience and qualifications.

Benefits

Employees in this position can expect to receive benefits such as generous vacation, holidays, and sick leave; competitive insurances and savings accounts; retirement benefits. Benefits information can be found at https://hr.wisc.edu/benefits/.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW‑Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin‑Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

The University of Wisconsin‑Madison is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, including but not limited to, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or status as a protected veteran and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies. We promote excellence by acknowledging skills and expertise from all backgrounds and encourage all qualified individuals to apply. For more information regarding applicant and employee rights and to view federal and state required postings, visit the Human Resources Workplace Poster website.

To request a disability or pregnancy‑related accommodation for any step in the hiring process (e.g., application, interview, pre‑employment testing, etc.), please contact the Divisional Disability Representative (DDR) in the division you are applying to. Please make your request as soon as possible to help the university respond most effectively to you.

Employment may require a criminal background check. It may also require your references to answer questions regarding misconduct, including sexual violence and sexual harassment.

The University of Wisconsin System will not reveal the identities of applicants who request confidentiality in writing, except that the identity of the successful candidate will be released. See Wis. Stat. sec. 19.36(7).

The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report contains current campus safety and disciplinary policies, crime statistics for the previous 3 calendar years, and on‑campus student housing fire safety policies and fire statistics for the previous 3 calendar years. UW‑Madison will provide a paper copy upon request; please contact the University of Wisconsin Police Department.