AI Solutions Developer

Fairfield University; Fairfield (CT); Hybrid; USD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Fairfield University is seeking an AI Solutions Developer to design, build, test, and support AI-enabled applications and agents across cloud and on‑prem environments. The role collaborates with analysts, developers, database admins, and security teams to deliver scalable, secure AI solutions and insights for faculty, staff, and students.

The position emphasizes evaluating and extending enterprise AI platforms, integrating with Workday, and delivering agent-based architectures, RAG workflows,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, IT, or related field or equivalent experience.
• 3–5 years of hands‑on software development in cloud-native and AI-enabled apps.
• Proficiency in Python and/or JavaScript, TypeScript, Java or similar languages.
• Experience building and consuming REST APIs and microservices.
• Experience with Git-based version control and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience deploying and operating services on AWS and/or Azure.
• Understanding of secure-by-design practices, including identity management and data handling.
• Experience integrating with enterprise ERP/Student Information Systems; Workday experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop AI-powered assistants, chat capabilities, and agents for faculty, staff, and students.
• Build and maintain infrastructure/pipelines for real-time AI interactions in production.
• Prototype, evaluate, and refine AI-enabled features based on user feedback.

Skills

Python

JavaScript/TypeScript/Java

REST APIs

Git

CI/CD

AWS/Azure

Workday

Security by design

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Workday Extend

LangChain

LangGraph

Job description

Job Description

Department: Information Technology Services, Enterprise Systems

Reports To: Chief Technology Officer (or designated Enterprise Systems Director upon hire)

FLSA Status: Exempt

Employment Type: Full-Time

Location: On-Premise, Hybrid, Fully Remote - all considered

Position Summary

The AI Solutions Developer designs, builds, tests, and supports modern software solutions that use AI, web, and cloud technologies to meet the needs of faculty, staff, and students. This includes building AI-enabled applications, assistants and agents; integrating third-party tools with the University's ecosystem; and maintaining or modernizing existing custom applications. The role works closely with analysts, developers, database administrators, and infrastructure and security staff to solve institutional business and academic challenges and is expected to deliver an exceptional level of customer service, communicate status clearly, and work effectively both independently and as part of a team.

The AI Solutions Developer will help shape the University’s AI capabilities by evaluating, configuring, integrating, and extending enterprise AI platforms and cloud AI services such as Microsoft Copilot, Claude, ChatGPT, Boodlebox, and Workday. Where institutional needs exceed the capabilities of commercial platforms, the role will design agent-based architectures, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) solutions, and custom AI workflows. This position will help establish the University’s AI architecture, guide the adoption of emerging technologies, and deliver secure, scalable solutions that improve the experience of faculty, staff and student’s user experience and create operational efficiencies.

The University takes a platform-agnostic approach to AI and selects the tool best suited to each need. Because Workday is the University's system of record for ERP and SIS and supports the majority of institutional transactions, the role will prioritize automation and AI solutions that integrate with Workday, associated data lakes and will extend into Workday's native development and agent platforms (such as Workday Extend) as the University adopts them.

Key Responsibilities

AI Agent and Chat Development

• Develop AI-powered assistants, chat capabilities, and agents that help faculty, staff, and students complete daily tasks
• Build and maintain the infrastructure and pipelines needed to support real-time AI interactions in production
• Prototype new AI-enabled features, evaluate their performance against defined criteria, and refine them based on user feedback

Application and Integration Development

• Design, build, and integrate AI-enabled applications, APIs, microservices, and automation workflows across cloud and on-premise environments
• Extend the functionality of Workday and integrate third-party tools with the broader university ecosystem
• Maintain and modernize existing custom applications, including legacy Java and .NET systems
• Evaluate emerging AI models, cloud services, and automation tools through proof-of-concept work, and share recommendations with the team
• Establish reusable patterns and standards for agents, applications, and integrations to support scalability, security and long-term maintainability

Delivery, Quality, and Collaboration

• Gather, refine, and validate technical and functional requirements in partnership with university stakeholders through the ITS PMO intake process
• Create development estimates and schedules that support predictable, on-time delivery
• Troubleshoot and debug applications, maintain code quality, and keep documentation current
• Participate in design and code reviews, including review of AI-generated code, to maintain consistent development standards
• Provide day-to-day peer support and collaborate across development, infrastructure, and security teams to resolve complex issues
• Use AI-assisted development tools (e.g. Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor) to improve development productivity, testing and debugging

Cloud, Security, and Operations

• Deploy and operate services on AWS and/or Azure, including environment management, reliability, and observability
• Build and maintain CI/DC pipelines using cloud provider tooling (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• Apply security, privacy, and governance practices to AI systems, including authentication, access controls, and handling of sensitive data
• Provide operational support for critical applications, including monitoring, incident response, and performance tuning

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• 3-5 years of hands-on software development experience, including building cloud-native and AI-enabled applications
• Proficiency in Python and/or JavaScript, TypeScript, Java, or similar languages
• Experience building and consuming REST APIs and microservices
• Experience with Git-based version control and CI/DC pipelines
• Experience deploying and operating services on AWS and/or Azure
• Understanding of secure-by-design practices, including identity management, access controls, and handling of sensitive data
• Experience integrating with an enterprise ERP or student information system through APIs or integration tools; Workday experience strongly preferred

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with LLM APIs, prompt engineering, and AI agent or chat development
• Familiarity with agent orchestration patterns and tools such as LangChain, LangGraph, or MCP-based integrations
• Experience with vector databases, semantic retrieval, or real-time data pipelines
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, or equivalent container orchestration
• Familiarity with Microsoft Power Platform, Azure DevOps, or AWS Bedrock
• Experience with legacy Java or .NET applications
• Experience with tools used across Fairfield's environment, such as Workday, Freshservice, BoodleBox, Snowflake, Tableau, or Qualtrics
• Experience working across hybrid Windows and Linux environments

The expected wage range for this position is $80,000-$120,000.

Category

ITS - Admin

Performs such other duties, responsibilities, and activities as required by supervisor and as departmental/University needs indicate.

• Disclaimer

The above information indicates the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain and should not be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, activities, and/or qualifications required or expected of employees assigned to this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change and new ones may be assigned at any time, with or without notice.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a satisfactory background check.

Fairfield University provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Eligible employees may receive health, dental, retirement, paid time off, tuition benefits, and other benefits according to institutional policy. Fairfield University Benefits