AI Solutions Engineer

IPM Integrated Project Management Company; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 80,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Hybrid work

Relocation assistance

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

IPM Integrated Project Management Company is seeking an AI Solutions Engineer to lead the translation of AI capabilities into practical, scalable tools across data pipelines, security, and operations. You will prototype, deploy, and govern AI solutions within IPM’s Azure environment, ensuring security, observability, and production readiness.

Work with stakeholders across Operations and IT, deliver training, and drive adoption of AI-enabled solutions in client engagements and internal processes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, data science, or a related field.
• 3+ years of experience in software development, data science, or AI/ML roles.
• Exposure to production AI application architecture (RAG, agentic retrieval, etc.).
• Familiarity with MCP (Model Context Protocol) and agent tooling ecosystem.
• DevOps for AI applications: IaC, CI/CD, observability, model/versioning.

Responsibilities

• Identify high‑impact AI-enabled opportunities across internal operations and client engagements.
• Design, develop, test, and deploy AI-enabled solutions for internal operations.
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure‑as‑code; manage dev, staging, production.
• Implement authentication, authorization, and data access controls.
• Curate and maintain internal knowledge bases for retrieval-grounded systems.
• Handle sensitive data appropriately in AI workflows.

Skills

AI/ML development

Azure

CI/CD pipelines

Security for AI

Data engineering

Stakeholder collaboration

Python

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Terraform

Azure DevOps

GitHub Actions

Job description

For more than three decades, premier organizations have trusted IPM to lead the successful execution of their strategic portfolios and critically important initiatives. Headquartered in Chicago with offices in Boston, Parsippany, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, IPM has led more than 5,000 projects for over 500 clients. Our clients range from Fortune 100 companies to start-ups.

We are a certified “Great Place to Work” company and have been named to the Great Place to Work list of “Best Workplaces in Consulting and Professional Services.”

Job Description

The AI Solutions Engineer is a critical member of the Knowledge and Process Management team at IPM, serving in a hands‑on engineering role that spans both strategy and implementation. This role bridges technology and operations, translating emerging AI capabilities into practical tools and scalable solutions that enhance both internal effectiveness and client delivery. By accelerating productivity and strengthening consulting offerings, the AI Solutions Engineer plays a key role in establishing a competitive advantage by building and deploying AI capabilities across data pipelines, security, evaluation frameworks, and operational patterns. Core areas of responsibility include production hardening, platform development, security implementation, data foundations, and operational enablement.

In close partnership with IPM’s AI Development Leads, the AI Solutions Engineer will identify high‑impact opportunities for AI adoption, rapidly prototype solutions, and drive them through to production. Solutions are expected to meet enterprise standards for security, observability, and integration with IPM’s M365 and Azure environments, while also being robust and scalable enough to support long‑term use across the firm.

The position requires close collaboration with stakeholders across Operations, Corporate functions, IT, and Practice Areas to identify high‑value use cases and deliver solutions aligned with business priorities. In addition, the role supports adoption through training, knowledge sharing, and governance. Responsibilities include AI strategy and opportunity identification, AI solution development, AI enablement and service development, AI solution delivery, and emerging technology governance. The balance between internal initiatives and client‑facing work will evolve over time, based on business priorities, client needs, and the maturity of IPM’s AI capabilities.

Primary Responsibilities and Duties

• Identify and prioritize opportunities for AI-enabled solutions across internal operations and client engagements.
• Engage stakeholders (internal and external) to understand workflows, pain points, and value drivers.
• Design, develop, test, and deploy AI-enabled solutions that support internal operations.
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code; manage dev, staging, and production environments.
• Implement authentication, authorization, and data access controls (Entra ID, role-based access, tenant isolation where applicable).
• Curate and maintain internal knowledge bases for retrieval-grounded systems.
• Handle sensitive data appropriately in AI workflows (PII, client-confidential, regulated data).
• Enhance knowledge capture, accessibility, and reuse across client engagements and internal operations.
• Drive consistency and scalability of core IPM processes through AI.
• Support the evolution of IPM’s consulting practices through the application of AI and emerging technologies.
• As a part of client engagements, design and deliver AI-enabled solutions and tools, partner with engagement leads to define technical scope, integration constraints, and handoff expectations, and translate IPM's internal production patterns to client-side deployments.
• Evaluate new AI tools and capabilities for potential application within IPM by leading pilots and implementation of new technologies.
• Implement AI-specific security controls and support ongoing maintenance monitoring and continuous improvement of deployed internal solutions.
• Develop resources, playbooks, and guidance to support effective and consistent use of AI tools.
• Deliver training and enablement for both internal teams and client stakeholders.
• Promote practical adoption through hands‑on support, working sessions, and knowledge sharing.
• Support client-facing training, workshops, and enablement activities as part of AI-enabled engagements.

Desired Skill and Experience

The successful candidate for this position should demonstrate the following skills and experiences:

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, data science, or a related field.
• 3+ years of experience in software development, data science, or AI/ML roles.
• Exposure to production AI application architecture: retrieval patterns (RAG, agentic retrieval), agent orchestration, prompt and context engineering at the systems level, evaluation infrastructure.
• Familiarity with MCP (Model Context Protocol) and the broader agent tooling ecosystem
• DevOps for AI applications: infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD, observability, incident response, model, and prompt versioning
• Security for AI applications: prompt injection mitigation, agent tool abuse, data exfiltration through model context, output integrity
• Data engineering for AI: document ingestion pipelines, embedding strategy, vector store operations, data quality, sensitive data handling.
• Comfort using AI-assisted development tools (Claude Code, Cursor, or equivalent) as part of your own workflow.
• Strong cloud platform engineering, Azure preferred (Container Apps, Functions, App Service, Key Vault, App Insights, Entra ID). AWS or GCP equivalent experience considered.
• Experience evaluating emerging technologies and applying them to business use cases.
• Demonstrated ability to translate business needs into scalable technical solutions.
• Experience working with stakeholders across functions to define and deliver high-impact solutions.
• Experience leading projects or initiatives from concept through implementation.
• Strong problem-solving, communication, and facilitation skills.
• Ability to work independently while influencing cross-functional stakeholders.
• Experience in project management, consulting, or operations environments preferred.

WHY IPM

• Engaging culture: IPM has a caring, nurturing culture with a transparent communication approach and culture-building and team-building events, both regional and company-wide.
• Professional development: This role is intentionally designed as a development opportunity. IPM invests heavily in training, mentorship, and experiential learning to help employees build long-term careers. You are IPM’s future – we only promote from within.
• Collaborative work environment: You will work alongside experienced consultants, managers, and IPM’s Centers of Excellence, gaining access to proven tools, methodologies, and best practices.
• Comprehensive compensation and benefits program: including 100% employer-paid health for employees and over 80% paid health for dependents; 401(k)matching, performance bonus, relocation assistance, tuition reimbursement, paid vacation, holiday, personal and sick time, among many others; salary range is $80,000 - $140,000, dependent on experience.
• Philanthropy: We are devoted to the communities we serve and actively promote employee involvement in community improvement projects. We have created “Project Mercy” to channel our philanthropic efforts every quarter.

Disclaimer:

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.

Where a specific pay range is noted, it is a good faith estimate at the time of this posting. The actual salary offered will be based on experience, skills, qualifications, and market / business considerations.

IPM is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants for employment.

IPM’s hybrid work environment requires a minimum of three in-office days each week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Additional in-office days may be required based on business needs and meetings.