AI System Developer III

Tallgrass; Lakewood (CO); On-site; USD 106,000 - 131,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401(k) with match

Annual bonus

Paid time off

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Tallgrass in Colorado seeks a senior AI/ML engineer to design, implement, and optimize retrieval-augmented generation systems, including vector stores, embedding pipelines, and quality tuning. You will lead multi-agent designs, deploy production-grade microservices, and integrate LLMs with enterprise apps while enforcing data minimization, PII protection, and security controls.

Collaborate with Legal and Security, mentor junior engineers, and contribute to CI/CD, MLflow workflows, and governance

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS/ML/DS or related field; master's preferred.
• 7+ years IT experience; AI/ML deployment experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement RAG solutions with vector stores and embeddings.
• Develop multi-agent systems and agentic call flows.
• Build production-grade microservices and APIs.
• Ensure AI governance, data minimization, and security controls.

Skills

Python

ML/AI libraries

RAG solutions

Multi-agent systems

LLM fine-tuning

Model deployment

Data engineering

Security controls

Requirements translation

Stakeholder communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science / ML / DS / SWE

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

MLflow

MS SQL / Oracle

Git

Job description

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and optimize retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) solutions including vector store design, knowledge index management, chunking strategies, embedding model selection, and retrieval quality evaluation.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of multi‑agent systems, agentic call flows, and LLM fine‑tuning and adaptation for domain‑specific use cases; including agent‑to‑agent communication patterns, tool use, memory management, training data preparation, and model evaluation.
• Design, implement, and maintain complex AI system components including model serving APIs, advanced inference pipelines, and production‑grade microservices.
• Implement and optimize integrations between LLMs, AI services, and enterprise applications including internal portals, chatbots, and workflow automation platforms.
• Apply and contribute to AI governance guardrails and security controls including data minimization, PII detection and redaction, prompt injection mitigation, content moderation, adversarial input handling, and model output validation; collaborate with Legal, Compliance, and Security to implement controls required for regulatory frameworks and internal policy adherence.
• Translate complex business requirements into technical specifications, flow diagrams, solution designs, and implementation plans with minimal supervision.
• Work with Data & Analytics to define, access, and prepare AI‑ready datasets; ensure data quality, lineage, and appropriate transformations for model training and inference workloads.
• Contribute to and improve CI/CD pipelines, containerization strategies (Docker/Kubernetes), model versioning, model registry practices, and MLflow workflows to support reliable and repeatable AI delivery.
• Write and review unit, integration, and acceptance tests for AI components and APIs; contribute to evaluation framework improvements; participate in release planning, deployment verification, and post‑deployment monitoring; troubleshoot complex production issues, perform root‑cause analysis, and implement durable fixes or mitigations; provide on‑call support as required.
• Mentor Level I and Level II developers through code review and technical guidance; create and maintain technical documentation, runbooks, and API documentation; support business stakeholders with training and adoption playbooks; and contribute reusable patterns, templates, and components to the Center of Excellence knowledge base.
• Perform all duties with tact, courtesy, and professionalism; work effectively across multi‑disciplinary teams; maintain regular, dependable attendance and a high regard for personal safety, company assets, and the general public; and perform other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Data Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Business Management, or a related discipline. A Master's degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field is preferred.
• A minimum of seven (7) years of direct work experience in IT or a related discipline may be considered as a substitute for a degree.

Experience / Specific Knowledge

• Minimum of four (4) to five (5) years of overall IT experience.
• Minimum of four (4) years of recent experience focusing on system development, support, implementation, and upgrades with demonstrated AI/ML components.
• Minimum of four (4) years of development experience in modern software engineering languages and environments; strong proficiency in Python and common ML/AI libraries and frameworks required.
• Demonstrated hands‑on experience deploying and optimizing LLMs (open‑source or API‑based) in production environments.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing RAG solutions including vector store selection, embedding pipelines, and retrieval quality tuning.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing agentic or multi‑agent systems using orchestration libraries and frameworks.
• Experience with model fine‑tuning, instruction‑tuning, or domain adaptation including training data preparation and evaluation.
• Experience in the full product development life cycle including design contribution, development, testing, deployment, and post‑production support.
• Established SQL skills in MS SQL and/or Oracle databases and working knowledge of data engineering patterns.
• Experience with reporting tools and the ability to develop and maintain operational and audit reports.
• Experience in an application development environment using web frameworks, microservices, Microsoft .NET or equivalent technology.
• Experience implementing AI security controls including PII handling, prompt injection defense, content moderation, and output validation.
• Experience effectively communicating business and technical issues to both technical and non‑technical audiences.
• Experience managing multiple assignments with competing priorities with minimal supervision.
• Advanced proficiency in MS Office applications including but not limited to Excel, Word, Access, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

Certifications, Licenses & Registrations

• Must possess and maintain a valid driver's license and a driving record satisfactory to the company and its insurers (for travel).
• Application Developer certification(s) such as MCSD, OCP/M/E, CSD, or equivalent preferred. AI/ML certifications or advanced training from recognized vendors or community programs strongly preferred.

Competencies, Skills & Abilities

• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and collaboratively in a team environment; share knowledge, mentor peers, and accept direction from management.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and competing priorities under strict deadlines; organize work and use time efficiently.
• Deliver excellent customer service and maintain professional relationships across all levels of the organization.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate clearly, both verbally and in writing, technical and systems requirements to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Ability to contribute to solution design discussions, evaluate technical trade‑offs, and recommend practical approaches within the scope of assigned work.
• Use analytical and technical understanding of complex AI systems to diagnose problems and identify efficient, practical solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor and provide constructive feedback to less experienced team members through code review and technical guidance.
• Demonstrate strong attention to detail, reliability, and adherence to work schedules and policies.
• Able to perform the essential functions of the position.

Preferred Education, Experience, Certifications, Competencies, Skills & Abilities

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Data Science, or a related field.
• Advanced hands‑on experience with fine‑tuning or instruction‑tuning LLMs for domain‑specific enterprise applications.
• Experience with advanced multi‑agent frameworks including agent memory architectures, tool‑use patterns, and failure recovery strategies.
• Experience with AI red teaming, adversarial testing, or formal AI security evaluation methodologies.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and cloud‑native ML services and pipelines.
• Experience with advanced vector database configurations, hybrid search strategies, and RAG evaluation frameworks.
• Experience with containerization and orchestration at scale or cloud‑managed equivalents.
• Contributions to open‑source AI/ML projects, technical publications, or community knowledge sharing.

Physical Demands

• Must be able to sit for prolonged periods of time.
• The employee is regularly required to use hands to type, touch, handle, or feel. The employee is required to talk and hear. The employee is frequently required to stand and reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to walk and climb or balance. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.

Working Conditions

• Required to carry a cell phone and be available to respond during working and non‑working hours.
• The successful candidate will be required to clear a drug screen and a complete background check, including credit report for certain positions, after an offer has been extended and prior to being employed.

Supervisory Responsibility

None. This role provides informal technical mentorship and peer code review but carries no formal supervisory or people‑management responsibility.

Compensation

• The annual salary range for this position will be $106,000–$131,000/yr.

Benefits

• Industry competitive pay
• Health insurance package options that include Flexible Spending & Health Savings Accounts
• Infertility Coverage
• Parental Leave
• 401(k) with up to a 6% match that vests immediately plus an employer discretionary contribution of up to 4%
• Wellness Programs and Mental Health Resources
• Employer‑paid life insurance, short‑term disability, and long‑term disability coverage
• Critical Illness & Accident Insurance
• Vacation, sick days, paid caregiver leave, volunteer and bereavement paid time off
• Identity theft protection
• Annual discretionary bonus
• Generous Tuition Reimbursement Program
• Company‑paid holidays and floating holidays
• Company vehicle (if applicable)
• Employee discounts; vehicles, tires, cellular plans, and more
• Networking and employee engagement events
• Personal development to grow your career with us based on your strengths and interests

EEO Statement

Tallgrass complies with all Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) affirmative action laws and regulations. Tallgrass does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, veteran status, pregnancy status, or other status protected by law.