Azure AI Engineer

ZainTECH; United States; Remote; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

ZainTECH is seeking an Azure AI Engineer to deliver enterprise AI on the Azure Stack. You will own the deployment lifecycle, build robust AI services, and ensure compliance with security and governance standards.

Responsibilities include implementing AI solutions, creating RAG pipelines, deploying models to AML/Foundry/AKS, and integrating services via APIs. Collaborate with architects, data engineers, and security teams to deliver scalable, observable AI workloads.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with Azure AI Foundry and Azure OpenAI.
• Strong Python skills and REST API experience.
• 2+ years building or deploying AI/data solutions on Azure.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or related field.
• Preferred certifications: AI Engineer, Data Engineer, or Solutions Architect.

Responsibilities

• Implement AI solutions on Azure AI Foundry, including agent design, model selection, prompts, and deployment.
• Build RAG pipelines using Azure AI Search, Azure OpenAI, and vector stores; integrate with Data Lake and Databricks.
• Deploy models to Azure ML, Foundry, AKS, and Container Apps; manage endpoint scaling and versioning.
• Integrate AI services with downstream apps via REST APIs, Azure API Management, Logic Apps, and Function Apps.
• Own end-to-end deployment lifecycle, from environment provisioning to go-live and handover.

Skills

Azure AI Foundry

Azure OpenAI

Azure Databricks

Azure Data Lake

Python

REST APIs

Terraform

GitHub Actions

AKS/Container Apps

Azure Monitor

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering/Data Science

Tools

Azure DevOps

GitHub Actions

Docker

Azure API Management

Job description

The Azure AI Engineer is responsible for the end-to-end implementation and deployment of enterprise AI solutions on the Azure Stack. You will take ownership of building, integrating, and operationalizing AI workloads using Azure AI Foundry, Azure Databricks, Azure Data Lake, and the broader Microsoft AI ecosystem ? including the design and enforcement of guardrails for responsible, secure, and compliant AI. This is a hands-on engineering role focused on delivery: turning architectural designs into production-ready AI services, owning the deployment lifecycle, and ensuring solutions are robust, observable, and aligned with enterprise security and governance standards

Responsibilities:

AI Solution Implementation on Azure

• Solution Build: Implement AI solutions on Azure AI Foundry ? including agent design, model selection, prompt flows, evaluation pipelines, and deployment of fine-tuned and base models.
• Generative AI & RAG: Build retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines using Azure AI Search, Azure OpenAI, and vector stores; integrate with enterprise data sources via Azure Data Lake and Databricks.
• Model Deployment: Deploy models and AI endpoints to Azure Machine Learning, Azure AI Foundry, AKS, and Azure Container Apps; manage endpoint scaling, versioning, and traffic routing.
• Integration: Integrate AI services with downstream applications via REST APIs, Azure API Management, Logic Apps, and Function Apps.

Data Engineering on Azure Databricks & Data Lake

• Databricks Workloads: Build and operationalize data pipelines, feature engineering jobs, and model training notebooks on Azure Databricks (PySpark, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog).
• Data Lake Architecture: Implement medallion (bronze/silver/gold) patterns on Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2; manage partitioning, file formats, and access patterns optimized for AI workloads.
• Data Integration: Develop ingestion and transformation pipelines using Azure Data Factory, Synapse, and Databricks Workflows to feed curated data into AI models and vector indexes.

AI Guardrails, Responsible AI & Security

• Guardrails Implementation: Implement input/output guardrails using Azure AI Content Safety, Prompt Shields, and groundedness checks; configure jailbreak, PII, and harmful-content filters at the model and gateway layers.
• Responsible AI: Build evaluation pipelines for safety, groundedness, relevance, and bias using Azure AI Foundry evaluations; embed Responsible AI checks into the deployment workflow.
• Security: Enforce private endpoints, VNet integration, Managed Identity, Key Vault, and RBAC across all AI services; ensure data residency and tenant isolation requirements are met.

Deployment Ownership & MLOps

• End-to-End Ownership: Take ownership of the full deployment lifecycle ? from environment provisioning and CI/CD pipeline build to go-live, hypercare, and handover to operations.
• Infrastructure as Code: Author and maintain Terraform / Bicep modules for AI Foundry, Databricks, AML, Data Lake, AI Search, and supporting networking and identity components.
• CI/CD & MLOps: Build CI/CD pipelines (Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions) for prompt flows, model training, evaluation, and endpoint deployment; implement model registry, versioning, and promotion gates.
• Observability: Instrument AI workloads with Azure Monitor, Application Insights, and Log Analytics; set up dashboards for token usage, latency, cost, drift, and guardrail violations

Our Culture & Code of Conduct:

At ZainTECH, we take pride in a culture built on collaboration, innovation, and uncompromising integrity. We are looking for individuals who share these values and are committed to customer-centricity and ethical excellence. All employees are expected to uphold our Code of Conduct, which serves as a guiding framework for responsible behavior across everything we do ? from how we work with each other to how we engage with clients and partners globally.

Requirements

• Azure AI Stack: Hands-on experience with Azure AI Foundry, Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Search, Azure AI Content Safety, and Azure Machine Learning.
• Data Platforms: Strong proficiency in Azure Databricks (PySpark, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog) and Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2.
• GenAI Engineering: Experience building RAG, agentic, and prompt-flow solutions; familiarity with frameworks such as LangChain, Semantic Kernel, or LlamaIndex.
• Programming: Strong Python skills; comfortable with REST APIs, async patterns, and SDK-based integrations (Azure SDK, OpenAI SDK).
• Infrastructure as Code: Practical experience with Terraform and/or Bicep for deploying Azure data and AI services.
• DevOps: Hands-on with Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions for CI/CD; Git-based workflows and environment promotion.
• Containers & APIs: Working knowledge of Docker, AKS or Container Apps, and Azure API Management for exposing AI endpoints.
• Observability: Azure Monitor, Application Insights, and Log Analytics for AI workload telemetry.
• Guardrails: Practical experience implementing content safety, prompt shields, groundedness, and PII detection in production AI systems.
• Evaluation: Familiarity with offline and online evaluation methods for LLM applications (groundedness, relevance, safety, custom metrics).
• Compliance Awareness: Awareness of regional data residency, privacy, and Responsible AI principles relevant to UAE / regulated industries.
• Ownership Mindset: Takes end-to-end ownership of deployments and is accountable for delivery outcomes, not just task completion.
• Collaboration: Works closely with architects, data engineers, security, and client stakeholders; communicates clearly across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Documentation: Produces clear technical design documents, deployment runbooks, and handover artefacts.
• Experience: 3?5 years of hands-on engineering experience, including at least 2 years building or deploying AI / data solutions on Azure.
• Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Certifications (preferred): Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate (AI-102), Azure Data Engineer Associate (DP-203), or Azure Solutions Architect Expert.
• Location: Remote, with availability aligned to GST business hours and willingness to support deployment go-live windows.
• Engagement: Full-time, with ownership of AI solution deployments end-to-end on Azure Stack.