Distinguished AI Engineer

Elevance Health; Indianapolis (IN); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Elevance Health, Inc. seeks a Distinguished AI Engineer to lead enterprise AI initiatives across machine learning, generative AI, and AI agents.

The role emphasizes hands-on development with architecture influence, scalable AI services, and cross-team collaboration. The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise with business acumen, guiding buy/build decisions and modernizing AI deployment at scale within a Fortune 100 environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree plus 15+ years in software engineering or equivalent
• Proven production-grade AI/ML systems at scale
• Strong programming in Python/Java
• Experience with APIs, microservices, event-driven architectures, and CI/CD
• Experience with AI agents, LLMs, and GenAI preferred

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deploy enterprise AI solutions across ML, GenAI, and agentic AI systems
• Architect scalable, resilient AI solutions using LLMs, distributed systems, and event-driven architectures
• Lead as a technical leader and SME across the AI development lifecycle
• Build reusable AI services, frameworks, accelerators, and reference architectures
• Translate business opportunities into scalable AI solutions with cross-functional teams
• Guide architecture, model selection, evaluation, deployment, and operations of AI solutions
• Mentor junior AI engineers and elevate the organization’s AI capabilities
• Establish technical standards, governance, and responsible AI practices

Skills

Distributed systems

Large-scale architecture

AI/ML systems

Python/Java

APIs & microservices

CI/CD & DevOps

LLM & GenAI

Productionization

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science / Information Technology or related field

Tools

Cloud platforms

Job description

Location: This role requires associates to be in-office 1 day per week, fostering collaboration and connectivity, while providing flexibility to support productivity and work-life balance. This approach combines structured office engagement with the autonomy of virtual work, promoting a dynamic and adaptable workplace. Ideal candidates will be able to report to our Pulse Point location in Indianapolis, IN. Alternate locations may be considered if candidates reside within a commuting distance from an office.

Please note that per our policy on hybrid/virtual work, candidates not within a reasonable commuting distance from the posting location(s) will not be considered for employment, unless an accommodation is granted as required by law.

The Distinguished AI Engineer is a highly experienced, hands-on AI individual contributor to design, build, and scale enterprise AI solutions across machine learning, generative AI, and AI agents. This role is for a senior technical expert who can directly develop production-grade AI capabilities while also influencing architecture, delivery models, and engineering practices across the organization. The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise with strong business acumen and has a proven track record of building reusable AI services at scale. This is not a pure research or management role; we are looking for a hands-on builder who thrives in complex enterprise environments and can help modernize how AI solutions are developed and deployed. The ideal candidate can also make sound buy, build, and integrate decisions across commercial and open-source AI solutions, selecting the right approach based on business need, regulatory requirements, speed to value, and long-term maintainability.

How You Will Make An Impact

• Design, develop, and deploy enterprise AI solutions spanning traditional machine learning, generative AI, and agentic AI systems.
• Architect and deliver scalable, resilient AI solutions leveraging technologies such as agentic systems, large language models (LLMs), distributed systems, and event-driven architectures.
• Serve as a senior hands-on contributor, technical leader, and subject matter expert across the AI development lifecycle.
• Build reusable AI services, frameworks, accelerators, and reference architectures leveraged across multiple teams and use cases.
• Partner with business domain SMEs, product, engineering, architecture, security, data, and business teams to translate business opportunities into scalable AI solutions.
• Lead, buy, build, and integrate decisions across commercial and open-source AI solutions, balancing speed, cost, risk, security, scalability, and strategic differentiation.
• Use modern AI-assisted development tooling to improve speed, quality, and efficiency of solution delivery.
• Guide implementation teams through architecture, design, model selection, evaluation, deployment, and operationalization of AI solutions.
• Mentor junior AI engineers and elevate the broader organization’s AI engineering capabilities.
• Influence technical direction across teams through expertise, credibility, and collaboration rather than formal authority
• Ensure solutions are designed for enterprise requirements including scalability, security, observability, governance, and maintainability.
• Define enterprise-wide technical direction, including architecture patterns, integration standards, and reusable platform capabilities.
• Lead AI-driven modernization of legacy systems through automated code transformation, service decomposition, and continuous optimization.
• Design and implement AI-enabled software development lifecycle (SDLC) practices to improve engineering velocity and quality.
• Establish technical standards, governance frameworks, and best practices for AI systems, including monitoring, evaluation, and responsible AI.
• Partner with engineering teams and stakeholders to enable adoption of AI-assisted development and drive continuous improvement in system performance and productivity.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship while influencing enterprise technology decisions through deep expertise and hands-on engineering.

Minimum Requirements

• Requires a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field and a minimum of 15 years of experience in software engineering, deep expertise in distributed systems and large-scale architecture, or any combination of education and experience, which would provide an equivalent background.
• Experience delivering production-grade AI/ML systems at scale, building agentic systems or complex LLM-based applications, modernizing large, complex legacy systems, and delivering high-quality systems also required.
• Strong programming expertise in Python, Java, or similar required.
• Deep experience with APIs, microservices, and event-driven architectures, cloud platforms, and CI/CD and DevOps practices required.

Preferred Skills, Capabilities & Experiences

• Subject matter expert in machine learning, GenAI, and AI agents preferred.
• Experience working in a Fortune 100 regulated company, startup, and/or top-tier technology firm preferred.
• Proven success at building and deploying reusable AI services at scale preferred.
• Experience operationalizing AI in production with MLOps, LLMOps, observability, and governance practices preferred.