Lead AI Engineer

Harnham; Minneapolis (MN); On-site; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

AI leadership

Cloud tech

Professional development

Flexible work

Benefits package

Job summary

Harnham is partnering with a global technology and information services organization to lead enterprise AI initiatives, designing Generative AI, RAG architectures, autonomous agents, and cloud-native platforms for regulated, data-intensive industries.

You will mentor engineers, set technical strategy, collaborate with product and design teams, champion observability, security, and governance, and deliver scalable AI-powered solutions in production environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of software engineering experience with 4+ years in senior/lead roles focused on AI/ML.
• Proven experience delivering Generative AI, LLM, RAG, or agent-based applications in production.

Responsibilities

• Lead design and development of enterprise-scale AI applications, including RAG solutions, intelligent agents, and multi-stage AI pipelines.
• Architect full-stack solutions spanning AI orchestration layers, APIs, microservices, data services, and modern web apps.
• Drive technical strategy for AI initiatives and translate research into practical business apps.
• Establish MLOps and LLMOps best practices: deployment, monitoring, governance, lifecycle management.
• Mentor and guide engineering teams and provide technical leadership.

Skills

AI/ML leadership

Distributed systems

Backend development

APIs

Cloud-native architecture

Leadership

Mentoring

Stakeholder management

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering

Master's degree preferred

Tools

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

Job description

Harnham is working with a global technology and information services organization that develops advanced software solutions for professionals operating in highly regulated and data-intensive industries. With significant investment in artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, the business is building next-generation intelligent platforms that help customers uncover insights, make critical decisions, and improve operational efficiency at scale.

This is an opportunity to join a highly innovative engineering team at the forefront of AI adoption, where you will help shape enterprise-grade solutions leveraging Generative AI, RAG architectures, autonomous agents, and cloud-native technologies.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the design and development of enterprise-scale AI applications, including RAG solutions, intelligent agents, and multi-stage AI pipelines.
• Architect and deliver full-stack solutions spanning AI orchestration layers, APIs, microservices, data services, and modern web applications.
• Drive technical strategy for AI initiatives, evaluating emerging technologies and translating research into practical business applications.
• Establish best practices for MLOps and LLMOps, including model deployment, monitoring, governance, and lifecycle management.
• Mentor and support engineering teams, providing technical leadership and guidance across complex software projects.
• Collaborate closely with product, design, research, and engineering stakeholders to deliver scalable, secure, and high-performing AI-powered products.
• Champion observability, testing, security, compliance, and responsible AI practices across the software development lifecycle.
• Optimize AI solutions for performance, cost efficiency, reliability, and user experience within large-scale production environments.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Required

• MUST BE A US CITIZEN
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience (Master's degree preferred).
• 8+ years of software engineering experience, including at least 4 years in senior or lead engineering roles focused on AI/ML solutions.
• Proven experience designing and delivering Generative AI, LLM, RAG, or agent-based applications in production environments.
• Strong expertise in backend development, APIs, distributed systems, and cloud-native application architecture.
• Expert-level proficiency in object-oriented programming and experience with AI/ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX.
• Strong experience with AWS and modern infrastructure tooling including Docker, Kubernetes, and Terraform.
• Demonstrated ability to integrate AI models into enterprise-scale systems through APIs, data pipelines, and microservices.
• Excellent communication, leadership, stakeholder management, and mentoring skills.

Preferred

• Experience leading teams building AI-driven platforms or enterprise AI integrations.
• Knowledge of vector databases, embeddings, semantic search, and information retrieval technologies.
• Experience working within regulated sectors such as legal, financial, risk, compliance, or investigative services.
• Understanding of AI governance, model risk management, and regulatory compliance frameworks.
• Record of successful AI product launches, technical presentations, publications, patents, or industry speaking engagements.

BENEFITS

• Opportunity to lead cutting-edge AI initiatives with significant business impact.
• Exposure to large-scale enterprise AI platforms and modern cloud technologies.
• Collaborative and innovation-focused engineering culture.
• Ongoing professional development, learning, and industry engagement opportunities.
• Comprehensive employee benefits package and flexible working arrangements.

KEY TERMS

Lead Software Engineer AI | Principal Software Engineer | Generative AI | LLM | Large Language Models | RAG | Retrieval Augmented Generation | Agentic AI | AI Agents | Machine Learning | MLOps | LLMOps | AWS | Kubernetes | Docker | Terraform | Python | PyTorch | TensorFlow | JAX | Microservices | APIs | Distributed Systems | Vector Databases | Embeddings | Semantic Search | Cloud Architecture | Enterprise Software | Full Stack Engineering | Artificial Intelligence Leadership