Lead AI Platform Engineer

Abbott; Madison (WI); On-site; USD 99,300 - 198,700; Full time

Job summary

Abbott is seeking a Lead Engineer, Artificial Intelligence to drive the strategic vision and execution of AI initiatives in Madison, WI. You will lead ML, NLP, and LLM efforts, partner with data scientists and software engineers, and shape end-to-end AI solutions that meet business goals.

The role emphasizes innovation, reliability, and scalable AI systems, with mentorship and ethical AI practices guiding day-to-day work. Base pay ranges widely by location, with strong collaboration across teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or related field, or 4+ years of relevant experience in lieu of degree.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing and deploying AI solutions with measurable business impact.
• Strong understanding of ethical considerations in AI systems.
• 3+ years of project leadership experience including Agile and SAFE.
• Advanced ability with ML frameworks and languages like Python; cloud platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead ML, NLP, and LLM deliverables to support AI strategies.
• Collaborate with data scientists, ML engineers, and software engineers to deploy models into production.
• Develop and deploy Gen AI, NLP, LLM models for batch and stream processing pipelines including RAG.
• Stay updated on AI research to guide initiatives and ensure alignment with business goals.
• Coach and mentor team members; ensure ethical AI practices and regulatory compliance.

Skills

Machine Learning

Natural Language Processing

Generative AI

Large Language Models

Python

Cloud Platforms

Agile

SAFE

Data Analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/AI or related field

4+ years of relevant experience in lieu

Tools

Python

TensorFlow

PyTorch

Hugging Face

Job description

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 115,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

Position Overview

The Lead Engineer, Artificial Intelligence is a pivotal position responsible for driving the strategic vision and technical execution of AI initiatives within the organization. This role demands expertise in Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, and emerging technologies such as Generative AI and Large Language Models. This role will be responsible for the development and deployment of innovative AI solutions, ensuring their alignment with business objectives while fostering collaboration across multidisciplinary teams. A strong emphasis is placed on problem-solving, efficiency enhancement, and maintaining the reliability and scalability of AI systems to deliver exceptional results.

Essential Duties

• Lead the execution of ML, NLP, LLM deliverables in support of the AI strategies.
• Collaborate closely with data scientists, machine learning engineers, and software engineers to ensure smooth integration of machine learning models into production systems.
• Partner on the execution of custom ML, Gen AI, NLP, LLM Models for batch and stream processing-based AI ML pipelines including data ingestion, preprocessing modules, search and retrieval, Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), NLP/LLM model development and ensure the end-to-end solution meets all technical and business requirements, and SLA specifications.
• Complete the development and deployment of AI models and algorithms to solve complex problems.
• Stay updated on advancements in AI research and technology to guide initiatives.
• Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning within the team.
• Coach, support, and provide mentorship for team members.
• Champion ethical AI practices and ensure compliance with regulatory standards.
• Address issues related to data privacy, security, and biases in AI systems.
• Uphold company mission and values through accountability, innovation, integrity, quality, and teamwork.
• Support and comply with the company’s Quality Management System policies and procedures.
• Maintain regular and reliable attendance.
• Ability to act with an inclusion mindset and model these behaviors for the organization.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, or a related field; or High School Diploma/General Education Degree and 4+ years of relevant as outlined in the essential duties in lieu of Bachelor’s Degree.
• Demonstrated expertise in designing and deploying cutting-edge AI solutions that drive measurable business impact.
• Demonstrated understanding of ethical considerations in AI systems.
• 3+ years of project leadership experience including Agile project management, Scaled Agile Frameworks (SAFE).
• Advanced ability working with machine learning frameworks, programming languages like Python, and cloud platforms.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with expertise in AI/ML techniques.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing and deploying Gen AI solutions at scale.
• Experience fine tuning LLMs, SLMs, teacher-student frameworks and model distillation
• Familiarity with human in the loop methods for aligning LLMs with human preferences, e.g. DPO
• Familiarity with Agentic framework platforms and concepts. Experience deploying agentic-based solutions is a plus.

The base pay for this position is $99,300.00 – $198,700.00. In specific locations, the pay range may vary from the range posted.