Lead AI Systems Engineer – Advanced Forward Engineering

EY; Birmingham (AL); On-site; USD 144,000 - 329,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Total Rewards

Paid time off

Job summary

EY seeks a senior, hands-on Distinguished Engineer to lead AI-native system delivery in regulated industries, merging architecture enforcement with rapid production. You’ll coordinate across Forward Deployed Engineers and partner with Product Engineering and governance to translate field realities into durable, reusable patterns.

This role combines deep technical judgment with client presence, guiding delivery teams toward repeatable, auditable solutions that scale across enterprise contexts.

Qualifications

• 10+ years delivering complex AI enterprise systems in regulated industries.
• Experience with distributed systems, cloud platforms, and integration-heavy architectures.
• Hands-on with modern AI-enabled stacks (agentic systems, orchestration, LLM-backed services).
• Forward-deployed or customer-facing engineering experience with outcome ownership.
• Pattern-based thinking: reusable technical patterns or platforms.

Responsibilities

• Serve as cross-engagement technical authority ensuring delivery aligns with architecture and regulatory constraints.
• Synthesize learnings into durable reference integrations and reusable patterns.
• Work with AI agents to support regulation-safe decisions with evidence inputs.
• Operate as player-coach guiding delivery teams toward repeatable approaches.
• Translate field observations into evidence-based recommendations for platform investments.
• Collaborate with Product Engineering/Architecture to package client patterns into business cases.
• Participate in architecture reviews and prioritization to improve portability and outcomes.

Skills

AI/ML systems

Distributed systems

Cloud platforms

System design

Regulated industries

Client engagement

Architecture governance

Delivery lifecycle

Observability

Security

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in CS

Tools

Orchestration frameworks

LLM-backed services

Agentic systems

Job description

EY seeks a senior, hands-on Distinguished Engineer to lead AI-native system delivery in regulated industries, merging architecture enforcement with rapid production. You’ll coordinate across Forward Deployed Engineers and partner with Product Engineering and governance to translate field realities into durable, reusable patterns.

This role combines deep technical judgment with client presence, guiding delivery teams toward repeatable, auditable solutions that scale across enterprise contexts.