Lead Applied AI Scientist – Production AI & LLMOps

Lumen; Topeka (KS); Remote; USD 176,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Lumen seeks a Senior Lead Applied AI Scientist to design, build, deploy, and evolve production-scale AI solutions—agents, generative AI, ML, and more. You’ll partner with business, product, and engineering leaders to translate high-value opportunities into AI-powered results that drive measurable business impact.

You will combine deep AI and ML expertise with strong software engineering and product delivery skills, prototyping and scaling AI systems while guiding stakeholders through technical

Qualifications

• Seven plus years of experience in applied AI, including production deployments.
• Proven track record delivering AI solutions with measurable outcomes.
• Deep expertise in machine learning, statistics, experimentation, predictive analytics, and modern AI techniques.
• Hands-on experience building LLM, RAG, agentic, and machine learning solutions.
• Strong experience with AI evaluation, model performance optimization, responsible AI, and production monitoring.
• Proficiency in Python and modern AI/ML frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face, MLflow, or similar technologies.
• Experience with MLOps, LLMOps, cloud AI platforms, APIs, and software engineering best practices.
• Strong product mindset, problem-solving skills, and ability to communicate complex concepts with technical and business stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimize AI solutions from concept through production deployment.
• Partner with business and product teams to identify opportunities, define success metrics, and validate value through rapid experimentation.
• Develop advanced AI systems leveraging machine learning, generative AI, retrieval, predictive modeling, and agentic architectures.
• Define evaluation frameworks and continuously improve quality, reliability, safety, performance, and cost.
• Partner with Engineering to deliver scalable, production‑ready solutions using MLOps and LLMOps best practices.
• Contribute reusable frameworks, evaluation assets, and technical standards that accelerate AI adoption across the enterprise.
• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance on complex AI initiatives.

Skills

Python

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Hugging Face

MLflow

MLOps

LLMOps

Leadership

Communication with stakeholders

Agentic AI

Education

Master's degree or PhD in Computer Science, AI, Machine Learning, Statistics, or related field

Tools

APIs

Cloud AI platforms

ML platform tooling

Job description

Lumen seeks a Senior Lead Applied AI Scientist to design, build, deploy, and evolve production-scale AI solutions—agents, generative AI, ML, and more. You’ll partner with business, product, and engineering leaders to translate high-value opportunities into AI-powered results that drive measurable business impact.

You will combine deep AI and ML expertise with strong software engineering and product delivery skills, prototyping and scaling AI systems while guiding stakeholders through technical