Lead AI Engineer

Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.; Charlotte (NC); On-site; USD 145,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

401k retirement plan

Flexible vacation

Paid family leave

Job summary

A leading energy research organization seeks a Lead Search and AI Engineer to design and support AI-driven document processing solutions. This role involves building AI systems with Azure AI Search, optimizing query performance, and deploying applications on Kubernetes. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in AI/ML and cloud technologies, along with strong Python skills. This position offers a competitive salary and comprehensive benefits, including medical and retirement plans.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience providing solutions to complex program/system problems.
• 5+ years in AI/ML, cloud-based search, and document processing.
• Strong knowledge of RAG architectures for AI-powered search.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement AI-driven document processing solutions.
• Develop strategies for query orchestration across multiple systems.
• Deploy and manage AI applications using Kubernetes.

Skills

AI/ML expertise

Cloud-based search proficiency

Kubernetes experience

Python development skills

Query orchestration knowledge

Education

Bachelors or Masters Degree in Computer Science

Tools

Azure AI Search

Tesseract OCR

PyMuPDF

Pillow

Job description

Lead Search and AI Engineer page is loaded## Lead Search and AI Engineerlocations: Charlotte, NC: North Carolina Home Officetime type: Full timeposted on: Posted Todayjob requisition id: REQ-3852# **Job Title:**Lead Search and AI Engineer# **Location:**Charlotte, NC, North Carolina Home Office# **Job Summary and Description:**The Lead AI Engineer is to design, implement, and support AI-driven document processing, retrieval, and search solutions using Azure AI Search, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), Knowledge Graphs, Query Orchestration, Prompt Engineering, and Kubernetes-based container deployments.# Key Responsibilities* Architect & Deploy AI Solutions: Build AI-driven search and document intelligence systems using Azure AI Search, Knowledge Graphs, and RAG techniques.* Query Orchestration: Develop strategies to route and structure user queries efficiently across multiple retrieval systems.* RAG-Based Applications: Implement and fine-tune applications for intelligent knowledge retrieval from structured and unstructured documents.* Containerized Deployments: Deploy and manage AI applications using Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) for scalability.* Vector Search Optimization: Enhance document retrieval through optimized embeddings and hybrid search techniques.* Open-Source Integration: Utilize tools like Tesseract OCR, PyMuPDF, and Pillow for document processing.* API Integration: Connect with Profile APIs, Product Metadata, and Downloads to enrich indexing and search capabilities.* Compliance & Security: Ensure adherence to export control restrictions and secure document handling best practices.* Monitoring & Optimization: Troubleshoot and optimize AI-based workflows for performance and reliability.* Stakeholder Collaboration: Work closely with business and technical teams to refine AI-powered document solutions.# Required Skills & Experience* Bachelors or Masters Degree in Computer Science or related areas, applicable professional certification with 7+ years of progressive experience providing solutions to complex program/system problems in a business environment in* 5+ years in AI/ML, cloud-based search, and document processing.* Expertise in Query Orchestration for complex AI pipelines.* Strong knowledge of RAG architectures for AI-powered search.* Hands-on experience with Azure AI Search, Document Intelligence, and Cognitive Services.* Proficiency in vector search, embeddings, and hybrid retrieval techniques.* Experience with Kubernetes (AKS) and containerized deployments.* Familiarity with Tesseract OCR, PyMuPDF, and Pillow.* Strong Python development skills for AI pipelines.# Specialized Expertise## Search & RAG* Semantic, BM25, similar ranking and vector search optimization.* Custom scoring profiles and relevance tuning.* Evaluation metrics (nDCG, MRR, precision@k).* Query rewriting, synonym maps, and semantic expansion.* Integration with RAG and LLM pipelines for optimized context retrieval.## Prompt Engineering* Systematic prompt design and evaluation.* RAG-oriented prompting with grounding and guardrails.* Instruction hierarchies and multi-agent orchestration.* Domain adaptation for EPRI’s technical language.* Continuous improvement through telemetry and quality analysis.# Preferred Qualifications* Experience with hybrid cloud AI solutions (on-prem + cloud).* Familiarity with Azure OpenAI, LangChain, or AI Foundry.* Deep knowledge of multi-index query orchestration.* Expertise in Azure AI search semantic and vector profiling.* Expertise in vector other databases such as (FAISS, Weaviate, Pinecone).* Background in NLP, document classification, and entity extraction.* Understanding of export control compliance and secure document handling.The salary range for this position is $145,000 USD to $175,000 USD annually.This salary range is an estimate, and the actual salary may vary based on various factors, including without limitation applicant's education, experience, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity and alignment with market data. The salary may also be adjusted based on applicant's geographic location.This role is eligible to participate in EPRI’s annual incentive program. The amount of incentive varies and is subject to the terms and conditions of the plan.This role is eligible to participate in EPRI’s standard employee benefit programs, which currently include the following: medical, dental, vision, 401k, STD/LTD and paid family leave, life and accident insurance, paid time off (flexible vacation, sick leave, and holiday pay).EPRI participates in E-Verify, an online system operated jointly by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration (SSA). EPRI uses the system to check the work status of new hires by comparing information from the employee's I-9 form against SSA and Department of Homeland Security databases.EPRI is an equal opportunity employer. EEO/AA/M/F/VETS/DisabledTogether . . . Shaping the Future of Energy.www.epri.com