Principal AI Engineer

Verizon; Basking Ridge (NJ); Hybrid; USD 120,500 - 231,000; Full time

Job summary

Verizon is seeking a senior technologist to lead the technical vision and execution of provider‑level agentic AI/ML solutions within the Verizon Consumer Group AI team. You will shape the future of customer experience by building autonomous agents powering digital channels, sales, and customer success ecosystems.

You will mentor engineers, drive long‑term strategy, and collaborate with security, legal, and architecture teams to ensure privacy, compliance, and high engineering standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or four or more years of work experience.
• Six or more years of relevant experience required, demonstrated through one or a combination of work and/or military experience, or specialized training.
• Three or more years of experience designing, building, and deploying production AI/ML systems at scale.
• Experience with software development methodologies (e.g., Agile).
• Willingness to travel up to approximately 25% of the time.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical vision, architectural design, and execution of cutting‑edge agentic AI/ML solutions within Verizon Consumer Group AI team.
• Drive the technical strategy, research, and application of advanced agentic AI, large language models, and cognitive frameworks to solve complex consumer challenges.
• Design and implement production‑grade, scalable AI/ML pipelines and agent architectures that integrate with digital/customer success platforms.
• Collaborate with Global Technology Architecture, Security, and Legal to ensure data privacy, compliance, and engineering rigor.
• Develop and maintain a three‑to‑five‑year technical roadmap for agentic systems across VCG.
• Mentor engineers, establish engineering best practices, and introduce red‑teaming methodologies for safety boundaries.
• Translate complex technical concepts into clear narratives for executive presentations.

Skills

AI/ML design

Data quality

Pipeline architecture

Executive storytelling

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Master’s degree or PhD

Tools

LangChain

LlamaIndex

ACSS

Optix

Verint

Job description

When you join Verizon

What you'll be doing…

You will lead the technical vision, architectural design, and execution of cutting‑edge agentic AI/ML solutions within the Verizon Consumer Group (VCG) AI team. By shaping the future of customer experience, you will build intelligent, autonomous agents that power our digital channels, sales, and customer success ecosystems. Partnering with cross‑functional leadership, you will translate long‑term strategy into robust, scalable, and secure production systems.

• Driving the technical strategy, research, and application of advanced agentic AI, large language models (LLMs), and cognitive frameworks to solve complex consumer challenges.

• Designing and implementing production‑grade, highly scalable AI/ML pipelines and agent architectures that integrate seamlessly with digital and customer success platforms.

• Collaborating with Global Technology Architecture, Security, and Legal teams to ensure all agentic systems conform to the highest standards of data privacy, compliance, and engineering rigor.

• Partnering with Customer Service Operations and VCG Strategy teams to identify high‑impact business applications and translate them into robust technical designs.

• Developing and maintaining a three‑to‑five‑year technical roadmap for agentic systems across VCG, outlining the future state of the technology stack.

• Mentoring engineers, establishing engineering best practices, and introducing red‑teaming methodologies to stress‑test system capabilities and safety boundaries.

• Translating complex technical concepts, system architectures, and AI breakthroughs into clear and compelling narratives for executive presentations.

Where you'll be working…

This hybrid role will have a defined work location that includes work from home and assigned office days as set by the manager.

What we're looking for…

You thrive on working with complex data and translating it into scalable solutions. Detail‑oriented and driven by high‑impact outcomes, you prioritize data quality, model precision, and rigorous evaluation. You are a self‑driven engineer who can architect pipelines and deploy models independently under tight timelines, always focused on leveraging AI to directly enhance customer experiences.

You’ll need to have:

• Bachelor’s degree or four or more years of work experience.

• Six or more years of relevant experience required, demonstrated through one or a combination of work and/or military experience, or specialized training.

• Three or more years of experience designing, building, and deploying production AI/ML systems at scale.

• Experience with software development methodologies (e.g., Agile).

• Willingness to travel up to approximately 25% of the time.

Even better if you have one or more of the following:

• A Master’s degree or PhD in Computer Science, Data Science, or a related quantitative field.

• Knowledge of modern LLM application frameworks (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex), agentic architectures, and vector databases.

• Knowledge of systems and tools, including ACSS, Optix, POS, CTI, WorkHub, performance management tools, existing AI integrations, and Verint.

• Experience with API design and development.

• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., GCP, AWS, Azure) and cloud‑native technologies.

• Proven ability to lead technical planning, prioritization, and large‑scale projects.

• Strong organizational skills and the ability to thrive in a dynamic environment, meet deadlines, and manage multiple projects simultaneously.

If Verizon and this role sound like a fit for you, we encourage you to apply even if you don't meet every "even better" qualification listed above.

Benefits and Compensation

Our benefits are designed to help you move forward in your career, and in areas of your life outside Verizon. From health and wellness benefit options including medical, dental, vision, short and long term disability, basic life insurance, supplemental life insurance, AD&D insurance, identity theft protection, pet insurance and group home & auto insurance, we also offer a matched 401(k) savings plan, up to 8 company paid holidays per year and up to 6 personal days per year, paid parental leave, adoption assistance and tuition assistance, plus other incentives. Depending on the role, employees have the opportunity to receive compensation in the form of premium pay such as overtime, shift differential, holiday pay, allowances, etc. Newly hired employees receive up to 15 days of vacation per year, which grows with additional service. For part‑timers, your coverage will vary as you may be eligible for some of these benefits depending on your individual circumstances.

The salary will vary depending on your location and confirmed job‑related skills and experience. This is an incentive based position with the potential to earn more. For part‑time roles, your compensation will be adjusted to reflect your hours. The annual salary range for the location(s) listed on this job requisition based on a full‑time schedule is: $120,500.00 - $231,000.00.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Verizon is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to veteran status, disability or other legally protected characteristics.