Principal AI Engineer

Surescripts; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 188,000 - 229,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

Paid time off

Parental leave

Mental health days

Pet insurance

401(k)

Job summary

Surescripts is seeking a Principal AI Engineer to lead and execute AI initiatives across the enterprise, combining hands-on engineering with architectural oversight.

You will partner with product, engineering, design, and business stakeholders to deliver scalable, reliable AI solutions for customer-facing products and internal operations; the role emphasizes responsible AI, model governance, and practical deployment in a hybrid work model in the United States.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• 8+ years of software, data, or AI/ML engineering experience.
• 4+ years in lead/senior engineering role mentoring engineers.
• 3+ years hands-on ML/AI engineering experience.
• Experience architecting APIs, microservices, data pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Own the AI initiatives' technical delivery and timeline.
• Architect scalable, responsible AI solutions and guide deployment.
• Provide solution architecture across groups and projects.
• Translate business needs into technical requirements.
• Lead evaluation of new AI technologies and vendors.
• Prototype and validate advanced AI approaches.

Skills

AI/ML engineering

Lead / mentoring engineers

System architecture

APIs & microservices

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field

Job description

Surescripts serves the nation through simpler, trusted health intelligence sharing, in order to increase patient safety, lower costs and ensure quality care. We deliver insights at critical points of care for better decisions — from streamlining prior authorizations to delivering comprehensive medication histories to facilitating messages between providers.

Job Summary

The Principal AI Engineer is the most senior individual contributor and technical lead for Surescripts’ AI solutions. The role owns the how, the execution, and the by-when for AI initiatives across the enterprise, pairing deep hands‑on engineering with the architecture and business judgment to act as a trusted technical partner to product management, engineering, design, and business stakeholders. The Principal AI Engineer is accountable for technical feasibility, business alignment, and responsible AI practice across Surescripts’ platforms. This person designs and delivers AI solutions for both customer‑facing products and the internal operations that support Surescripts team members, helping product teams deliver AI that is scalable, reliable, and something they can stand behind.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical how and the delivery timeline for AI initiatives, acting as both AI solution architect and principal engineer.
• Architect and build scalable, interoperable, responsible AI solutions, including generative AI, RAG, agentic AI, and predictive models, and guide their deployment into production.
• Serve as a trusted technical partner across groups and projects, providing solution architecture and weighing options on technical feasibility, effort, and performance targets.
• Translate business and customer needs into technical requirements, and frame technical options and trade‑offs so leaders and stakeholders can make informed decisions that line up with business outcomes.
• Lead the technical evaluation of new AI technologies and vendors, judging architectural fit, capability, and integration approach.
• Prototype and validate advanced AI approaches to prove out architectural direction and de‑risk initiatives before teams commit to them.
• Run architecture and design reviews across teams, surfacing key trade‑offs and keeping decisions transparent and sound.
• Set and evolve AI engineering standards, including model integration, data architecture, LLMOps, AgentOps, and AI development best practices from frameworks such as NIST RMF, CHAI, OWASP, etc.
• Serve as a lead mentor regarding enterprise AI Trust & Safety best practices from: auto‑inherited controls and guardrails based on AI solution type and risk level, to automated evals and testing in CI/CD, to operational monitoring and drift detection, to issue and incident response, to data‑driven continuous improvement of AI solutions.
• Ensure the necessary technical components are designed-in and operationally effective to meet anti‑bias, accuracy, transparency, explainability, safety, and regulatory compliance.
• Mentor engineers and raise the technical bar, building a team culture of collaboration and steady learning.
• Keep current with new AI technologies and frameworks and turn trends into practical strategies for the teams you support.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of related, progressive software, data, or AI/ML engineering experience.
• 4+ years in a lead and/or senior engineering role with a focus on leading and mentoring engineers to deliver software products.
• 3+ years of hands‑on machine learning / AI engineering experience.
• Proven experience architecting and delivering solutions across multiple technical domains, such as APIs and microservices, systems integration and event‑driven architectures, AI/ML engineering, data engineering and analytics, and core software engineering (cloud-native applications, distributed systems).

Preferred Qualifications

• 3+ years developing and implementing AI solutions in a healthcare setting.
• Experience designing production AI/ML applications using big‑data technologies, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), and data pipeline orchestration.
• Experience working in the SVPG framework or a substantially similar outcomes-driven product operating model.

Work Arrangement

Surescripts embraces flexibility through its Flexible Hybrid Work model for most positions. This model allows employees to work virtually while still utilizing our offices as collaboration centers. With alignment and agreement from your leadership, you can come and go from the office as needed.

To be considered for employment, applicants must have a valid U.S. work authorization allowing work without restrictions with Surecripts in the U.S. At this time, we are unable to provide support or provide sponsorship for immigration benefits such as work visas. Additionally, we do not participate in academic training programs or work‑study programs through an academic institution that require employer endorsement of F‑1/CPT or F‑1/STEM.

Company Culture and Compensation

We’re a midsize company. This means you’re not just another employee ID number. Here, you can build real relationships and feel supported by truly awesome people with diverse backgrounds and talents in an innovative and collaborative work culture. We strive to create an environment where you can be yourself, share your ideas and work your way.

We offer opportunities for employee development, as well as competitive compensation packages and extensive benefits. At Surescripts, base pay is one part of our Total Rewards Package (which may also include bonus, benefits etc.) and is determined within a range. The base pay range for this position is $187,500 - $229,100 per year. Your base pay may vary within or outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including (but not limited to) your qualifications, skills, experience, and location.

Benefits include, but are not limited to, comprehensive healthcare (including infertility coverage), generous paid time off including paid childbirth and parental leave and mental health days, pet insurance, and 401(k) with company match and immediate vesting.

To learn more, review the Keep You and Yours Healthy, Balancing Work and Life, and Where Talent Takes Shape links under the Better Benefits. Better Work. Better Life section of our careers site.

Physical and Mental Requirements

While performing duties of this job, an employee may be required to perform any, or all of the following: attend meetings in and out of the office, travel, communicate effectively (both orally and in writing), and be able to effectively use computers and other electronic and standard office equipment with, or without, a reasonable accommodation. Additionally, this job requires certain mental demands, including the ability to use judgement, withstand moderate amounts of stress and maintain attention to detail with, or without, a reasonable accommodation.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Surescripts is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity andAffirmative Action employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, medical condition, marital status, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.

Accessibility Statement

We recognize the importance of fostering an environment that leverages the unique contributions of all individuals and we are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to every applicant. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any portion of the employment process, please contact us at [e-mail].

Know Your Rights

Workplace Discrimination is Illegal | Pay Transparency. Surescripts participates in E‑Verify. Details in English and Spanish. Right to Work Statement in English and Spanish.