Senior AI/ML Engineer

1 Vizient, Inc.; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 102,000 - 179,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Incentive eligible

Comprehensive benefits plan

Job summary

Vizient, Inc. designs, builds and supports production AI capabilities for complex enterprise workflows.

You will develop AI-enabled applications combining large language models, retrieval, and structured data to deliver reliable, explainable results. You will partner with domain experts, architects, and software engineers to translate specialized knowledge into maintainable software while establishing evaluation, testing, and observability practices to operate AI applications within quality

Qualifications

• 5+ years of relevant experience required.
• Strong experience developing production applications using Python.
• Hands-on experience building, deploying, and supporting generative AI in production.
• Experience integrating large language models via APIs or managed AI platforms.
• Experience with prompt engineering, structured model outputs, tool/function calling, retrieval-augmented generation, or agentic workflows.
• Experience building data-driven APIs and distributed application services using FastAPI or comparable frameworks.
• Experience developing automated tests and evaluation methods for nondeterministic AI behavior.
• Experience with embeddings, semantic search, vector retrieval, reranking, or knowledge-retrieval techniques.
• Experience with Microsoft Azure, Azure AI Foundry, Azure AI Search, Databricks, or Azure Service Bus preferred.
• Experience with AI evaluation, tracing, observability tooling, SQL, NoSQL databases, or agent‑orchestration frameworks preferred.
• Experience developing applications involving sensitive, regulated, or high‑consequence enterprise data preferred.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement production AI-enabled application services and workflow components.
• Build modular large language model and agentic capabilities with defined inputs, outputs, and evaluation criteria.
• Develop retrieval and grounding solutions using structured data, semantic search, vector retrieval, and enterprise knowledge sources.
• Combine deterministic processing, rules, retrieval, and model inference within workflows.
• Build APIs, services, orchestration components, and asynchronous processing for production AI workloads.
• Develop automated evaluation and regression testing for LLM and AI behavior.
• Instrument applications to trace inputs, results, model interactions, decisions, errors, latency, and observability.
• Investigate AI failure modes and use evidence to improve prompts, retrieval, and design.
• Evaluate models and approaches based on quality, performance, security, maintainability and cost.
• Collaborate with domain experts to translate complex decisions into maintainable software behavior.
• Participate in architecture reviews, design sessions, code reviews, and continuous improvement.
• Develop reusable AI engineering patterns, components, documentation, and evaluation practices.
• Support deployed AI applications through monitoring, troubleshooting, and performance optimization.

Skills

Python

Generative AI

APIs

FastAPI

Prompt engineering

Embeddings

Semantic search

Vector retrieval

Reranking

Azure

Databricks

Observability tooling

SQL/NoSQL

Education

Relevant degree preferred

Job description

When you’re the best, we’re the best. We instill an environment where employees feel engaged, satisfied and able to contribute their unique skills and talents while living and working as their authentic selves. We provide extensive opportunities for personal and professional development, building both employee competence and organizational capability to fuel exceptional performance through an inclusive environment both now and in the future.

Summary: In this role, you will design, build, deploy, and support production AI capabilities for complex enterprise workflows. You will develop AI-enabled applications that combine large language models, retrieval, structured and unstructured data, deterministic processing, APIs, and distributed services to produce reliable and explainable results. You will partner with domain experts, architects, data teams, and software engineers to translate specialized knowledge into maintainable solutions while establishing the evaluation, testing, and observability practices needed to operate AI applications within measurable quality boundaries.

Responsibilities

Design and implement production AI-enabled application services and workflow components. Build modular large language model and agentic capabilities with clearly defined responsibilities, inputs, outputs, and evaluation criteria. Develop retrieval and grounding solutions using structured data, semantic search, vector retrieval, and enterprise knowledge sources. Combine deterministic processing, business rules, retrieval, and model-based inference appropriately within application workflows. Build APIs, services, orchestration components, and asynchronous processing capabilities for production AI workloads. Develop automated evaluation and regression testing for large language model and AI behavior. Instrument applications to trace inputs, intermediate results, model interactions, decisions, errors, latency, and operational behavior. Investigate AI failure modes and use evaluation evidence to improve prompts, retrieval, workflow design, model selection, and application logic. Evaluate models and implementation approaches based on measurable quality, performance, security, maintainability, and cost. Implement controls that validate, constrain, and monitor model outputs within enterprise applications. Collaborate with domain experts to translate complex decision processes into maintainable software behavior. Participate in architecture reviews, technical design sessions, code reviews, and continuous improvement activities. Develop reusable AI engineering patterns, components, documentation, and evaluation practices. Support deployed AI applications through monitoring, troubleshooting, performance optimization, and production issue resolution.

Qualifications

Relevant degree preferred. 5 or more years of relevant experience required. Strong experience developing production applications using Python. Hands‑on experience building, deploying, and supporting generative AI or machine learning applications in production environments. Experience integrating commercial or open‑source large language models through APIs or managed AI platforms. Experience with prompt engineering, structured model outputs, tool or function calling, retrieval‑augmented generation, or agentic workflows. Experience building data‑driven APIs and distributed application services using FastAPI or comparable frameworks. Experience developing automated tests and evaluation methods for nondeterministic AI behavior. Experience with embeddings, semantic search, vector retrieval, reranking, or comparable knowledge‑retrieval techniques. Experience with Microsoft Azure, Azure AI Foundry, Azure AI Search, Databricks, or Azure Service Bus preferred. Experience with AI evaluation, tracing, observability tooling, SQL, NoSQL databases, or agent‑orchestration frameworks preferred. Experience developing applications involving sensitive, regulated, or high‑consequence enterprise data preferred.

Estimated Hiring Range: At Vizient, we consider skills, experience, and organizational needs in our compensation approach. Geographic factors may adjust the range estimate and hires typically fall below the top range. Compensation decisions are tailored to individual circumstances. The current salary range for this role is $102,400.00 to $179,000.00. This position is also incentive eligible. Vizient has a comprehensive benefits plan! Please view our benefits here: http://www.vizientinc.com/about-us/careers

Equal Opportunity Employer: Females/Minorities/Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities The Company is committed to equal employment opportunity to all employees and applicants without regard to race, religion, color, gender identity, ethnicity, age, national origin, sexual orientation, disability status, veteran status or any other category protected by applicable law.

Working at Vizient means shaping the future of healthcare, every day. Alongside our clients, we're building a healthier, more human healthcare system. We connect people, data, and solutions to enable healthcare organizations to improve financial sustainability, enhance system performance, and deliver better care.

Headquartered in Irving, Texas, with 11 offices across the United States, Vizient has more than 5,000 employees who bring deep expertise and a shared commitment to transforming healthcare.

Together, we're solving some of the industry's most complex challenges while creating opportunities to learn, grow, and drive lasting change for healthcare organizations and the communities they serve.

Through our enterprise of companies, we deliver meaningful impact across the continuum of care: Apexus - The exclusive contractor for 340B Drug Pricing Program, managed by the Health Resources and Services Administration. aptitude - The industry's first online direct contracting market, supporting self‑contracting activity between hospitals and suppliers. Kaufman Hall - Leading healthcare advisory services to support our clients in achieving financial, clinical, and operational excellence. Provista - Proven supply chain partner specializing in extended, diagnostic, and preventive care facilities, including surgery centers, home health, and senior living.