Senior Applied AI Infrastructure Engineer - NREC

Carnegie-Mellon-University; Pittsburgh (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive medical, prescription,,d

Tuition benefits

Generous retirement savings program

Job summary

Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) seeks a Senior Applied AI Infrastructure Engineer to lead evaluation, deployment, and integration of secure generative AI tools and self-hosted AI services across engineering workflows. You will enable AI-assisted workflows, ensure infrastructure reliability, and support multi-GPU model serving.

You will collaborate with leadership and multidisciplinary teams to ship practical AI infrastructure that powers robotics

Qualifications

• B.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related technical discipline, or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of professional software engineering or ML infrastructure experience.
• Strong Python programming skills.
• Linux development and system administration experience.
• Familiarity with large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, tool-using agents, or AI-assisted workflows.
• Strong technical communication and documentation skills.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate generative and agentic AI tools and advise engineering leadership on practical approaches.
• Design, deploy, and maintain internally hosted AI services and supporting infrastructure.
• Prototype AI-assisted workflows across software development, testing, documentation, and analysis.
• Integrate AI tools with engineering systems such as Jira, Confluence, Jenkins, and code repositories.

Job description

At the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC), it is our engineers and technicians who drive the breakthroughs that define our success. The members of our technical staff collaborate closely with leadership and multidisciplinary teams to design, build, and deploy sophisticated robotic solutions that address complex challenges in industrial, commercial and government sectors. Each project benefits from their expertise, creativity, and hands‑on problem‑solving, fueling progress and innovation across the organization. As part of our dedicated team, you will work alongside world‑class robotics professionals committed to pushing the boundaries of technology and redefining ideas into solutions for real‑world applications. We foster a culture of professionalism, respect, and collaboration, offering a flexible and encouraging environment where you can sharpen your skills, lead impactful projects, and take control of your career development. We are seeking a dynamic Senior Applied AI Infrastructure Engineer to lead and contribute to the evaluation, deployment, and integration of secure generative and agentic AI tools, LLMs, and support of self‑hosted infrastructure across engineering workflows. This is an exciting opportunity for someone who thrives in a fast‑paced and innovative setting. In this role, you will be instrumental in advancing internal AI‑assisted workflows, infrastructure reliability, and secure multi‑GPU model serving, ensuring our team delivers exceptional and groundbreaking results.

Primary responsibilities include:

• Evaluating generative and agentic AI tools and recommending practical approaches to engineering leadership.
• Supporting cloud-hosted AI tools where appropriate and locally hosted tools where project confidentiality or data-handling requirements prohibit cloud use.
• Designing, implementing, documenting, testing, and maintaining internally hosted AI services and supporting infrastructure.
• Deploying and operating large language models on shared GPU systems and smaller project- or team-specific platforms.
• Integrating AI tools with engineering systems such as source-code repositories, Jira, Confluence, Jenkins, internal documentation, and test infrastructure.
• Developing secure tool interfaces, APIs, Model Context Protocol servers, and sandboxed environments that allow AI agents to perform useful engineering tasks.
• Prototyping and evaluating AI-assisted workflows for software development, testing, documentation, requirements analysis, and other engineering activities.
• Helping engineers use supported AI tools effectively across software, embedded, FPGA, mechanical, electrical, and other technical workflows.
• Developing internal documentation, examples, training materials, and reusable configurations for recommended tools and practices.
• Measuring the reliability and usefulness of AI-assisted workflows, including the quality of generated code, test results, review effort, and failure modes.
• Surveying emerging tools and techniques and implementing promising approaches where they provide practical value.
• Following best practices for team software development, including peer review, automated testing, version control, issue tracking, security review, and integrated documentation.

Required Qualifications:

• B.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of professional software engineering, machine-learning infrastructure, DevOps, platform engineering, or developer-tools experience.
• Strong Python programming skills.
• Linux development and system‑administration experience.
• Familiarity with large language models, retrieval‑augmented generation, tool‑using agents, or AI‑assisted software‑development workflows.
• Strong technical communication and documentation skills.
• 3 or more of the following:
• Experience deploying and maintaining software services.
• Experience with containers and reproducible deployment tools such as Docker.
• Experience integrating software systems through APIs, command‑line tools, authentication mechanisms, or similar interfaces.
• Experience with modern software engineering practices, including version control, code review, testing, CI/CD, logging, and troubleshooting.
• Ability to evaluate new technologies, communicate technical tradeoffs, and make practical recommendations.

We especially want to hear from you if you have experience or qualifications in ANY of the following areas:

• Self‑hosted LLM inference frameworks such as vLLM, TensorRT‑LLM, llama.cpp, Ollama, NVIDIA NIM, or similar tools
• Multi‑GPU systems, model serving, resource scheduling, or inference performance optimization
• Model Context Protocol servers or other structured interfaces for AI tool use
• Integration with Jira, Confluence, Jenkins, Git‑based repositories, artifact repositories, or internal knowledge systems
• Coding agents that can modify code, run builds and tests, and prepare pull requests
• Sandboxed code execution, container isolation, secrets management, access control, or audit logging
• Evaluation of LLM applications, coding assistants, agents, or retrieval systems
• Retrieval‑augmented generation, document ingestion, embeddings, reranking, or code indexing
• Cloud AI services and data‑sensitive or disconnected AI deployments
• Embedded software, FPGA development, robotics, simulation, or hardware‑in‑the‑loop testing
• GPU‑based machine learning infrastructure
• Developing internal technical documentation, training, examples, or reusable engineering workflows
• Machine learning, computer vision, or robotics applications

Other Requirements:

• Successful pre‑employment background check
• This position will require work on a variety of projects, including projects that involve military/defense applications and/or are funded by military/defense sponsors.

Are you interested in joining our versatile team at NREC where you will have a direct impact on operations and meaningful projects? Join a collaborative environment where your hands‑on skills, leadership, and mentorship will directly influence operations and inspire the next generation of innovators.

Why NREC?

At NREC, you will shape the robotics revolution by tackling real‑world challenges in agriculture, manufacturing, defense, energy, and much more. You will work alongside top robotics experts, develop ground breaking technologies, and see your solutions deployed in the field.

NREC at a Glance:

• Located in Pittsburgh or “Roboburgh”, a hub for over 120+ robotics companies
• 30+ years of pioneering robotics research
• 150+ professionals driving innovation and real‑world impact
• Part of Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, a global leader in robotics
• NREC also leads in educational outreach through its Robotics Academy, which develops curricula and software for K–12 and college‑level students.

You will also have opportunities to engage with these student groups through outreach activities.

As part of our team, you will have the flexibility to grow your career - whether becoming a technical expert, leading projects, mentoring others, or exploring new pathways and making an impact in developing technologies that drive progress, improve safety and transform industries. Joining the CMU team opens the door to an array of exceptional benefits.

Benefits:

• Benefits eligible employees enjoy a wide array of benefits including comprehensive medical, prescription, dental, and vision insurance as well as a generous retirement savings program with employer contributions.
• Unlock your potential with tuition benefits, take well‑deserved breaks with ample paid time off and observed holidays, and rest easy with life and accidental death and disability insurance.
• Additional perks include a free Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus pass, access to our Family Concierge Team to help navigate childcare needs, fitness center access, and much more!

Beyond credentials, we evaluate the role and responsibilities, your valuable work experience, and the knowledge gained through education and training.

We appreciate your unique skills and the perspective you bring. Your journey with us is about more than just a job; it’s about finding the perfect fit for your professional growth and personal aspirations.

Location Pittsburgh, PA Job Function Software/Applications Development/Engineering Position Type Staff – Regular Full Time/Part time Full time Pay Basis Salary More Information: Please visit “Why Carnegie Mellon” to learn more about becoming part of an institution inspiring innovations that change the world.

Carnegie Mellon University is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Disability/Veteran.

Statement of Assurance

For technical assistance, email HR Services or call 412-268-4600. We are committed to providing an accessible experience throughout our recruitment process. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation at any stage of the application, interview, or hiring process, please contact Equal Opportunity Services by email at [e-mail] or by phone at 412-268-5072.

Prospective Employee Disclosures