Strategic AI Architect for Scientific Discovery

Gemini Observatory; Tucson (AZ); On-site; USD 179,000 - 226,000; Full time

Job summary

NOIRLab seeks a Principal AI Engineer to define and lead the organization’s AI strategy, architecture, and engineering capabilities. You will shape enterprise AI platforms, governance, and practices enabling scientists and engineers to deploy AI at scale.

You will personally contribute to advanced AI solutions while guiding teams across research, software, and operations to deliver impactful, production-grade AI systems that accelerate discovery and improve observatory operations.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science, AI, ML, Data Science, Software Engineering, or related field.
• 15+ years of experience in software engineering, AI, ML, or related fields with senior leadership roles.
• Proven success designing, building, and deploying production-scale AI/ML solutions.
• Deep expertise in ML, generative AI, LLMs, modern AI architectures, and AI engineering best practices.
• Experience deploying LLM applications, RAG systems, AI agents, and foundation models.
• Strong background in cloud-native architecture, distributed systems, data platforms, and AI infrastructure.
• Experience implementing AI operationalization practices, including model deployment, monitoring, governance, and lifecycle management.
• Expertise in secure, responsible AI development and model governance frameworks.
• Advanced software engineering skills with modern languages, frameworks, and AI ecosystems.
• Exceptional communication, leadership and collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute enterprise AI strategy, vision and multi-year roadmap.
• Identify high-value AI use cases with measurable impact.
• Establish AI engineering standards, reusable frameworks, and best practices.
• Assess and implement generative AI, foundation models, LLMs, AI agents, and related tech.
• Develop governance, evaluation, and lifecycle management for AI deployment.
• Establish KPIs and success metrics for AI initiatives.
• Design and build production-ready AI platforms integrated with research and operational systems.
• Lead the development of LLM-powered apps, RAG systems, copilots, and advanced AI solutions.
• Partner with IT for reliability, security, and compliance.
• Mentor engineers, scientists, and teams in AI technologies and responsible AI.

Education

Bachelor's or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field

Tools

LLM platforms

RAG systems

AI governance frameworks

Job description

NOIRLab seeks a Principal AI Engineer to define and lead the organization’s AI strategy, architecture, and engineering capabilities. You will shape enterprise AI platforms, governance, and practices enabling scientists and engineers to deploy AI at scale.

You will personally contribute to advanced AI solutions while guiding teams across research, software, and operations to deliver impactful, production-grade AI systems that accelerate discovery and improve observatory operations.