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George Mason University
Lead AI Developer
Python
Machine Learning
Azure
Edtech.com's Summary
George Mason University is hiring a Lead AI Developer to build and run the AI agents and platform that support faculty research, automate staff workflows, and guide students across the university. The developer serves as technical lead for a student incubator of 10 to 20 student builders, mentoring them through code review and architectural guidance. The role also acts as product owner for PatriotAI, the university’s AI platform, setting its technical roadmap.
Highlights
- Design, code, and deploy foundational AI infrastructure on Microsoft’s enterprise stack, including Azure AI Studio, Copilot Studio, and AI Foundry.
- Build AI copilots that speed up data analysis and grant writing for university researchers, along with intelligence loops that process IoT sensor data for the Campus Digital Twin.
- Engineer API integrations between the Azure AI stack and the university’s SIEM (security information and event management) infrastructure to power AI-driven threat hunting for the Student SOC.
- Mentor the student builders through code reviews, prompt engineering, and context-window management, and serve as final gatekeeper so student-built agents are secure, scalable, and free of hallucinations before release.
- Build secure data pipelines linking the university’s legacy databases to the AI platform, and engineer the backend of the Digital Forms Backbone.
- Architect and deploy an autonomous AI Help Desk agent using a secure retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipeline connected to the ITS Knowledge Base.
- Prototype and prepare infrastructure for PatriotAI’s expansion into multi-cloud ecosystems, keeping the architecture flexible enough to match the best large language model to each use case.
- Bachelor’s degree in a related field and significant experience in systems engineering, software development, and deploying machine learning or generative AI solutions in a live enterprise production environment.
- Advanced proficiency in Python, generative AI frameworks such as LangChain and LlamaIndex, and RESTful API integrations, plus experience architecting RAG pipelines and working with Agile, SDLC, and the Product Operating Model.
- Preferred: a master’s degree, experience as a technical lead mentoring junior developers or students, and skill in optimizing vector databases and fine-tuning large language models.
Lead AI Developer Full Description
Department: Information Technology
Classification: Info Technology Spec 3
Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)
Location: Fairfax, VA
Workplace Type: On Site Required
Sponsorship Eligibility: Not eligible for visa sponsorship
Pay Band: 06
Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience
About the Department:
Information Technology Services (ITS) provides technology and collaborative solutions that contribute to and facilitate innovative teaching and learning opportunities for students and faculty of the George Mason University community. ITS works transparently to drive excellence in teaching, research, and administrative operations.
About the Position:
The Lead AI Developer ensures that every AI agent deployed to support faculty research, automate staff workflows, or proactively guide students operates flawlessly and free of hallucinations. Furthermore, this role serves as the elite technical lead for the student incubator, transforming student interns into highly recruited enterprise AI engineers through rigorous code review and architectural mentorship. The role has deep AI skills in building AI Agents, Agentic AI Platforms, LLM’s and understand highly technical AI concepts required for building and managing an AI platform. Additionally, this role will serve as the PatriotAI product owner, shaping the technical roadmap for the platform’s lifecycle.
Responsibilities:
Core Agentic Architecture & Intelligence Integration
- Design, code, and deploy the foundational AI infrastructure utilizing the Microsoft enterprise stack (Azure AI Studio, Copilot Studio, AI Foundry);
- Build the complex, bidirectional intelligence loops required to process IoT sensor data for the Campus Digital Twin, and engineer advanced AI copilots designed to accelerate massive data analysis and complex grant writing for university researchers; and
- Engineer the complex API integrations connecting the Azure AI stack with the university’s Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) infrastructure to power the proactive, AI-driven threat-hunting capabilities of the Student SOC.
Technical Mentorship & Zero-Hallucination Quality Control
- Serve as the senior technical expert for the 10-20 student builders;
- Conduct rigorous code reviews, refine their prompt engineering strategies, and teach advanced context-window management; and
- Act as the final technical gatekeeper to ensure all student-built AI agents are secure, scalable, and devoid of hallucinations before production release.
SSOT Data Engineering & “Touch Once” Automation
- Build and maintain the highly secure data pipelines connecting the university’s core legacy databases to the modern AI platform;
- Engineer the backend of the Digital Forms Backbone, strictly enforcing governance, security, and architectural protocols so that staff and faculty are liberated from organizational requirements that could cause rework;
- Organize work around industry best practices and educate/train students to adopt recognized gold standards, such as NIST, ITIL, Agile, etc.; and
- Architect and deploy the autonomous AI Help Desk agent, building a secure Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipeline that connects directly to the enterprise ITS Knowledge Base, ensuring Zero-Hallucination IT troubleshooting for the campus community.
Multi-Cloud Prototyping & Technical Scaling
- Research, prototype, and prepare the technical infrastructure for Patriot AI’s expansion into multi-cloud ecosystems;
- Ensure the architecture remains flexible enough to enable researchers and students to match the best possible Large Language Model (LLM) to their specific university use case; and
- Emphasize best practices and use industry tools to ensure students are market- and industry-ready when they graduate.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in related field;
- Significant experience in systems engineering, software development, and explicitly deploying machine learning or generative AI solutions into a live enterprise production environment;
- Experience with Product Operating Model;
- Advanced proficiency in tools such as Python, generative AI frameworks (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex), and complex RESTful API integrations;
- Demonstrated ability to architect retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines connected securely to enterprise databases;
- Exceptional ability to communicate highly complex machine learning concepts to student developers, functioning as a patient but rigorous technical mentor;
- Strong background with Agile methodologies, SDLC, API development, and project and Code management; and
- Strong ability to communicate, collaborate and deliver high value products.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Master’s degree in related field;
- Considerable experience serving in a technical lead capacity, specifically mentoring junior developers, interns, or students through complex architectural builds;
- Knowledge of IoT sensor data integration and digital twin technical concepts; and
- Skill in optimizing vector databases and fine-tuning large language models to understand higher education terminologies and research vernacular.
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