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Cornell University
Senior AI Engineer
Machine Learning
AWS
AI
Edtech.com's Summary
Cornell University is hiring a Senior AI Engineer to serve as technical lead for the AI Engineering team in its central IT organization. The role designs and maintains production-grade generative AI applications for Cornell's enterprise AI services, sets engineering standards for how AI is built across the university, and mentors developers and technical leads. The engineer works within the AI Innovation Lab alongside project managers, analysts, and the Principal Solutions Architect for the AI Platform.
Highlights
- Lead the design, development, and maintenance of complex production-grade AI applications and enterprise AI systems, holding them to high standards of security, scalability, and reliability.
- Define patterns and reference architectures with the Principal Solutions Architect for the AI Platform so that AI Innovation Lab applications are production-ready and fit Cornell's secure AI infrastructure.
- Integrate AI Innovation Lab services with Cornell enterprise systems using identity and authentication standards such as OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, JWT, LDAP, and Microsoft identity services.
- Mentor developers and technical leads, establish engineering best practices, and set the technical direction for project teams of developers, analysts, project managers, and quality-assurance specialists.
- Develop procedures to address complex system capacity, operational, and distributed AI performance challenges.
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, information technology, or a related field (or equivalent experience), with 5 to 7 years of professional software engineering experience building production-grade applications and services.
- Proven experience deploying and maintaining AI or ML-driven applications in production, with strong cloud-native development skills (preferably AWS) and expertise in generative AI, API development, and distributed systems.
- Preferred qualifications include a master's degree, hands-on work with LLM-backed applications (model orchestration, vector databases, AI agent frameworks), Docker or Kubernetes experience, and familiarity with MLOps, CI/CD, and responsible AI governance.
- Pay range of $116,843 to $142,809 for a full-time, 100% on-site role on the Ithaca campus, with no visa sponsorship or relocation assistance.
Senior AI Engineer Full Description
Senior AI Engineer [Onsite]
No Visa Sponsorship is available for this position.
This position is 100% on-site and located on the Cornell University Campus in Ithaca, New York.
What will you do:
The Senior AI Engineer serves as the technical lead for the AI Engineering team, providing expert‑level guidance, architectural leadership, and hands‑on development in support of Cornell’s enterprise AI services. This role is responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining complex production‑grade AI applications and systems, ensuring they meet the highest standards of security, scalability, and reliability. The Senior AI Engineer mentors developers and technical leads, establishes engineering best practices, and ensures AI projects remain on the correct technical trajectory throughout the development lifecycle.
This position directs and evaluates advanced AI solutions, leads the development and enhancement of enterprise AI systems, and formulates standards and methodologies that shape how AI applications are built across the university. The Senior AI Engineer collaborates closely with the Principal Solutions Architect for the AI Platform to define patterns and reference architectures that ensure all AI Innovation Lab applications are production‑ready and aligned with Cornell’s secure AI infrastructure.
The role applies deep technical expertise across Generative AI technologies, API development, authentication and identity protocols, and cloud‑native architectures. It also integrates AI Innovation Lab services with Cornell enterprise systems using standards such as OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, JWT, LDAP, and Microsoft identity services. Additionally, the Senior AI Engineer develops or refines procedures to address the most complex challenges related to system capacity, operational constraints, and distributed AI system performance.
As a senior leader within the AI Innovation Lab, the Senior AI Engineer provides technical direction to project teams—including project managers, business analysts, subject‑matter experts, developers, and quality‑assurance specialists—ensuring that solutions are well‑designed, well‑implemented, and aligned with institutional strategy.
What We Need
A resume is required for further consideration for this position. A cover letter outlining your interest and how your experience and goals align with the potential for mutual success in the role are strongly encouraged for consideration.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, information technology, or a related field; or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- 5–7 years of professional software engineering experience, demonstrating progressively advanced responsibility in designing and developing production‑grade applications and services.
- Proven ability to design, build, test, deploy, and maintain complex AI or ML‑driven applications in a production environment, ensuring high levels of security, reliability, and scalability.
- Strong experience developing cloud‑native applications and services, preferably in AWS or a comparable cloud platform.
- Demonstrated expertise with Generative AI technologies, API development, and distributed systems engineering.
- Experience integrating applications with enterprise identity and authentication systems, using protocols such as OAuth 2.0, OIDC, SAML, JWT, LDAP, and Microsoft identity services.
- Demonstrated ability to provide technical leadership, mentor developers and technical leads, establish engineering best practices, and guide solutions throughout the development lifecycle.
- Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills, with experience addressing complex system capacity, performance, and operational challenges.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts for diverse audiences, including project managers, analysts, subject‑matter experts, and senior leadership.
- Ability to cultivate and develop inclusive working relationships with students, faculty, staff, and community members.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Master’s degree in computer science, data science, software engineering, information systems, or a related technical field.
- Experience working in higher education, research computing, or similarly complex enterprise environments, especially supporting faculty or research‑driven AI use cases.
- Hands‑on experience delivering and operating Generative AI / LLM‑backed applications in production environments, including model orchestration, vector databases, and AI agent frameworks.
- Experience with containerization and orchestration technologies (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes, ECS) and building scalable distributed systems.
- Familiarity with DevOps and MLOps practices, including CI/CD pipelines, observability, monitoring, logging, metrics, tracing, and reliability‑focused engineering practices for customer‑facing services.
- Experience participating in incident response and on‑call operations for production systems.
- Experience designing or supporting secure, production‑grade AI solutions hosted on cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
- Knowledge of model governance, responsible AI frameworks, and AI risk management, including data privacy and compliance considerations.
- Experience with enterprise integration patterns, secure API gateways, and identity‑driven architectures.
- Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers, lead design reviews, define technical standards, and influence architectural decisions across multiple teams.
- Experience contributing to or supporting grant‑funded research initiatives, innovation projects, or cross‑institution collaborations.
Application Information:
No Visa Sponsorship of any kind is available for this position.
No Relocation assistance will be provided for this position.
Pay
University Job Title: Software Engineer IV. Pay Range: $116,843.00 - $142,809.00 (salary).
Cornell welcomes students, faculty, and staff with diverse backgrounds from across the globe to pursue world-class education and career opportunities. No person shall be denied employment on the basis of any legally protected status or subjected to prohibited discrimination.
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