Developer, Applied AI, Penguin Random House (Open to Remote)

Penguin Random House is the leading adult and children's publishing house in North America, the United Kingdom, and many other regions worldwide. We are committed to publishing the best books across every genre and subject for all ages, focusing on quality, excellence, and innovation throughout the publishing process. Our diverse international community includes nearly 300 publishing brands and imprints such as Ballantine Bantam Dell, Berkley, Crown, DK, Doubleday, Knopf, Penguin Books, Random House, and Viking.

About the role

Penguin Random House is seeking a Developer, Applied AI to join our Global Data Solutions team. This hands-on role involves building, maintaining, and enhancing secure, reliable AI-enabled applications that improve how internal business teams access, process, and use enterprise data. The position sits at the intersection of Python backend engineering, Azure cloud services, enterprise data integration, document processing, and practical AI implementation.

The successful candidate will work on applications leveraging large language models, Azure AI services, retrieval-based workflows, and APIs to solve real business problems and improve internal processes. Responsibilities include supporting existing applications, designing and building new solutions, collaborating with stakeholders to understand requirements, recommending technical approaches, developing and testing applications, and ensuring solutions are secure, maintainable, and production-ready.

This is a production development role focused on applying AI and cloud technologies in practical, business-focused ways. We value strong Python engineering skills, practical AI experience, sound technical judgment, and the ability to learn new technologies quickly.

Responsibilities

• Build, maintain, and enhance secure, reliable AI-enabled applications for internal business teams.
• Develop applications using large language models, Azure AI services, retrieval-based workflows, and APIs.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to understand requirements and recommend practical technical approaches.
• Design, develop, and test new solutions in response to evolving business needs.
• Support deployments and ensure solutions are secure, maintainable, and production-ready.
• Troubleshoot production issues using logs, monitoring tools, and application diagnostics.

Requirements

• 3+ years of professional software development experience, including strong hands-on experience with Python.
• Experience building, maintaining, or supporting production applications in a cloud environment, preferably Microsoft Azure.
• Experience developing REST APIs and backend services using frameworks such as FastAPI, Flask, or similar.
• Practical experience integrating generative AI or large language model capabilities into applications.
• Familiarity with AI application patterns such as prompt design, structured outputs, retrieval workflows, document processing, or orchestration.
• Experience with relevant Azure services in a production environment (e.g., Azure Functions, Durable Functions, Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Search, Azure Document Intelligence, Blob Storage, Container Apps, Key Vault, Application Insights).
• Familiarity with AI frameworks such as LangChain and structured-output tools like Pydantic, JSON Schema, or similar.
• Experience with Git-based development workflows, pull requests, code reviews, CI/CD pipelines, and deployment automation.
• Ability to troubleshoot production issues using logs, monitoring tools, and application diagnostics.
• Working knowledge of SQL or experience working with enterprise data sources.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work directly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Nice to have

• Experience with retrieval-augmented generation, vector search, embeddings, semantic chunking, or LLM-powered extraction workflows.
• Experience with Microsoft Fabric, Fabric Data Agents, Model Context Protocol, FastMCP, or other AI/data gateway patterns.
• Experience with Docker, Azure Container Apps, Terraform, Terragrunt, or other containerization and infrastructure tools.
• Familiarity with OAuth, JWT, Microsoft Entra ID, managed identities, On-Behalf-Of token exchange, or other enterprise authentication patterns.
• Experience with OpenTelemetry, Azure Monitor, Application Insights, Log Analytics, or similar observability tools.
• Working knowledge of pandas, NumPy, BeautifulSoup, markdownify, pypdf, python-docx, openpyxl, or other data and document processing libraries.
• Understanding of machine learning fundamentals, AI evaluation approaches, or common AI system design tradeoffs.
• Familiarity with secure development practices, data privacy considerations, or responsible AI concepts.
• Prior experience in publishing.

Pay

The salary range for this position is $130,000–$160,000 per year. All positions are currently eligible for an annual profit award or bonus, subject to company results.

Benefits

• Comprehensive medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision insurance.
• Health Care/Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account and Health Savings Account.
• Pre-Tax and Roth 401(k) retirement plans.
• Short and Long-Term Disability Insurance, Life/AD&D Insurance.
• Commuter Benefits.
• Student Loan Repayment Program.
• Educational Assistance.
• Generous paid time off.