Senior AI Engineer

The Foundation is the largest nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. We provide an exceptional benefits package including comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with no premiums, generous paid time off, paid family leave, foundation-paid retirement contribution, regional holidays, and opportunities to engage in several employee communities.

About the Team

The Enterprise Data Solutions (EDS) team, within Business Operations and the IT organization, designs and delivers enterprise-scale platforms and services across Knowledge Management, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Engineering, Business Intelligence, Data Infrastructure, and Health Data Platforms. The EDS team’s mission is to empower the Foundation with reliable, innovative, and data-driven solutions that enable timely, informed decision-making and support critical operational workflows.

The Knowledge Mgmt & Insights (KMI) team is an AI-first team leveraging technologies such as large language models (LLMs), knowledge graphs, and modern data platforms to deliver scalable, impactful enterprise-wide AI solutions. This position is a limited-term role for 24 months, located in Seattle, Washington, and follows a hybrid schedule requiring 50% in-office work.

About the Role

As a Senior AI Engineer, you are a highly skilled individual contributor responsible for designing, building, and deploying AI solutions that support foundation and affiliate staff globally. You bring strong technical expertise and a hands-on approach to developing scalable, secure, and reliable AI systems that address real organizational needs. You translate defined problem statements into effective technical solutions, partnering closely with the team and contributing directly to implementation and delivery.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement agentic AI systems, including multi-step workflows, tool use, and autonomous task orchestration using LLM-based frameworks
• Design, build, and deploy scalable AI/ML solutions using Python and cloud-native services in Microsoft Azure (e.g., Azure OpenAI, Azure Foundry, Azure AI Search)
• Integrate AI capabilities into enterprise applications and workflows through APIs, microservices, and Azure-based architecture
• Translate business and technical requirements into robust, production-ready solutions, balancing performance, scalability, and maintainability
• Collaborate with engineers, product managers, and stakeholders to deliver AI solutions aligned to requirements
• Contribute to solution design and architecture discussions, including tooling and implementation trade-offs
• Use AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot) to improve development efficiency while maintaining strong code quality
• Contribute to code reviews, automated testing, and CI/CD pipelines to ensure reliable and secure deployments
• Deploy, monitor, and optimize AI solutions in Azure, addressing performance, cost, and reliability
• Troubleshoot and resolve issues across development and production environments
• Contribute to reusable components, shared frameworks, and engineering standards for AI development across the team
• Support data preparation, prompt engineering, and evaluation processes to improve model performance and outcomes
• Stay current with emerging AI technologies and proactively identify opportunities to apply them to enhance solutions

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience; typically requires an advanced degree or equivalent experience and a minimum of 8 years of prior relevant experience
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities, with a commitment to operational excellence, continuous learning, and raising the bar on engineering practices
• Strong programming skills in Python
• Hands-on experience with Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Codex, or other AI-assisted coding tools
• Hands-on experience with state-of-the-art LLMs, agentic systems, and RAG architecture, graph technologies, and practical knowledge of embeddings, tokenization, evaluation, observability, and frameworks such as LangChain and LlamaIndex
• Experience deploying, monitoring, and maintaining ML/LLM systems in production
• Deep understanding of data privacy, security, and compliance considerations when building AI-powered systems
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with the ability to engage teams, build consensus, and move work forward in ambiguous or rapidly evolving environments
• 3+ years of professional experience with cloud technologies, preferably Azure
• Proven ability to prototype, iterate, and productionize innovative AI solutions that deliver measurable business value
• Knowledge of ethics in AI and responsible AI development
• Experience with agile development methodologies such as Scrum or Kanban

Additional Requirements

• Ability to travel as needed
• Ability to participate in on-call duties
• Must be able to work effectively across geographic and cultural boundaries
• Commitment to the foundation’s mission and values, including diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Must be able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship

Pay

The salary range for this role is $157,400 to $236,000 USD. For Seattle and Washington D.C. locations, the range is $173,100 to $259,700 USD. New hires are typically placed between the range minimum and the midpoint, depending on job-related skills, experience, and expertise.