Position Summary – As an Artificial Intelligence Specialist you will employ a wide range of AI techniques, to include deep learning and machine learning, multi-agent systems, expert systems, and mixed-initiative human-machine teaming to enable outstanding intelligent collection and the exploitation of data from our collection systems. Our AI solutions will improve the performance of our collection systems, enable faster, deeper, and better explained insights from collection. The solutions will ultimately boost the performance of our mission experts by enabling human - machine teaming and putting the right insights before the right experts algorithmically.

Person Reports To – Director of Technology

Essential Functions – 

• Solid understanding of Python deployment best practices, including dependency management, virtual environments, containerization, etc.
• Knowledge of continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) practices and the ability to set up and manage automated deployment pipelines.
• Proven track record of delivering high-quality, production-grade software solutions in a fast-moving team environment. Create and design AI models and algorithms tailored to specific organizational needs. This involves understanding the requirements, conceptualizing solutions, and developing efficient and effective AI systems.
• Work with other teams (i.e., Product, PM, etc.) to ensure delivered code meets specifications based on functional/technical specifications.
• Create unit and integration tests to fully test and regress software. Break down complex requirements into independent coding tasks and strategies. Rigorously test AI models to ensure their effectiveness and accuracy. Continuously monitor and optimize the performance of AI systems.
• Ideation and refinement of requirements. Work with large datasets to train and refine AI models. This includes data collection, preprocessing, and analysis to ensure the quality and relevance of the data used in AI systems.
• Initial AI research and findings. Stay abreast of the latest advancements in AI and machine learning. Conduct research to improve existing AI technologies or develop new methodologies and techniques.
• Selection of AI models and vectorization solution. Address and troubleshoot complex problems that arise during the development and deployment of AI systems.
• Recommendations for suitable models. Ensure that AI implementations adhere to ethical standards and do not infringe on privacy or other societal norms.
• Leading and participating in conceptual discussions. Developing a Proof of Concept (POC) application.
• Deploying a production-ready application meeting business, security, and compliance standards.
• Prompt engineering, algorithm embedding, and performance tuning. Integration with authorization systems.
• Model tuning and AI design improvements based on business feedback. Proactively suggesting the latest available models or libraries.

Qualifications –

• Advanced degree in a data science or computational science equivalent field or sub-field
• Experience working with data rich problems through research or programs
• Experience with computer programming or user experience/user interface
• Ability to work across, and help guide, diverse teams including leveraging best commercial and industrial capability.
• Ability to successfully complete projects with large or incomplete data, to tackle problems of and provide solutions
• Proficiency in AI and machine learning concepts, programming languages (such as Python, Java, R), and AI frameworks (like TensorFlow, PyTorch). 
• Experience in natural language processing / machine translation / text-to-speech
• Experience in deploying user-facing machine learning systems in production

Education/Degree Required - Bachelor's degree preferably in a quantitative science, engineering, or other STEM field or work experience equivalent.

Years of Experience Required - Minimum 3 years in related field

Knowledge/Skills Required Preferred Qualifications - 

• Experience in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) related field, such as: Computational Social Science, Computer Science, Data Analytics, Operations Research, Statistics
• Experience with applying AI techniques to real world data through thesis research, internships, or work experience.
• Good fundamental understanding of a range of AI techniques and ability to match techniques to problems.
• Creativity, Initiative, Integrity

• Problem solving skills
• Ability to work in a diverse team environment

Final candidates will be subject to a background screening. Employment or continued employment is contingent upon NJII's acceptance of the results of the background screening.