Principal AI Engineer - Nexus Black

IFS is a billion-dollar revenue company with 7000 employees on all continents. Our leading AI technology is the backbone of our award-winning enterprise software solutions, enabling our customers to be their best when it really matters–at the Moment of Service™. Our commitment to internal AI adoption has allowed us to stay at the forefront of technological advancements, ensuring our colleagues can unlock their creativity and productivity, and our solutions are always cutting-edge.

At IFS, we’re flexible, we’re innovative, and we’re focused not only on how we can engage with our customers but on how we can make a real change and have a worldwide impact. We help solve some of society’s greatest challenges, fostering a better future through our agility, collaboration, and trust.

We celebrate diversity and understand our responsibility to reflect the diverse world we work in. We are committed to promoting an inclusive workforce that fully represents the many different cultures, backgrounds, and viewpoints of our customers, our partners, and our communities. As a truly international company serving people from around the globe, we realize that our success is tantamount to the respect we have for those different points of view.

By joining our team, you will have the opportunity to be part of a global, diverse environment; you will be joining a winning team with a commitment to sustainability; and a company where we get things done so that you can make a positive impact on the world.

We’re looking for innovative and original thinkers to work in an environment where you can #MakeYourMoment so that we can help others make theirs. With the power of our AI-driven solutions, we empower our team to change the status quo and make a real difference.

If you want to change the status quo, we’ll help you make your moment. Join Team Purple. Join IFS.

We are seeking a Principal AI Engineer with a builder’s mindset to define and lead the technical direction of AI agents and intelligent workflows for IFS Nexus Black.

You will operate at the intersection of product strategy, system architecture, and hands-on execution—turning ambiguous customer and business problems into scalable AI capabilities that move the company forward.

This role requires deep production experience with LLM/agent systems, strong architectural judgment, and the ability to influence across teams. You will set the bar for how we design, evaluate, deploy, and scale AI systems safely and reliably.

Key Responsibilities

1. Technical Strategy & Architecture Leadership

• Define the long-term architecture for AI agents, orchestration systems, retrieval pipelines, evaluation frameworks, and safety guardrails.
  
  

• Establish technical standards and best practices for LLM usage, agent planning/execution, tool integration, observability, and governance.
  
  

• Make high-leverage architectural decisions that balance innovation, reliability, cost, and security.
  
  

• Drive build-vs-buy strategy across AI infrastructure (vector stores, orchestration layers, eval tooling, hosting, etc.).
  
  

2. 0→1 Innovation to Scaled Systems

• Lead rapid prototyping of AI agents and workflows; validate value with customers.
  
  

• Architect and guide the transition from experimental POCs to resilient, scalable production systems.
  
  

• Identify reusable primitives (agent frameworks, SDKs, evaluation harnesses) that accelerate future development.
  
  

• Ensure systems are designed for maintainability, extensibility, and enterprise-grade reliability.
  
  

3. Cross-Functional & Cross-Org Influence

• Partner with product leadership to shape AI strategy and roadmap.
  
  

• Translate ambiguous business goals into technical investment areas and measurable outcomes.
  
  

• Collaborate with data engineering, platform, and security teams to align infrastructure and governance.
  
  

• Represent AI technical direction in executive discussions and customer engagements.
  
  

4. Evaluation, Safety & Quality at Scale

• Design and institutionalize evaluation loops (offline benchmarks, regression suites, online experimentation, human review systems).
  
  

• Establish quality metrics, golden sets, and safety guardrails across agent systems.
  
  

• Lead efforts in observability, tracing, and failure analysis for AI workflows.
  
  

• Ensure responsible AI practices and compliance requirements are embedded into system design.
  
  

5. Technical Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead architectural reviews and raise the engineering quality bar.
  
  

• Mentor senior engineers and shape engineering culture.
  
  

• Drive alignment across teams building AI-enabled features.
  
  

• Contribute to hiring and calibration for high-impact AI roles.
  
  
  
  

Qualifications

Experience

• 8–12 years in software/AI engineering with a track record of building and scaling complex production systems.
  
  

• Proven leadership in taking LLM/agent systems from concept to enterprise-scale deployment.
  
  

• Experience influencing technical direction across teams or business units.
  
  

Technical Depth

• Deep expertise in:
  
  

  • LLM architectures, agent frameworks, tool use, function calling
    
    

  • Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), vector search, context assembly
    
    

  • Evaluation systems (offline/online testing, regression, quality metrics)
    
    

  • Observability and debugging for AI systems
    
    

• Strong backend engineering fundamentals (distributed systems, services, queues, data modeling, CI/CD, cloud-native architecture).
  
  

• Expert-level Python; strong familiarity with TypeScript or other backend languages.
  
  

• Strong understanding of tradeoffs between experimentation speed and production reliability.
  
  

Leadership & Influence

• Exceptional product sense and business alignment.
  
  

• Ability to navigate ambiguity and create clarity at both system and strategy levels.
  
  

• Strong executive communication skills.
  
  

• Demonstrated mentorship of senior engineers.
  
  

• Track record of high-leverage technical decisions with measurable business impact.
  
  
  
  

We embrace flexibility and hybrid work opportunities to support diverse needs and lifestyles, while also valuing inclusive workplace experiences. By fostering a sense of community, we drive innovation, strengthen connections, and nurture belonging. Our commitment ensures you can work in a way that suits you best, while also engaging with colleagues to share ideas and build meaningful relationships.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. VEVRAA Federal Contractor, Equal Opportunity Employer