Senior AI Engineer (Ph.D. required)
Exponent, Inc.2 months ago
Houston, TX, USASenior
Responsibilities
- Architect, develop, and deploy end-to-end AI solutions from data foundations and model development through production deployment.
- Build generative AI applications, including retrieval-augmented generation systems, LLM-powered assistants, and domain-specific copilots.
- Design agentic AI architectures with multi-agent workflows, tool use, orchestration, and human-in-the-loop controls.
- Develop knowledge representation layers such as knowledge graphs, ontologies, and semantic search.
- Deploy and scale AI workloads on cloud infrastructure, including containerized services, vector databases, and MLOps/LLMOps pipelines.
- Prototype models, analyses, and visualizations for fast-paced client engagements.
- Implement responsible AI practices including evaluation frameworks, guardrails, observability, and governance alignment.
- Collaborate with multidisciplinary scientists and engineers to embed domain expertise into AI solutions.
- Communicate technical approaches and results to technical and executive client stakeholders.
- Mentor junior team members and contribute reusable AI capabilities and assets.
Requirements
- Ph.D. in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Data Science, Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or a related field.
- At least 5 years of hands-on experience building and deploying machine learning and AI systems in production after completing the Ph.D.
- Experience with generative AI, LLM application development, prompt engineering, fine-tuning, and RAG architectures.
- Experience with agentic frameworks and orchestration tools such as LangChain, LangGraph, or LlamaIndex.
- Strong Python software engineering fundamentals and experience with APIs, microservices, and containerization.
- Hands-on experience with AWS, Azure, or GCP, including serverless and managed AI/ML services.
- Highly proficient in SQL and able to work with large, complex enterprise datasets.
- Experience in consulting or client-facing roles and the ability to deliver under ambiguity and tight timelines.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Presently legally authorized to work in the United States without immigration sponsorship or processing.
- Preferred experience applying AI in safety-critical, regulated, or physical-infrastructure industries.
- Preferred familiarity with AI governance frameworks, model risk management, and trustworthy AI principles.
- Applicants are encouraged to submit a CV with publications, including publications under review or pending.
Benefits
- The role is based in Houston, Texas, with in-person office work expected unless traveling for client work or other business activities.
- Flexible, agile working hours support client meetings, inspection-site visits, conferences, and personal priorities.
- Benefits include health and well-being programs, competitive benefits and recognition programs, annual and bi-weekly bonuses, and a 401(k) employer contribution of 7% of base salary.
- Exponent provides mentoring, career growth, and a collaborative multidisciplinary work environment.
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About Exponent, Inc.
Exponent is an engineering and scientific consulting firm that investigates failures, tests products, and advises on safety, risk, and regulatory matters for corporations, law firms, insurers, and government agencies. It runs a project-based consulting model across dozens of technical disciplines, offering expert testimony and in-house laboratory analysis. Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Exponent operates globally and is publicly traded on Nasdaq (EXPO).