Tech Lead (AI)

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, with hybrid work as needed. Hybrid employees must work in a Harvard registered state.

Company

hirify.global Central Administration and hirify.global Information Technology provide technology services that support education, research, learning, and university operations.

What you will do

• Lead architecture and technical design for Collections Explorer and related Reimagining Discovery initiatives.
• Guide development of an AI-enhanced discovery application, metadata pipelines, APIs, and hybrid search capabilities.
• Make technical decisions for search, information retrieval, AI/LLM features, evaluation, transparency, privacy, security, and responsible AI use.
• Review code, establish coding standards, troubleshoot technical issues, and manage technical debt.
• Support production readiness through reliability, performance, monitoring, logging, error handling, and maintainability practices.
• Coordinate with the project manager and communicate technical status and issues to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Requirements

• At least seven years of post-secondary education or relevant work experience.
• At least two years of experience with machine learning or artificial intelligence, including data preprocessing, feature engineering, and model evaluation.
• Experience with software product testing, maintenance, or launch, plus software design and architecture.
• Knowledge of Python, FastAPI, React, NextJS, API tooling, search platforms, vector databases, embeddings, semantic search, or hybrid search.
• Experience with metadata pipelines, data transformation, APIs, integrations, LLM application patterns, retrieval-augmented generation, evaluation, guardrails, or responsible AI.
• Harvard is unable to provide visa sponsorship for this position. Candidates must satisfy applicable work-location sponsorship requirements.

Nice to have

• Experience with Elasticsearch or OpenSearch, Docker, Kubernetes, Jira, GitHub, and CI/CD orchestration.
• Experience in libraries, archives, museums, cultural heritage, higher education, research, or other complex information environments.
• Familiarity with WCAG 2.1 AA, Scrum, Agile practices, and Harvard IT Academy foundational courses.

Culture & Benefits

• Full-time position with comprehensive employee benefits and funding through June 30, 2028, with possible renewal.
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage beginning on day one, retirement contributions, paid time off, and parental leave.
• Professional development opportunities, including tuition assistance and reimbursement.
• Wellbeing and mental health resources, family and caregiver support, commuter benefits, discounts, and campus perks.
• Work is performed in an office setting, with hybrid work determined by departmental operational needs.

Hiring process

• Submit a cover letter and resume as one document.
• Complete a 180-day orientation and review period after appointment.