Principal AI & Machine Learning Engineer

Location: Hybrid; candidates must live anywhere in the United States or its territories. Willingness and ability to travel for periodic in-person events, including retreats and leadership sessions, is required.

Salary: $144,160–$162,180 annually

Company

hirify.global is a national nonprofit organization focused on improving access, equity, and integrity in the college admission process through a free online application used by more than one million students each year.

What you will do

• Embed AI into enterprise workflows and analytical processes to improve productivity, insight generation, and decision support.
• Design and deploy production-grade AI/ML systems with end-to-end pipelines for training, evaluation, versioning, deployment, and monitoring.
• Build and operationalize LLM-powered applications using prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation, and tool or agent orchestration.
• Partner with Data Engineering, Data Governance, and business stakeholders to deliver scalable, secure, compliant solutions.
• Set AI development standards, make architectural decisions, and mentor teammates as a senior technical individual contributor.
• Translate complex AI and machine learning concepts for non-technical stakeholders and executive audiences.

Requirements

• Must be based in the United States or its territories and able to travel periodically for in-person events.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.
• 8–10 years of progressive experience in machine learning, AI engineering, or data science, including at least 3 years focused on applied AI and production ML systems.
• Experience integrating LLMs and generative AI into enterprise workflows, including prompt engineering, RAG, and agent or tool orchestration.
• Expertise in applied machine learning, NLP, LLM integration, production ML pipelines, AI governance, responsible AI, and compliance for sensitive data.
• Proficiency in R, Python, SQL, and large-scale cloud data platforms such as Databricks, Snowflake, or BigQuery; familiarity with scikit-learn, PyTorch, or TensorFlow.

Nice to have

• Master’s or doctoral degree in a related field.
• Relevant AI/ML or cloud certifications.
• Experience with Agile collaboration, agentic AI frameworks, Databricks AI features, MLflow, Model Serving, or semantic layer integrations.
• Experience in higher education, nonprofit, or other mission-driven technology environments.
• Advanced training in statistics, causal inference, or program evaluation.

Culture & Benefits

• Virtual-first, collaborative, team-oriented, and creative work environment.
• Paid time off, company-wide and floating holidays, sick leave, and a monthly mental health day.
• Remote work, mobile, and one-time office setup stipends, plus company-provided laptop equipment.
• Health, dental, vision, life, disability, HSA, and flexible spending benefits.
• 403(b) retirement plan with company contributions and matching, performance-based bonus, and professional development funding.

Hiring process

• Submit a resume and cover letter with salary expectations.
• An interview is required before an offer is made.