Vaco by Highspring ยท 1 week ago
Lead AI Engineer (Hybrid - Durham, NC)
Raleigh, NC
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$130K/yr - $180K/yr
5+ years expVaco by Highspring is supporting a fast-growing, tech-forward company that is building a brand-new AI function from scratch. They are seeking a Lead AI Engineer to architect solutions, mentor engineering teams, and serve as the internal expert on AI, working directly with the CTO to define the roadmap and bring AI-driven capabilities into core products.
Staffing & Recruiting
Hiring Manager
Faith Keller, PHR
Responsibilities
Partner with the CTO to launch and scale a new AI-focused group within the organization
Define the mission, priorities, and early deliverables for the company's AI initiatives
Serve as the primary technical authority on AI architecture, tooling, and best practices
Build and ship LLM-powered applications, RAG pipelines, and intelligent APIs
Deliver AI-driven features across web, mobile, and enterprise systems
Integrate AI capabilities into existing products in partnership with software engineering teams
Ensure solutions are scalable, secure, and aligned with business goals
Coach developers on AI fundamentals, workflows, and implementation patterns
Identify skill gaps and help build AI fluency across the engineering organization
Act as a bridge between product, engineering, data, cybersecurity, and legal teams
Collaborate with cross-functional partners to establish governance, ethics, and transparency standards
Help define internal guidelines for safe, compliant, and responsible AI adoption
Qualification
Required
5+ years in software engineering or AI product development
At least one production-deployed AI solution and strong understanding of the full development lifecycle
Hands-on experience with: Generative AI / LLMs (GPT, Claude, Llama, etc.)
LangChain, Hugging Face, LlamaIndex
RAG architectures and vector databases
AWS (Bedrock, Lambda, S3, etc.)
Full-stack development (React, Node.js, Python, etc.)
SQL/NoSQL data platforms
REST API design
Entrepreneurial mindset; comfortable in a fast-moving, build-as-you-go environment
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field
Preferred
Experience in insurance, financial services, or fintech (not required)
Experience mentoring or leading engineering teams
Prior work in a 'startup within an enterprise' environment
Benefits
Full benefits package
Company
Vaco by Highspring
Vaco is the Talent Solutions division of Highspring, a leading global professional services organization.
5001-10000 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Vaco by Highspring has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2023 (1)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageCompany data provided by crunchbase