Software Engineer - AI Applications

RTI International is seeking a Software Engineer to design, develop, and deploy AI-powered, cloud-native applications and multi-step AI workflows. The role focuses on integrating these solutions with RTI’s research infrastructure and delivering reliable systems for enterprise and federally regulated or research-driven environments.

Role Overview

This position supports the delivery of AI systems that integrate with research platforms, including survey data collection, systematic review pipelines, data quality assurance, and proposal development workflows. You will translate research and business requirements into technical implementations, help build and refine multi-step AI workflows, and contribute to evaluation, reliability, and long-term maintainability.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaborate with internal teams and clients to design, develop, and deploy AI-powered solutions across sectors such as health, energy, and education.
• Translate business and research needs into technical implementations, including multi-step workflow development and delivery of scalable, secure systems in enterprise environments.
• Develop enhancements and new systems that integrate with existing infrastructure, enabling solutions to be tested, deployed, maintained, and supported over time.
• Support AI systems and improvements that connect with RTI research infrastructure, working alongside data scientists, domain researchers, and software developers to meet expectations for rigor in federally regulated and research-driven settings.
• Design, build, and maintain AI-enabled systems and multi-step workflows that include retrieval, tool use, orchestration, and iterative improvement, with an emphasis on production readiness and maintainability.
• Integrate and extend RTI platforms such as survey data collection, systematic review pipelines, data quality assurance tools, and proposal workflows within established architectures and constraints.
• Develop and deploy cloud-native services using APIs, containers, and modern CI/CD practices to support scalable, secure, and cost-aware AI solutions.
• Convert research, business, and client needs into AI applications that automate or augment workflows while maintaining methodological rigor.
• Contribute to testing and evaluation approaches, including performance monitoring, reliability checks, and cost/quality trade-off analysis appropriate for regulated and research-driven contexts.
• Participate in technical discussions, workshops, and prototype development with internal teams and clients to gather requirements, demonstrate solutions, and iterate based on stakeholder feedback.
• Document systems and contribute reusable components and shared abstractions to strengthen RTI’s AI engineering practices.

Required Qualifications

• Education and experience: A Master’s degree and at least three years of relevant work experience building cloud-native applications (APIs, microservices, containerization, or serverless functions); OR a Bachelor’s degree and at least five years of relevant work experience in these areas.
• At least two years of programming experience in Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, or similar languages used for AI and backend development.
• Demonstrated experience contributing to deployment of AI- or LLM-based systems, including retrieval pipelines, prompt design, agentic workflows, or workflow automation.
• Experience integrating commercial or open-source AI models into applications via APIs or model-serving infrastructure.
• Experience building systems that handle sensitive, restricted, or confidential data, with awareness of how data access, privacy, and compliance requirements affect design.
• Proficiency with shared version control (e.g., Git) and collaborative development workflows.
• Familiarity with modern delivery practices, including CI/CD, containers, and basic infrastructure-as-code concepts.
• Experience in cross-functional, team-based environments, including participating in technical discussions, reviews, and iterative delivery.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain AI system behavior, trade-offs, and limitations to non-technical researchers, clients, and federal stakeholders.
• Legal authorization to work in the United States without requiring sponsorship for employment visa status now or in the future (for example, H-1B).

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with AI orchestration frameworks such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar tools.
• Exposure to AI orchestration or workflow frameworks, or experience coordinating multiple models, tools, or processing steps; experience building applications on one or more cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Experience with relational and cloud-native database systems (e.g., PostgreSQL and other SQL-based systems).
• Experience supporting projects in enterprise, regulated, or research-driven environments.
• Experience contributing to proposals, technical writing, or business development in a research or federal contracting context.
• Proficiency with Unix/Linux command-line environments.
• Interest in growing into more senior AI engineering or technical leadership roles in a collaborative, research-driven environment.

Technologies

Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Git, APIs, microservices, containerization, serverless functions, retrieval pipelines, prompt design, agentic workflows, workflow automation, CI/CD pipelines, containers, infrastructure-as-code, LangChain, LlamaIndex, AWS, Azure, GCP, PostgreSQL, Unix/Linux.

Interview Process

• As part of the interview process, candidates will discuss a system they personally helped build, including their individual contribution, key technical decisions, challenges, and the evaluation approach and results.
• Candidates will also participate in a job-related technical discussion and exercise.

Location

Raleigh, NC (onsite).

Location preference: RTI strongly prefers candidates located within reasonable driving distance of RTI’s headquarters in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, to support periodic in-person collaboration, team meetings, and other on-site activities as needed.

Compensation

USD 122,000 - 150,000 per year.

Benefits

• Competitive base salary
• Generous paid time off policy
• Merit based annual increases
• Bonus opportunities
• Robust recognition program
• Competitive range of insurance plans (including health, dental, life, and short-term and long-term disability)
• Access to a retirement savings program such as a 401(k) plan
• Paid parental leave for all parents
• Financial assistance with adoption expenses or infertility treatments
• Financial reimbursement for education and developmental opportunities
• Employee assistance program