Software Engineer - AI Applications

RTI International is an independent, scientific research institute dedicated to improving the human condition. Our vision is to address the world's most critical problems with technical and science-based solutions in pursuit of a better future. Clients rely on us to answer questions that demand an objective and multidisciplinary approach—one that integrates expertise across social, statistical, data, and laboratory sciences, engineering, and other technical disciplines to solve the world’s most challenging problems.
We believe in the promise of science and technical solutions, and we push ourselves every day to deliver on that promise for the good of people, communities, and businesses in the US and around the world. If you are looking for the opportunity to make a real difference, RTI is the place for you.

You are: 

A Software Engineer with experience building cloud-native applications and applying AI technologies to practical business, research or client needs. You have contributed to systems beyond the proof-of-concept stage and understand the engineering work required to make AI-enabled applications reliable, secure and maintainable.

You are comfortable working through ambiguity, explaining technical trade-offs and collaborating with researchers, data scientists and software engineers. You can distinguish between a compelling demonstration and a solution that is ready to support real users.

You have personally contributed to building and deploying AI-enabled applications, not just experimenting with models or using AI tools as an end user. You can clearly explain the systems you worked on, your individual contribution, the technical decisions you made, and how you evaluated whether the solution worked.

The Work: 

You will work closely with internal teams and clients to contribute to the design, development, and deployment of AI‑powered solutions across sectors such as health, energy, and education. You will help translate business and research needs into technical implementations, build and refine multi-step AI workflows, and support the delivery of scalable, secure systems in enterprise environments. 

You will contribute to new systems and enhancements that integrate with existing infrastructure, collaborating with colleagues and partners to deliver practical solutions that can be tested, deployed, maintained, and supported over time.

In this role, you will support the development of AI systems and enhancements that integrate with RTI’s research infrastructure—including survey data collection platforms, systematic review pipelines, data quality assurance systems, and proposal development workflows—working closely with data scientists, domain researchers, and software developers to ensure solutions meet the rigor expected in federally regulated and research‑driven environments. 

This position offers flexibility to be based at our headquarters in Research Triangle Park, NC, or to work remotely. 

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

Responsibilities:

• AI System & Agent Development. Design, build, and maintain AI‑enabled systems and multi-stepworkflows, including retrieval, tool use, orchestration, and iterative improvement, with a focus on production readiness and maintainability.
• Enterprise & Research Infrastructure Integration. Contribute to AI systems that integrate with and extend RTI’s existing platforms—such as survey data collection, systematic review pipelines, data quality assurance tools, and proposal workflows—working within established architectures and constraints.
• Cloud‑Native Engineering. Develop and deploy cloud‑native services using APIs, containers, and modern CI/CD practices, contributing to scalable, secure, and cost‑aware AI solutions in enterprise environments.
• Workflow Translation & Automation. Translate research, business, and client needs into working AI applications that automate or augment workflows, collaborating closely with data scientists, researchers, and software engineers to ensure practical value and methodological rigor.
• Evaluation, Quality, and Reliability. Contribute to testing and evaluation approaches for AI systems, including performance monitoring, reliability checks, and cost/quality trade‑off analysis appropriate for federally regulated and research‑driven contexts.
• Client & Cross‑Team Collaboration. Participate in technical discussions, workshops, and prototype development with internal teams and clients, helping gather requirements, demonstrate solutions, and iterate based on stakeholder feedback.
• Reusable Patterns & Knowledge Sharing. Document systems, contribute to reusable components and shared abstractions, and support internal knowledge sharing to strengthen RTI’s AI engineering practices over time.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master's degree and at least three years of relevant work experience building cloud-native applications such as APIs, microservices, containerization, or serverless functions; OR a Bachelor's degree with at least five years of relevant experience building cloud-native applications such as APIs, microservices, containerization, or serverless functions.
• At least two years of programming experience in Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, or similar languages commonly used in AI and backend development.
• Demonstrated experience contributing to the development and 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 a software application through APIs or model-serving infrastructure.
• Experience developing systems that work with sensitive, restricted, or confidential data, and understanding how data access, privacy, and compliance requirements influence system design.
• Proficiency with shared version control (e.g., Git) and collaborative software development workflows.
• Familiarity with modern deployment and delivery practices, including CI/CD pipelines, containers, and basic infrastructure-as-code concepts.
• Experience working in cross-functional, team-based environments, including participating in technical discussions, reviews, and iterative delivery.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain AI system behavior, trade-offs, and limitations to non-technical researchers, clients, and federal stakeholders.
• To qualify, applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States and should not require, now or in the future, sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H-1B visa status, etc.). 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working with AI orchestration frameworks such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar tools.
• Exposure to AI orchestration or workflow frameworks, or experience building applications that coordinate multiple models, tools, or processing steps. Experience working with one or more cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
• Experience working with relational and cloud-native database systems (e.g., PostgreSQL, SQL-based systems).
• Experience supporting projects in enterprise, regulated, or research-driven environments.
• Experience contributing to proposals, technical writing, or business development efforts 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 within a collaborative, research‑driven environment.

For San Francisco, CA USA Job Postings Only: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. Further information is available here.

RTI accepts applications to our job openings from candidates with criminal histories or conviction records in accordance with all applicable laws, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act.

For Applicants in Massachusetts Only: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

The anticipated pay range for this role is listed below. Our pay ranges represent national averages and may vary by location as a geographic differential may be applied to some locations within the United States. RTI considers multiple factors when making an offer including, for example: established salary range, internal budget, business needs, and education and years of work experience possessed by the applicant. Further, salary is merely one element to our offer.

At RTI, we demonstrate our commitment to rewarding individual and team achievement through a total rewards package. This package includes (among other things) a competitive base salary, a generous paid time off policy, merit based annual increases, bonus opportunities and a robust recognition program. Other benefits include a 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, an employee assistance program, and numerous other offerings to support a healthy work-life balance.

$122,000 - $150,000