Sr. AI Engineer
Location:
Wilmington, Massachusetts
Job ID
2503873
We are seeking a Senior AI Engineer to lead the design, development, and deployment of enterprise-grade AI solutions leveraging Microsoft Azure AI Services. In this senior role, you'll serve as a technical leader across multiple AI initiatives-from architecting backend systems and production-grade agents to building powerful client-facing applications.
You will collaborate closely with cross-functional stakeholders to turn business needs into scalable, intelligent systems. Your work will be central to advancing the organization's AI platform, accelerating adoption, and setting best practices for integrating Azure-based AI technologies.
Responsibilities :
Lead the design and architecture of intelligent systems leveraging Azure OpenAI, Cognitive Services, Azure AI Search, Azure Machine Learning, and Azure Functions.
Define and implement advanced document intelligence pipelines, integrating OCR, layout analysis, and entity extraction across heterogeneous document sources.
Architect, tune, and scale Azure AI Search configurations, including semantic ranking, hybrid retrieval strategies, metadata filtering, and custom embeddings.
Build robust, reusable APIs and services to operationalize AI capabilities across applications, business processes, and agents.
Oversee the development of advanced user-facing tools (e.g., intelligent assistants, multi-modal interfaces, agent dashboards) that expose AI functionality to end users.
Guide the training, fine-tuning, and deployment of custom models in Azure ML, including prompt optimization, model chaining, and performance benchmarking.
Design and orchestrate end-to-end data flows using Azure Data Lake, Fabric, and event-driven pipelines to fuel AI agents and analytics.
Optimize AI systems for scalability, latency, cost, and accuracy across diverse workloads and user bases.
Provide technical leadership across projects, mentoring engineers and promoting best practices in AI development, MLOps, and software engineering.
Collaborate with business and technology leaders to identify high-impact use cases and drive adoption of AI-powered solutions.
Uphold and enforce enterprise policies for security, data privacy, and responsible AI across the full solution lifecycle.
Qualifications
Education:
Required:
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related technical field.
Preferred :
Master's degree in a relevant field (e.g., Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Engineering, or Software Engineering)
Certifications in Microsoft Azure, such as:
Azure AI Engineer Associate (AI-102)
Azure Data Scientist Associate (DP-100)
Requirements :
5+ years of professional experience in software engineering, with 3+ years focused on AI/ML, large language models, or intelligent systems
Advanced hands-on expertise with Microsoft Azure AI stack: OpenAI, Cognitive Services, Azure AI Search (including Semantic Ranker), and Azure Machine Learning
Proven experience designing and deploying production-grade RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) systems and multi-stage document intelligence pipelines
Strong background in enterprise data handling, including data engineering workflows across Azure Data Lake, Blob Storage, and Fabric
Demonstrated ability to optimize AI applications for latency, throughput, accuracy, and cost-balancing model quality with practical constraints
Proficient in developing scalable backend systems (Python, C#, or Node.js) and deploying APIs through Azure Functions or API Management
Skilled in building intuitive client interfaces for AI tools using frameworks like React, Streamlit, or similar web technologies
Comfortable working in DevOps environments using CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code, and agile practices
Strong cross-functional communication skills and experience collaborating with architects, analysts, data scientists, and business leaders
Preferred :
Experience leading technical initiatives or mentoring junior engineers in AI solution delivery
Familiarity with orchestration frameworks like LangChain, Semantic Kernel, or custom orchestration logic
Working knowledge of Microsoft Fabric, Azure Synapse, or similar enterprise analytics platforms
Exposure to AI observability and governance tooling (e.g., prompt logging, token usage tracking, access controls)
Understanding of enterprise security, compliance, and responsible AI implementation patterns
Benefits & Perks:
401K with Company Match, Profit Sharing, Health Insurance, Employee Assistance Program, Life Insurance, Paid Time Off, Tuition Reimbursement, 30% Employee Discount, Employee Referral Bonuses.
UniFirst is an international leader in garment & Uniform services industry. We currently employ over 14,000 team partners who serve 300,000 business customer locations throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
We were included in the top 10 of Selling Power magazine's "Best Companies to Sell For" list and recognized on Forbes magazine's "Platinum 400 - Best Big Companies" list. As an 80-year old company focused on annual growth, there's never been a better time to join our team.
UniFirst is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or employment against any individual on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, ancestry, religion, physical or mental disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, pregnancy, citizenship, or any other factor protected by anti-discrimination laws
UniFirst is an equal employment employer. If you need accommodation for any part of the application process because of a medical condition or disability, please send an e-mail to TalentAcquisition@unifirst.com or call to let us know the nature of your request.
UniFirst Recruiters and/or representatives will not ask job seekers to provide personal financial information when submitting a job application. Please be vigilant as such requests for information may be fraudulent.
UniFirst is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or employment against any individual on the basis of race, color, gender, national origin, ancestry, religion, physical or mental disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, pregnancy, citizenship, or any other factor protected by anti-discrimination laws.
If you need accommodation for any part of the application process because of a medical condition or disability, please send an e-mail to TalentAcquisition@unifirst.com or
call 800-347-7888 to let us know the nature of your request.
UniFirst Recruiters and/or representatives will not ask job seekers to provide personal financial information when submitting a job application. Please be vigilant as such requests for information may be fraudulent.
