Interested in this AI/ML Engineer role at EPAM Systems?
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Serve as a strategic guide helping global clients become AI\-powered organizations.
At EPAM, we help enterprises redesign how they operate in the era of artificial intelligence. We are seeking a senior leader to shape our AI\-driven business operations offering. In this role, you will combine deep operational expertise with hands\-on AI program leadership to guide global organizations through complex transformations.
This is a hybrid leadership position where you will help define EPAM’s Go\-to\-Market (GTM) strategy, drive our commercial growth and work with clients and teams at EPAM to deliver tangible results. You will work across diverse functional areas — including R\&D, supply chain, manufacturing, finance and human resources — to identify opportunities where intelligent automation and agentic AI can improve efficiency, optimize costs and accelerate revenue.
Through a mix of business process assessment and value targeting, you will lead teams that create and drive clear transformation activities that accelerate business value creation and drive productivity, often resulting in a self\-funding loop for ongoing transformation. With the ability to strategically prioritize based on business value, you will help our clients drive AI initiatives across a wide range of business functions.
If you bring a background in top\-tier strategy consulting combined with recent experience in an applied AI environment, this is your opportunity to build the future of enterprise operations.
This is a remote position with expected travel to support client engagements. While we welcome applicants from across the U.S., we will prioritize candidates located near major enterprise hubs such as Boston, Chicago, New York, Houston and San Francisco.
Req \# 1039004221
Responsibilities
- Helping to define EPAM's GTM strategy for transformation programs focused on establishing AI\-native business operating models — from process design to product development and distribution
- Partnering with sales and presales teams to craft compelling value propositions, shape high\-value opportunities and drive contract closure
- Representing EPAM externally at industry events, client roundtables and executive panels to elevate our market position
- Authoring frameworks and publishing thought leadership on AI\-driven operations to build credibility and shape industry conversations
- Collaborate with and lead teams at EPAM to deliver tangible business value to our clients by:
- Prioritizing and roadmapping high\-impact opportunities across multiple business domains where agentic AI creates measurable return on investment
- Communicating and showcasing the practical value of agentic AI and automation for executive stakeholders
- Leading intelligent automation engagements end to end — from opportunity assessment and design through implementation and scaled adoption
Requirements
- Knowledge of the complex inner workings of large enterprises and your keen understanding of industry best practices for AI allow you to effectively engage with new clients; you will lead teams in completing fact\-based assessments and industry benchmarking to evaluate existing capabilities, identify future opportunities and define a roadmap aligned to business priorities
- Background blending top\-tier strategy consulting with recent hands\-on experience in an applied AI or startup environment
- Track record of transforming enterprise operations with AI and automation within the last two years
- Understanding of modern business operations and workflows across multiple functional areas such as R\&D, manufacturing, supply chain, finance, legal and human resources
- History of redesigning operating models and leading automation programs that deliver measurable return on investment, including revenue growth and cost optimization
- Business acumen and commercial orientation with the ability to shape narratives, influence pipeline and win major deals
- Communication skills and executive presence with the ability to engage confidently with C\-suite leaders and influence strategic decision\-making
- Portfolio of published thought leadership, conference talks or a visible professional following in the AI operations space
- Industry expertise in consumer and services, healthcare and life sciences, finance and insurance or energy sectors
EPAM is a leading global provider of digital platform engineering and development services. We are committed to having a positive impact on our clients, our employees, and our communities. We embrace a dynamic and inclusive culture. Here you will collaborate with multi\-national teams, contribute to a myriad of innovative projects that deliver the most creative and cutting\-edge solutions, and have an opportunity to continuously learn and grow. No matter where you are located, you will join a dedicated, creative, and diverse community that will help you discover your fullest potential.
Engineer the Future with a Career at EPAM
This posting includes a good faith range of the salary EPAM would reasonably expect to pay the selected candidate. The range provided reflects base salary only. Individual compensation offers within the range are based on a variety of factors, including, but not limited to: geographic location, experience, credentials, education, training, the demand for the role; and overall business and labor market considerations. Most candidates are hired at a salary within the range disclosed. Salary range: *$200,000\-$250,000* USD. This position is also eligible for variable compensation incentives. In addition, the details highlighted in this job posting above are a general description of all other expected benefits and compensation for the position.
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.
EPAM will not provide new H\-1B visa sponsorship for this position. Candidates with existing transferable H\-1B status may be considered.
Salary Context
This $200K-$250K range is above the 75th percentile for AI/ML Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $180K across 1841 roles with salary data).
View full AI/ML Engineer salary data →Role Details
About This Role
AI/ML Engineers build and deploy machine learning models in production. They work across the full ML lifecycle: data pipelines, model training, evaluation, and serving infrastructure. The role has evolved significantly over the past two years. Where ML Engineers once spent most of their time on model architecture, the job now tilts heavily toward inference optimization, cost management, and integrating LLM capabilities into existing systems. Companies want engineers who can ship production systems, and the experimenter-only role is fading fast.
Day-to-day, you're writing training pipelines, debugging data quality issues, setting up evaluation frameworks, and figuring out why your model performs differently in staging than it did on your dev set. The best ML engineers are obsessive about reproducibility and measurement. They instrument everything. They know that a model is only as good as the data feeding it and the infrastructure serving it.
Across the 3,708 AI roles we're tracking, AI/ML Engineer positions make up 70% of the market. At EPAM Systems, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week might include: debugging a data pipeline that's silently dropping 3% of training examples, running A/B tests on a new model version, writing documentation for a feature flag system that lets you roll back model deployments, and reviewing a junior engineer's PR for a new evaluation metric. Meetings tend to be cross-functional since ML touches product, engineering, and data teams.
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
Skills in Demand for This Role
Python and PyTorch dominate the requirements. Most roles expect experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and familiarity with ML frameworks like TensorFlow or JAX. RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) has become a top-3 skill requirement as companies integrate LLMs into their products. Docker and Kubernetes show up in about a third of postings, reflecting the production focus of the role.
Beyond the core stack, employers increasingly want experience with experiment tracking tools (MLflow, Weights & Biases), feature stores, and vector databases. Fine-tuning experience is valuable but less common than you'd think from reading Twitter. Most production LLM work is RAG and prompt engineering, not fine-tuning. If you have both, you're in a strong position.
Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
Compensation Benchmarks
AI/ML Engineer roles pay a median of $218,750 based on 3,817 positions with disclosed compensation. Senior-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $230,000. Disclosed range: $200K to $250K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $217,500. Top-quartile compensation starts at $272,100. The 90th percentile reaches $325,000. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($300,000) and Research Engineer ($280,000). By seniority level: Entry: $120,000; Mid: $200,000; Senior: $230,000; Director: $272,150; VP: $250,000.
EPAM Systems AI Hiring
EPAM Systems has 8 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer. Positions span Chicago, IL, US, Houston, TX, US, Remote, US. Compensation range: $160K - $250K.
Remote Work Context
Remote AI roles pay a median of $185,334 across 717 positions. About 14% of all AI roles offer remote work.
Career Path
Common paths into AI/ML Engineer roles include Data Scientist, Software Engineer, Research Engineer.
From here, career progression typically leads toward ML Architect, AI Engineering Manager, Principal ML Engineer.
The fastest path into ML engineering is through software engineering with a self-directed ML education. A CS degree helps, but production engineering skills matter more than academic credentials. Build something that works, deploy it, and measure it. That portfolio project is worth more than a Coursera certificate. For career growth, the fork comes around the senior level: go deep on technical complexity (staff/principal track) or move into managing ML teams.
What to Expect in Interviews
Expect system design questions around ML pipelines: how you'd build a training pipeline for a specific use case, handle data drift, or design A/B testing infrastructure for model deployments. Coding rounds typically involve Python, with emphasis on data manipulation (pandas, numpy) and algorithm implementation. Take-home assignments often ask you to build an end-to-end ML pipeline from raw data to deployed model.
When evaluating opportunities: Companies that are serious about AI/ML hiring tend to post specific infrastructure details in the job description: the frameworks they use, their model serving stack, their data pipeline tools. Vague postings that just say 'ML experience required' without specifics are often companies that haven't figured out what they need yet.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 3,708 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 102 entry-level, 1,705 mid-level, 1,469 senior, and 432 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 14% of the market (508 positions). The remaining 3,180 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $217,500. Top-quartile compensation starts at $272,100. The 90th percentile reaches $325,000. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($300,000 median, 21 roles); Research Engineer ($280,000 median, 147 roles); AI Architect ($254,798 median, 67 roles).
Demand for AI/ML Engineers has been strong and consistent. Unlike some AI roles that spike with hype cycles, ML engineering is a foundational need. Every company deploying AI models needs people who can keep them running, and the gap between research prototypes and production systems keeps growing.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 3,708 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (2,605), Data Scientist (310), AI Software Engineer (259). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (102) are outnumbered by mid-level (1,705) and senior (1,469) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 432 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 14% of all AI roles (508 positions), with 3,180 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $217,500. Top-quartile roles start at $272,100, and the 90th percentile reaches $325,000. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $300,000 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $140,000. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (1,890 postings), Aws (1,103 postings), Azure (877 postings), Rag (855 postings), Gcp (631 postings), Prompt Engineering (560 postings), Pytorch (545 postings), Claude (498 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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