Senior Director, AI Software Engineering

US Senior AI Software Engineer

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Skills & Technologies

AwsClaudeMulesoftSalesforce

About This Role

AI job market dashboard showing open roles by category

Company Description

Experian is a global data and technology company, powering opportunities for people and businesses around the world. We operate across a range of markets, from financial services to healthcare, automotive, agribusiness, insurance, and many more. Experian invests in people and new advanced technologies to unlock the power of data. We have an amazing team of 25,200 people in 32 countries.

Job Description

You will lead the integration of artificial intelligence into our software platforms, which serve both business clients and their end customers. You'll manage engineering teams across three countries, setting the standard for how we build, deliver, and support software. You'll balance strong security and compliance for business clients with smooth, intelligent experiences for consumers, while helping global teams work faster using modern AI-assisted development tools.

At Experian, we believe great work happens when people come together. We're focused on attracting talent in and around our designated hub locations who are open to collaborating with colleagues in person. Aligning employees to these talent markets helps foster collaboration, strengthen team connections, and support long-term career growth within Experian. You will report to the VP, Partner Solutions Engineering, and reside in or near one of our collaboration hubs:

Costa Mesa, CA; San Jose, CA; Allen, TX; Austin, TX; Franklin, TN; New York, NY; Schaumberg, IL; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Seattle, WA

You will have opportunity to:

  • Lead a global strategy to embed AI across our engineering organization, setting consistent standards for delivery speed and quality
  • Manage and mentor engineering leaders across three countries, building a collaborative, experimentation-driven culture
  • Modernize our software development lifecycle by introducing AI coding tools that automate code generation, testing, and localization
  • Drive company-wide adoption, security compliance, and training for AI development platforms like GitHub, Claude, Copilot, Cursor AI, and Amazon Kiro
  • Shift engineering teams toward intent-driven development workflows, including spec-driven AI-DLC frameworks and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations
  • Integrate AI capabilities directly into our core platforms, including React frontends, .NET and Java microservices, Salesforce, and MuleSoft
  • Partner with global teams to balance fast feature delivery with enterprise-grade security and compliance requirements

Qualifications* 12+ years of experience in software application development

  • 5+ years leading multi-layered engineering organizations (managing managers), including distributed, international teams
  • Hands-on technical management experience with AWS, .NET, Java, React, Salesforce, and MuleSoft environments
  • Experience in B2B2C, B2B, or high-scale B2C SaaS environments, including managing architecture complexity, tenant isolation, and data privacy requirements
  • Direct experience deploying and scaling AI development tools (e.g., GitHub, Claude, Copilot, Cursor AI, and Kiro) across an engineering organization
  • Experience building products using an AI-DLC process including application level integrations, using agentic AI tools such as Amazon Kiro
  • Track record leading major technical or cultural transformations (e.g., DevOps, cloud migration, AI tool rollouts) across large, distributed engineering teams
  • Reside in, or near the designated Collaboration Hub(s) for this role.

Additional Information

Our uniqueness is that we celebrate yours. Experian's people first, inclusive and purpose driven culture is multi award-winning; World's Best Workplaces™ 2025 (Fortune Global Top 25), Great Place To Work™ in 26 countries to name a few. Check out Experian Life on social or explore our Careers Site to understand why.

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets. The base pay range for this position is listed above. Within this range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors such as job-related skills, experience, and education. You will be also eligible for a variable pay opportunity.

Experian is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer for all groups protected under applicable federal, state and local law, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know at the earliest opportunity.

  • Great compensation package and bonus plan
  • Core benefits including medical, dental, vision, and matching 401K
  • Flexible work environment, ability to work remote, hybrid or in-office
  • Flexible time off including volunteer time off, vacation, sick and 12-paid holidays
  • Explore all our exciting benefits here: https://myexperianbenefits.com/

Recruitment Fraud Awareness - Experian's recruitment process is conducted only through authorised channels. Recruitment communications will only be sent from an @experian.com email address.

Experian will never ask candidates to make any payment as part of an application, interview, assessment, onboarding, or recruitment process. To apply for roles or verify opportunities, please visit experian.com/careers

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Role Details

Company Experian
Title Senior Director, AI Software Engineering
Location US
Category AI Software Engineer
Experience Senior
Salary Not disclosed
Remote No

About This Role

AI Software Engineers build the applications and systems that AI models run inside. They own the API layers, data pipelines, frontend integrations, and infrastructure that turn a model into a product users interact with. Every AI company needs engineers who can build the software around the AI.

The challenge is building reliable systems around inherently unreliable components. Models are probabilistic. They'll give different answers to the same question. They hallucinate. They're slow. They're expensive. Your job is to build an application layer that handles all of this gracefully while delivering a product that users trust and enjoy.

Across the 11,520 AI roles we're tracking, AI Software Engineer positions make up 5% of the market. At Experian, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.

AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.

What the Work Looks Like

A typical week includes: building API endpoints that serve model inference with caching and fallback logic, designing the data pipeline that feeds context to a RAG system, implementing streaming responses in the frontend, debugging a race condition in the async inference pipeline, and optimizing database queries for the vector search layer. It's full-stack engineering with AI at the center.

AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.

Skills Required

Aws (10% of roles) Claude (5% of roles) Mulesoft Salesforce (1% of roles)

Full-stack engineering skills with AI integration experience. Python and TypeScript are the most common requirements. You'll need to understand API design, database architecture, and how to build reliable systems around probabilistic outputs. Experience with streaming, async processing, and caching patterns is increasingly important as real-time AI applications proliferate.

Knowledge of vector databases, embedding APIs, and LLM integration patterns (function calling, structured outputs, retry logic) differentiates AI software engineers from general software engineers. Understanding cost optimization (caching strategies, model routing, batched inference) is valuable since inference costs can dominate application economics.

Strong postings describe the product you'll be building, the AI integration patterns you'll work with, and the scale requirements. Look for companies that have existing AI features and need engineers to improve and expand them, not companies that are 'planning to add AI' someday.

Compensation Benchmarks

AI Software Engineer roles pay a median of $220,000 based on 1,688 positions with disclosed compensation. Director-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $272,250.

Across all AI roles, the market median is $213,480. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,000. The 90th percentile reaches $318,400. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($266,050) and AI Engineering Manager ($253,461). By seniority level: Entry: $112,320; Mid: $193,200; Senior: $230,000; Director: $272,250; VP: $235,830.

Experian AI Hiring

Experian has 2 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI Software Engineer, AI/ML Engineer. Positions span US, Sofia, Sofia City, Bulgaria.

Location Context

AI roles in Austin pay a median of $208,000 across 317 tracked positions. That's 3% below the national median.

Career Path

Common paths into AI Software Engineer roles include Software Engineer, Full-Stack Developer, Backend Engineer.

From here, career progression typically leads toward Staff Engineer, AI Architect, Engineering Manager.

If you're a software engineer, you're already 80% there. Learn the AI integration patterns: RAG, streaming inference, function calling, structured outputs. Build a project that demonstrates you can wrap an AI model in a production-quality application with proper error handling, caching, and user experience. That's the portfolio piece that gets you hired.

What to Expect in Interviews

Technical screens look like standard software engineering interviews with an AI twist. Expect system design questions about building reliable applications around probabilistic models: handling streaming responses, implementing retry logic for API failures, and designing caching strategies for LLM outputs. Coding rounds test standard algorithms plus practical integration patterns like async processing and rate limiting.

When evaluating opportunities: Strong postings describe the product you'll be building, the AI integration patterns you'll work with, and the scale requirements. Look for companies that have existing AI features and need engineers to improve and expand them, not companies that are 'planning to add AI' someday.

AI Hiring Overview

The AI job market has 11,520 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 140 entry-level, 5,630 mid-level, 4,176 senior, and 1,574 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 6% of the market (708 positions). The remaining 10,737 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.

The market median for AI roles is $213,480. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,000. The 90th percentile reaches $318,400. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($266,050 median, 70 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($253,461 median, 58 roles); Research Engineer ($252,000 median, 476 roles).

AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.

The AI Job Market Today

The AI job market spans 11,520 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (8,769), AI Software Engineer (586), AI Product Manager (511). 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 (140) are outnumbered by mid-level (5,630) and senior (4,176) 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 1,574 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.

Remote work availability sits at 6% of all AI roles (708 positions), with 10,737 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 $213,480. Top-quartile roles start at $264,000, and the 90th percentile reaches $318,400. 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 $266,050 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 (2,267 postings), Aws (1,178 postings), Azure (972 postings), Rag (924 postings), Gcp (715 postings), Pytorch (586 postings), Claude (572 postings), Kubernetes (559 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

Based on 1,688 roles with disclosed compensation, the median salary for AI Software Engineer positions is $220,000. Actual compensation varies by seniority, location, and company stage.
Full-stack engineering skills with AI integration experience. Python and TypeScript are the most common requirements. You'll need to understand API design, database architecture, and how to build reliable systems around probabilistic outputs. Experience with streaming, async processing, and caching patterns is increasingly important as real-time AI applications proliferate.
About 6% of the 11,520 AI roles we track offer remote work. Remote availability varies by company and seniority level, with senior and leadership roles more likely to offer location flexibility.
Experian is among the companies actively hiring for AI and ML talent. Check our company profiles for detailed breakdowns of open roles, salary ranges, and hiring trends.
Common next steps from AI Software Engineer positions include Staff Engineer, AI Architect, Engineering Manager. Progression depends on whether you lean toward technical depth, people management, or product strategy.

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