Artificial Intelligence & Automation Developer

$120K - $170K Atlanta, GA, US Mid Level AI/ML Engineer

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Skills & Technologies

JavascriptPythonTypescript

About This Role

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About Us

Georgia Tech prides itself on its technological resources, collaborations, high-quality student body, and its commitment to building an outstanding and diverse community of learning, discovery, and creation. We strongly encourage applicants whose values align with our institutional values, as outlined in our strategic plan. These values include academic excellence, diversity of thought and experience, inquiry and innovation, collaboration and community, and ethical behavior and stewardship. Georgia Tech has policies to promote a healthy work-life balance and is aware that attracting faculty may require meeting the needs of two careers.

About Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech is a top-ranked public research university situated in the heart of Atlanta, a diverse and vibrant city with numerous economic and cultural strengths. The Institute serves more than 45,000 students through top-ranked undergraduate, graduate, and executive programs in engineering, computing, science, business, design, and liberal arts. Georgia Tech's faculty attracted more than $1.4 billion in research awards this past year in fields ranging from biomedical technology to artificial intelligence, energy, sustainability, semiconductors, neuroscience, and national security. Georgia Tech ranks among the nation's top 20 universities for research and development spending and No. 1 among institutions without a medical school.

Georgia Tech's Mission and Values

Georgia Tech's mission is to develop leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. The Institute has nine key values that are foundational to everything we do:

  1. Students are our top priority.
  1. We strive for excellence.
  1. We thrive on diversity.
  1. We celebrate collaboration.
  1. We champion innovation.
  1. We safeguard freedom of inquiry and expression.
  1. We nurture the wellbeing of our community.
  1. We act ethically.
  1. We are responsible stewards.

Over the next decade, Georgia Tech will become an example of inclusive innovation, a leading technological research university of unmatched scale, relentlessly committed to serving the public good; breaking new ground in addressing the biggest local, national, and global challenges and opportunities of our time; making technology broadly accessible; and developing exceptional, principled leaders from all backgrounds ready to produce novel ideas and create solutions with real human impact.

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) provides information technology leadership and support to the Georgia Institute of Technology, working in partnership with academic and business units to meet the unique needs of a leading research university. OIT serves as the primary source of enterprise-wide information technology and telecommunications services in support of students, faculty, staff, and researchers.

Location

Atlanta, Georgia (In Person Work, in the Office)

Job Summary

The AI & Automation Developer is responsible for designing, building, deploying, operating, and continuously improving production-grade AI applications, agents, integrations, and intelligent automation solutions that connect approved AI models and platforms with Georgia Tech's data, systems, and business processes. Working in partnership with the AI & Automation Architect and other team members, this role translates institutional needs into secure, reliable, accessible, observable, and maintainable solutions that follow established architecture, governance, security, and data standards.

Job Summary

This position is at the level of Lead Professional, emphasizing enterprise-scale development and deep technical expertise in building and operating production AI and automation solutions, following enterprise AI, data, governance, and platform strategies set by senior leadership. For more information on this level, please visit URL https://publish.smartsheet.com/4a3a97a4b2154516ae722437d46fa038

Responsibilities

Job Duty 1 -

Design, develop, test, troubleshoot, deploy, and maintain AI applications, agents, integrations, workflows, reusable components, and automation features that connect approved technologies with Georgia Tech systems, data, and business processes.

Job Duty 2 -

Build and maintain integrations between AI tools, automation platforms, Georgia Tech models, and internal systems using approved architecture, engineering, and platform standards.

Job Duty 3 -

Implement guardrails, access controls, content-safety measures, approval points, auditable logging, and protections against misuse, sensitive-data exposure, unauthorized actions, and AI-specific risks, in alignment with AI Governance and Data Governance standards.

Job Duty 4 -

Work with stakeholders to define user needs, workflows, success measures, data requirements, risks, accessibility needs, oversight points, acceptance criteria, and evaluation evidence.

Job Duty 5 -

Translate validated requirements into user stories, prototypes, technical designs, and production-ready AI and automation solutions.

Job Duty 6 -

Validate solution functionality, AI response quality, security, accessibility, reliability, performance, cost, and readiness before production release.

Job Duty 7 -

Maintain technical, operational, governance, and support documentation needed for traceability, maintenance, review, audit readiness, and knowledge transfer, consistent with AI Governance and Data Governance requirements.

Job Duty 8 -

Participate in code reviews and collaborate with technical teams to ensure solutions meet development, security, and maintainability standards.

Job Duty 9 -

Evaluate emerging AI and automation technologies and recommend enhancements that improve operational efficiency, effectiveness, scalability, and user experience.

Job Duty 10 -

Perform other duties as assigned.

Required Qualifications

Educational Requirements

Bachelor's degree in related discipline or equivalent, related experience

Required Experience

6+ years of relevant experience

Preferred Qualifications

Preferred Educational Qualifications

Master's degree in related discipline or equivalent, related experience

Preferred Qualifications

Preferred Experience

Hands-on experience building integrations with AI, machine learning, or automation platforms in production environments.

Experience using APIs, cloud-based AI services, and agentic, automation, and orchestration tools.

Experience developing in one or more programming languages commonly used for AI and integration work (e.g., Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, C#).

Experience with low-code or intelligent automation platforms (e.g., Microsoft Power Platform, UiPath).

Experience working in iterative delivery environments, including participation in design reviews, code reviews, and knowledge transfer.

Experience supporting higher education, research, healthcare, government, or large enterprise environments.

Proposed Salary

$120,500 to $170,000 depending on experience and preferred skills.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Strong knowledge of software engineering principles, including modular design, testing practices, version control, and continuous integration and delivery.

Strong understanding of how AI models behave in production, including non-deterministic outputs, prompt sensitivity, failure modes, and evaluation techniques.

Strong understanding of API design, authentication methods, and integration patterns for connecting services, platforms, and enterprise systems.

Working knowledge of secure coding practices and common vulnerabilities, including those specific to AI-enabled applications.

Working knowledge of data structures, data quality, and data handling practices sufficient to work responsibly with enterprise data in partnership with data teams.

Knowledge of accessibility and usability principles as they apply to AI-enabled user experiences.

Ability to build solutions that are observable, supportable, and maintainable by others over time.

Ability to understand business processes and user workflows and identify where AI and automation add value and where they do not.

Ability to rapidly learn and apply new tools, frameworks, and models as the technology landscape evolves.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain solution options, limitations, risks, and tradeoffs to non-technical audiences.

Strong analytical, problem-solving, and organizational skills, with discretion in handling sensitive information.

USG Core Values

The University System of Georgia is comprised of our 25 institutions of higher education and learning as well as the System Office. Our USG Statement of Core Values are Integrity, Excellence, Accountability, and Respect. These values serve as the foundation for all that we do as an organization, and each USG community member is responsible for demonstrating and upholding these standards. More details on the USG Statement of Core Values and Code of Conduct are available in USG Board Policy 8.2.18.1.2 and can be found on-line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section8/C224/#p8.2.18_personnel_conduct.

Additionally, USG supports Freedom of Expression as stated in Board Policy 6.5 Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom found on-line at https://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section6/C2653.

Equal Employment Opportunity

The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. The Institute is committed to maintaining a fair and respectful environment for all. To that end, and in accordance with federal and state law, Board of Regents policy, and Institute policy, Georgia Tech provides equal opportunity to all faculty, staff, students, and all other members of the Georgia Tech community, including applicants for admission and/or employment, contractors, volunteers, and participants in institutional programs, activities, or services. Georgia Tech complies with all applicable laws and regulations governing equal opportunity in the workplace and in educational activities.

Equal opportunity and decisions based on merit are fundamental values of the University System of Georgia ("USG") and Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech prohibits discrimination, including discriminatory harassment, on the basis of an individual's race, ethnicity, ancestry, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, genetics, or veteran status in its programs, activities, employment, and admissions. Further, Georgia Tech prohibits citizenship status, immigration status, and national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, and recruitment, except where such restrictions are required in order to comply with law, regulation, executive order, or Attorney General directive, or where they are required by Federal, State, or local government contract.

Other Information

This is not a supervisory position.

This is a position of trust (access to sensitive data).

This position will not be required to drive an Institute vehicle.

This position will not be required to travel.

This position does not have any direct financial responsibilities.

This position does not require a purchasing card (P-Card).

This position does not require security clearance.

Background Check

Successful candidate must be able to pass a background check. Please visit https://usg.policystat.com/policy/19298143/latest/

Salary Context

This $120K-$170K range is below the median for AI/ML Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $175K across 1356 roles with salary data).

View full AI/ML Engineer salary data →

Role Details

Company Georgia Tech
Title Artificial Intelligence & Automation Developer
Location Atlanta, GA, US
Category AI/ML Engineer
Experience Mid Level
Salary $120K - $170K
Remote No

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 8,943 AI roles we're tracking, AI/ML Engineer positions make up 75% of the market. At Georgia Tech, 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 Required

Javascript (2% of roles) Python (16% of roles) Typescript (2% of roles)

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 $212,000 based on 11,866 positions with disclosed compensation. Mid-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $193,200. This role's midpoint ($145K) sits 31% below the category median. Disclosed range: $120K to $170K.

Across all AI roles, the market median is $213,380. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,148. The 90th percentile reaches $319,310. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($253,100) and Research Engineer ($252,000). By seniority level: Entry: $110,408; Mid: $193,200; Senior: $228,700; Director: $272,250; VP: $235,000.

Georgia Tech AI Hiring

Georgia Tech has 5 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer, Research Scientist, Research Engineer. Positions span Atlanta, GA, US, Smyrna, GA, US. Compensation range: $110K - $170K.

Location Context

Across all AI roles, 6% (521 positions) offer remote work, while 8,351 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (2,878 roles, $221,000 median); San Francisco (2,416 roles, $263,811 median); Los Angeles (1,340 roles, $210,000 median).

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 8,943 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 175 entry-level, 4,132 mid-level, 3,268 senior, and 1,368 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 6% of the market (521 positions). The remaining 8,351 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.

The market median for AI roles is $213,380. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,148. The 90th percentile reaches $319,310. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($253,100 median, 57 roles); Research Engineer ($252,000 median, 419 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($251,622 median, 51 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 8,943 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (6,739), AI Product Manager (403), AI Software Engineer (402). 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 (175) are outnumbered by mid-level (4,132) and senior (3,268) 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 1,368 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.

Remote work availability sits at 6% of all AI roles (521 positions), with 8,351 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 $213,380. Top-quartile roles start at $264,148, and the 90th percentile reaches $319,310. 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 $253,100 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $141,440. 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 (1,422 postings), Aws (808 postings), Azure (638 postings), Rag (555 postings), Gcp (457 postings), Pytorch (433 postings), Claude (341 postings), Kubernetes (337 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 11,866 roles with disclosed compensation, the median salary for AI/ML Engineer positions is $212,000. Actual compensation varies by seniority, location, and company stage.
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.
About 6% of the 8,943 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.
Georgia Tech 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/ML Engineer positions include ML Architect, AI Engineering Manager, Principal ML Engineer. Progression depends on whether you lean toward technical depth, people management, or product strategy.

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