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About This Role
Requisition No: 881270
Agency: Agency for Health Care Administration
Working Title: 68065023 \- DATA BASE CONSULTANT / AI ENGINEER
Pay Plan: Career Service
Position Number: 68065023
Salary: $2,307\.70 \- $2,692\.31 Biweekly
Posting Closing Date: 08/20/2026
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Data Base Consultant / AI Engineer
Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence (AI CoE)
State of Florida Agency for Health Care Administration
This position is located in Tallahassee, FL
Agency Overview:
The Agency for Health Care Administration is Florida's chief health policy and planning entity.
The Agency is responsible for administering the Florida Medicaid program, the licensure and regulation of nearly 50,000 health care facilities, and empowering consumers through health care transparency initiatives.
Under the direction of Secretary Shevaun L. Harris, the Agency is focused on advancing Governor DeSantis’ vision for Florida’s health care system to be the most cost\-effective, transparent, and high\-quality health care system in the nation.
Agency Objectives:
HIGH QUALITY
Emphasizing quality in all that we do to improve health outcomes, always putting the individual first.
TRANSPARENT
Supporting initiatives that promote transparency and empower consumers in making well informed healthcare decisions.
COST\-EFFECTIVE
Leveraging Florida’s buying power in delivering high quality care at the lowest cost to taxpayers.
Position Overview and Responsibilities
This position serves as the AI Engineer for the Agency for Health Care Administration's Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence (AI CoE).
The incumbent's primary function is to design and build automated workflows and apply prompt engineering to leverage AI models and tooling in automating business processes and identifying efficiencies across the agency's business units.
The incumbent also serves as a technical and business analyst resource on AI\-related projects agency\-wide, and supports the light evaluation, deployment, and configuration of AI tools tailored to each business unit's specific use case.
Key Responsibilities of this position are below:
- Design, build, and maintain automated workflows and agentic pipelines that leverage AI tools and models to streamline business processes and eliminate manual, repetitive work.
- Design, test, and refine prompts and prompt libraries to optimize AI model performance and outputs for specific business unit use cases.
- Serve as a technical and business analyst liaison, gathering requirements from business units and translating business needs into configured AI solutions.
- Conduct light evaluation of emerging AI models and tools, and deploy and configure AI tools and platforms \- including on\-premise servers and infrastructure \- to support business unit use cases.
- Monitor, troubleshoot, and maintain deployed AI systems and the infrastructure that hosts them.
- Apply networking and cybersecurity principles to secure and support on\-premise AI deployments.
Contact Danny Nunez
Message from the Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence (AI CoE)
Do you want to help shape how artificial intelligence is used to serve Floridians? The AI Center of Excellence is a new initiative within the Agency for Health Care Administration dedicated to researching, deploying, and operationalizing AI tools that make our business units more efficient and effective. Come join us and...
- Help build the agency's AI capabilities from the ground up, with the opportunity to shape standards and best practices agency\-wide;
- Work directly with business units across the agency to design and deploy real\-world AI solutions that create measurable efficiencies;
- Enjoy benefits offered as a State of Florida employee, including health insurance options; pension and investment retirement plans; and sick and annual leave
Thank you for your interest!
Benefits of Working for the State of Florida:
Working for the State of Florida is more than a paycheck. We offer an excellent array of benefits, including:
- Health insurance (i.e., individual and family coverage) to eligible employees
- Life insurance; $25,000 policy is free plus option to purchase additional life insurance
- Dental, vision and supplemental insurance
- State of Florida retirement options, including employer contributions
- Ability to earn up to 104 hours of paid annual leave as a new employee with the State of Florida
- Ability to earn up to 104 hours of sick leave annually
- Nine paid holidays and 1 personal holiday each year
- Opportunities for career advancement
- Tuition waivers (accepted by major Florida Colleges/universities)
- Student loan forgiveness opportunities (eligibility required)
- Training opportunities
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Shared Savings Program for select medical services
- Lower copays for prescription drugs
- Health and Wellness discounts
For a more complete list of benefits, please visit https://www.mybenefits.myflorida.com/
To be considered for the position all applicants must:
Submit a complete and accurate applicant profile and/or resume necessary for qualifying, such as dates of service, reason for leaving, etc. In addition, all applicants must ensure all employment and/or detailed information about work experience is listed on your applicant profile and/or resume (including military service, self\-employment, job\-related volunteer work, internships, part\-time employment, etc.) and that gaps in employment are explained. Support of knowledge, skills, and abilities should be demonstrated on the applicant profile and/or resume, in the education, in the work experience, in the work sample, in the interview and/or during reference checks. Applicants who do not provide all information necessary to qualify, will not be considered for this position.
Applicants being considered for employment will be required to submit to a fingerprint\-based background investigation, which will include a check of the criminal history records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES
- Knowledge of software engineering principles, practices, and the software development lifecycle.
- Knowledge of networking principles, protocols, and infrastructure (e.g., TCP/IP, DNS, VPN, firewalls).
- Knowledge of artificial intelligence and machine learning concepts, including large language models (LLMs) and generative AI.
- Skill in prompt engineering and optimizing AI model performance and outputs.
- Skill in designing and building automated workflows and integrations between systems.
- Skill in deploying, configuring, and maintaining servers and on\-premise infrastructure.
- Knowledge of cybersecurity principles, including access control, data protection, and secure system configuration.
- Ability to configure, install, and maintain AI platforms, tools, and related software.
- Ability to serve as a technical and business analyst, translating business requirements into technical solutions.
- Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non\-technical audiences.
- Ability to manage multiple projects, prioritize effectively, and meet deadlines.
- Ability to analyze data, systems, and processes and make sound recommendations.
- Proficiency in one or more programming or scripting languages (e.g., Python, JavaScript, SQL, PowerShell/Bash).
- Strong problem\-solving skills, organizational skills, and attention to detail.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS
- 3 years of experience in software engineering, systems/network administration, or a related technical field.
- Preference for experience configuring, deploying, or administering AI/ML models or platforms.
- Preference for experience with prompt engineering, workflow automation, or AI agent/orchestration tools.
- Preference for a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
- Preference for relevant certifications (e.g., CompTIA Security\+/Network\+, cloud platform, or AI platform certifications).
LICENSURE, CERTIFICATION, OR REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS
N/A
CONTACT: DANNY NUNEZ 850\-228\-7337
BACKGROUND SCREENING
It is the policy of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration that any applicant being considered for employment must successfully complete a State and National criminal history check as a condition of employment before beginning employment, and, if applicable, also be screened in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 435, F.S., and Chapter 408, F.S. No applicant may begin employment until the background screening results are received, reviewed for any disqualifying offenses, and approved by the Agency. Background screening shall include, but not be limited to, fingerprinting for State and Federal criminal records checks through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and may include local criminal history checks through local law enforcement agencies.
Candidates requiring a reasonable accommodation, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, must notify the agency hiring authority and/or People First Service Center (1\-866\-663\-4735\). Notification to the hiring authority must be made in advance to allow sufficient time to provide the accommodation.
The State of Florida supports a Drug\-Free workplace. All employees are subject to reasonable suspicion drug testing in accordance with Section 112\.0455, F.S., Drug\-Free Workplace Act.
VETERANS’ PREFERENCE. Pursuant to Chapter 295, Florida Statutes, candidates eligible for Veterans’ Preference will receive preference in employment for Career Service vacancies and are encouraged to apply. Certain service members may be eligible to receive waivers for postsecondary educational requirements. Candidates claiming Veterans’ Preference must attach supporting documentation with each submission that includes character of service (for example, DD Form 214 Member Copy \#4\) along with any other documentation as required by Rule 55A\-7, Florida Administrative Code. Veterans’ Preference documentation requirements are available. All documentation is due by the close of the vacancy announcement.
Location:
TALLAHASSEE, FL, US, 32305 TALLAHASSEE, FL, US, 32308
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Nearest Major Market: Tallahassee
Salary Context
This $55K-$64K range is in the lower quartile for AI/ML Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $175K across 2162 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 4,317 AI roles we're tracking, AI/ML Engineer positions make up 70% of the market. At State of Florida, 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
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 $214,900 based on 6,420 positions with disclosed compensation. Mid-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $194,400. This role's midpoint ($59K) sits 72% below the category median. Disclosed range: $55K to $64K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $215,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $266,300. The 90th percentile reaches $320,790. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($287,500) and Research Engineer ($272,100). By seniority level: Entry: $110,000; Mid: $194,400; Senior: $227,400; Director: $274,554; VP: $241,000.
State of Florida AI Hiring
State of Florida has 1 open AI role right now. They're hiring across AI/ML Engineer. Based in Tallahassee, FL, US. Compensation range: $64K - $64K.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 15% (635 positions) offer remote work, while 3,657 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (1,650 roles, $220,000 median); San Francisco (1,335 roles, $265,000 median); Los Angeles (708 roles, $214,112 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 4,317 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 138 entry-level, 2,071 mid-level, 1,655 senior, and 453 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 15% of the market (635 positions). The remaining 3,657 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $215,000. Top-quartile compensation starts at $266,300. The 90th percentile reaches $320,790. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($287,500 median, 34 roles); Research Engineer ($272,100 median, 227 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($244,000 median, 23 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 4,317 open positions across 15 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (3,004), Data Scientist (345), AI Software Engineer (309). 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 (138) are outnumbered by mid-level (2,071) and senior (1,655) 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 453 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 15% of all AI roles (635 positions), with 3,657 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 $215,000. Top-quartile roles start at $266,300, and the 90th percentile reaches $320,790. 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 $287,500 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $145,000. 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 (2,249 postings), Aws (1,224 postings), Azure (938 postings), Rag (915 postings), Gcp (660 postings), Pytorch (640 postings), Prompt Engineering (624 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
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