Interested in this AI Software Engineer role at T. Rowe Price?
Apply Now →Skills & Technologies
About This Role
At T. Rowe Price, we identify and actively invest in opportunities to help people thrive in an evolving world. As a premier global asset management organization with more than 85 years of experience, we provide investment solutions and a broad range of equity, fixed income, and multi\-asset capabilities to individuals, advisors, institutions, and retirement plan sponsors. We take an active, independent approach to investing, offering our dynamic perspective and meaningful partnership so our clients can feel more confident.
We believe doing the right thing for our clients and our associates is good business. With a career at the firm, you can expect opportunities to create real impact at work and in your community. You’ll enjoy resources to support your career path, as well as compensation, benefits, and flexibility to enrich your life. Here, you’ll find a collaborative culture that respects and values differences and colleagues who share a spirit of generosity.
Join us for the opportunity to grow and make a difference in ways that matter to you.
Role Summary
In this role, you will design, develop, and deploy autonomous AI systems as part of T. Rowe Labs’ AI Engineering team.
You will collaborate in cross\-functional squads, contribute to the Build\-Operate\-Transfer process, and help scale responsible AI solutions across the enterprise.
We are looking for candidates who are passionate about AI and its applications. While hands\-on professional AI experience is a plus, it is not required.
Responsibilities
- Design, build, test, and deploy AI agents and intelligent systems for modern cloud\-based, n\-tier architectures.
- Partner with business stakeholders to develop agent\-driven workflows that automate complex processes and generate actionable insights.
- Champion engineering excellence by applying best practices in AI development, continuous integration, and code quality.
- Contribute to projects on agent orchestration, prompt engineering, and real\-time, data\-driven automation.
- Manage technical debt and drive ongoing improvements in AI platforms and infrastructure.
- Proactively seek opportunities to apply AI agents for increased business value and operational efficiency.
Business Knowledge
- Collaborate directly with business stakeholders to understand needs and priorities.
- Make technology decisions that support current and future business objectives and fiscal responsibility.
- Translate business requirements into effective technology solutions.
Qualifications
Required:
- BS or MS in Computer Science or a related technical field (or equivalent experience), with 2\+ years of professional development experience in an object\-oriented language (Python, JavaScript or Java preferred).
- Hands\-on experience with cloud\-native architectures (AWS, Azure), containerized microservices, and agent frameworks.
- Demonstrated passion and knowledge of AI required (personal projects, education, etc) while professional experience is preferred but not required
- Strong analytical and problem\-solving abilities.
- Commitment to quality via automated testing, code reviews, and continuous delivery.
- Results\-driven with a passion for learning and staying current with emerging technologies.
Preferred:
- Experience with React and/or Angular
- Solid understanding of financial markets and financial instruments
FINRA Requirements
FINRA licenses are not required and will not be supported for this role.
Work Flexibility
This role is eligible for hybrid work, with up to three days per week from home.
*Applicants for employment in the US must have work authorization that does not now or in the future require sponsorship of a visa for employment authorization in the United States (e.g., H1\-B visa, F\-1 visa (OPT), TN visa or any other non\-immigrant work status).*
WHAT TO EXPECT AFTER APPLYING
1\. You will receive an email and text message to answer a few questions to verify your eligibility. If you apply for multiple jobs, you will receive separate invitations for each role and will need to respond to each. Estimated Time Commitment: 3\-5 minutes
2\. If you are eligible, you will be asked to record video responses to introductory questions with our vendor partner, HireVue. Take time to read all instructions carefully before responding. Some questions may require you to respond within a set time limit, or with limited retakes. You can use this opportunity to tell us more about your background and interest than we can learn from a resume alone. Estimated Time Commitment: 20\-30 minutes
Base Salary Ranges
Please review the job posting for the location of this specific opportunity.
$97,000\.00 \- $165,000\.00 for the location of: Maryland, Colorado, Washington and remote workers
$106,000\.00 \- $182,000\.00 for the location of: Washington, D.C.
$121,000\.00 \- $206,000\.00 for the location of: New York, California
Placement within the range provided above is based on the individual’s relevant experience and skills for the role. Base salary is only one component of our total compensation package. Employees may be eligible for a discretionary bonus, which is determined upon company and individual performance.
Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
At T. Rowe Price, our associates are our greatest asset. We thrive because our company culture is built on inclusion and because we sustain a work environment where associates can bring their best selves to work every day. The backgrounds, talents, and experiences of our global associates allow us to embrace new ideas and perspectives that move our business priorities forward and enable us to deliver strong client outcomes. Here, you can expect equal opportunity and fair and consistent treatment for all.
Benefits
We value your goals and needs, at work and in life. As an associate, you’ll be supported with resources, benefits, and work\-life balance so you can thrive in ways that matter to you.
Featured employee benefits to enrich your life:
- Competitive compensation
- Annual bonus eligibility
- A generous retirement plan
- Hybrid work schedule
- Health and wellness benefits, including online therapy
- Paid time off for vacation, illness, medical appointments, and volunteering days
- Family care resources, including fertility and adoption benefits
Learn more about our benefits.
T. Rowe Price is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity of thought, gender, and race. We believe our continued success depends upon the equal treatment of all associates and applicants for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, religion, creed, color, national origin, sex, gender, age, mental or physical disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, citizenship status, military or veteran status, pregnancy, or any other classification protected by country, federal, state, or local law.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salary Context
This $97K-$206K range is in the lower quartile for AI Software Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $185K across 231 roles with salary data).
Role Details
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 4,317 AI roles we're tracking, AI Software Engineer positions make up 7% of the market. At T. Rowe Price, 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
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 $218,500 based on 729 positions with disclosed compensation. Mid-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $194,400. This role's midpoint ($151K) sits 31% below the category median. Disclosed range: $97K to $206K.
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.
T. Rowe Price AI Hiring
T. Rowe Price has 2 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI Software Engineer, AI/ML Engineer. Positions span New York, NY, US, Baltimore, MD, US. Compensation range: $200K - $206K.
Location Context
AI roles in New York pay a median of $220,000 across 1,650 tracked positions.
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 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).
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 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
Get Weekly AI Career Intelligence
Salary data, skills demand, and market signals from 16,000+ AI job postings. Every Monday.