Director, Applied AI Engineering

About 3E:

We are a mission-driven company dedicated to creating a safer and more sustainable world!

3E provides award-winning regulatory expertise and cutting-edge technology that seamlessly integrates data and intelligence regarding chemicals, regulations, products, and supply chains for over 5,000 customers globally.

With more than 35 years of experience and 15 locations across North America, Europe, and Asia, we are connecting our customers to a new class of expert-led AI solutions, specifically designed to accelerate future product compliance with trust, speed, and domain authority.

Are you ready to help shape the future? Come join us!

About the Role:

As the Director, Applied AI Engineering, you will lead the team turning powerful AI models and proprietary data into secure, scalable, user-facing solutions. This role reports to the VP, Technology Operations, and works closely with the engineering and product leadership team to build, iterate, and scale AI-powered capabilities that drive measurable customer and business outcomes.

You’ll partner closely with the CTO (a seasoned AI leader and hands-on partner) and establish the engineering foundations (platform, APIs, evaluation, safety, and operations) to deliver expert-led AI at scale. A key part of this role is redesigning and operationalizing an AI-native software development lifecycle that meaningfully accelerates planning, coding, testing, review, and production operations—securely and with strong observability.

Why This Role Matters:

You'll be building the engineering organization that defines what AI-first software development looks like - not for a future decade, but for right now. This is your opportunity to architect from first principles, shape how AI amplifies human capability at scale, and leave a lasting imprint on both 3E and the broader industry.

• Redesign and operationalize an AI-native software development lifecycle (SDLC), including:
• AI-assisted and AI-generated code
• Autonomous and semi-autonomous engineering AI agents
• Model-driven development and test generation
• AI-enabled code review, quality, and observability
• Lead AI Engineering Strategy & Execution: Define the technical roadmap, architecture standards, and delivery approach for AI-powered products and platforms—from prototype to production.
• Architect Secure, Autonomous AI Systems: Design and guide development of agent-based tools leveraging solutions like Claude Code, MCPs, A2A, Gemini CLI, the OpenAI Agents SDK, and Knowledge Graph concepts to solve complex, high-value problems.
• Develop A2A Systems: Build frameworks to enable LLMs to work together internally and externally, increasing the reach of 3E-enabled generative AI systems.
• Bridge Product & Engineering: Partner with Product, Engineering, and Customer teams to embed AI into tools that enhance usability, decision-making, and automation.
• Build Seamless API Integrations: Create scalable, secure APIs that connect AI models with web applications, internal systems, and external platforms. Integrate these with MCP for agentic use.
• Operationalize Production AI: Establish best practices for inference serving, MLOps pipelines, evaluation, observability, and shared services to ensure reliability and performance.
• Contribute to Responsible AI Practices: Stay current with AI advancements and help define responsible development standards, alignment strategies, and safety protocols.
• Build and Grow the Team: Hire, mentor, and develop a high-performing team; create a culture of accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement

• Minimum Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Machine Learning, or a related field or equivalent experience developing and deploying production-grade AI systems and/or SaaS platforms at scale.
• Demonstrated success leading application engineering organizations through meaningful transformation, including measurable improvements in speed, quality, reliability, and team leverage.
• Proven experience re-architecting SDLCs and engineering workflows (CI/CD, quality gates, testing strategy, release practices, observability) to materially improve delivery speed and quality; experience designing or operating AI-native or AI-augmented engineering organizations.
• Deep, hands-on experience developing and deploying production-grade AI systems as a Software Engineer or Machine Learning Engineer (or similar role).
• Hands-on experience with LLMs, generative AI, and agentic frameworks such as MCP, A2A, and the OpenAI Agents SDK.
• Proven ability in AI infrastructure: production-grade inference serving, MLOps pipelines, evaluation practices, and shared services.
• Solid understanding of AI safety, alignment, privacy, and ethical development practices.
• Hands-on experience with local/open LLM runtime and serving tools (e.g., Ollama) and similar tooling for controlled deployments.
• Background in modern cloud-based, SaaS, or platform-oriented architectures, including scalable service patterns and secure API design.
• Physically located on the U.S. East Coast and willing to work effectively across multiple time zones (North America, Europe, and Asia).
• Preferred Qualifications:
• Master’s degree or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Data Science, Machine Learning, or a related field.
• Experience with agent orchestration frameworks such as Claude Subagents, AutoGen, or CrewAI.
• Expertise in prompt engineering, context engineering, RAG pipelines, and optimization.
• Expertise in deploying open-source LLMs into production (e.g., Qwen, DeepSeek, Llama, Mistral, Gemma).
• Familiarity with cloud-based AI tools (e.g., AWS Bedrock, GCP Vertex AI, Azure ML).
• Experience integrating AI capabilities into legacy web applications, desktop applications, and APIs.

• Solve Complex, High-Impact Problems: Use AI to address mission-critical challenges that directly influence revenue and drive business value.
• Work with Proprietary Data: Leverage exclusive datasets and real-world signals to build intelligent systems with lasting competitive advantage.
• Learn from Proven Leadership: Partner with seasoned executives who’ve scaled AI and product teams at high-growth companies.
• Best of Both Worlds: Experience the pace and innovation of a startup culture with the stability and resources of a trusted global enterprise.

Pay Transparency: 

The expected base salary for this position is $190,000- $220,000 per year, plus incentives. The final offer will depend on several factors, including the successful candidate’s skills, depth of work experience, location, and relevant licenses/ qualifications. Each offer is determined based on individual strengths and relevant business considerations. 

In addition to the base salary, certain roles may qualify for a performance-based incentive and/or equity, with eligibility depending on the position. These rewards are based on a combination of company performance and individual achievements.

Our US Benefits Include:

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Life insurance and disability coverage

Open PTO and parental leave

401(k) plan with company matching

Employee assistance program

Voluntary supplemental benefits (Accident, Hospital Indemnity, Critical Illness)

3E is currently authorized to hire in the following U.S. states:

Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado (excluding Denver), Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois (excluding Chicago), Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York (excluding New York City), North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

Disclosures:

3E is committed to a diverse and inclusive work environment. 3E is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, nationality, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, age, disability, or any other legally protected status. For applicants who would like to request accommodation please send an email to [email protected]

Visit us at https://www.3eco.com/ 

Follow us at https://www.linkedin.com/company/3e-safer-world/

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