[Remote] AI Engineer

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Iowa State University is seeking an AI Engineer to support artificial intelligence innovation within its Information Technology Services team. The role focuses on designing, developing, deploying, integrating, and maintaining secure AI applications and services using Microsoft technologies, Azure, Copilot Studio, and Power Platform tools. The engineer will collaborate with stakeholders, troubleshoot systems, monitor performance, and implement governance and security controls for institutional AI solutions.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with end users and stakeholders in a higher education, extension, and research environment to gather and document business and technical requirements for AI capabilities
• Design, develop, test, and maintain AI applications and services using low-code Microsoft tools to meet institutional needs
• Integrate AI functionality into university systems using the Microsoft technical stack
• Design and implement multi-agent architecture elements in the Microsoft ecosystem
• Troubleshoot, debug, and resolve issues in both custom and third-party applications
• Monitor system health, analyze logs and metrics, and implement fixes as needed
• Maintain secure access patterns, authentication, authorization, and data protection controls for AI applications using the Azure cloud platform

Skills

• High school diploma or equivalent
• The ideal candidate will have demonstrated experience designing, developing, and implementing enterprise AI solutions using Microsoft technologies and modern cloud platforms
• This individual will be skilled in building conversational and autonomous AI agents with Copilot Studio and configuring topics, generative responses, plugins, actions, and knowledge sources to support department-specific business needs
• Experience integrating AI solutions with enterprise platforms, such as Salesforce, including live-agent handoff, case creation, custom connectors, and OAuth-based authentication workflows, is highly desirable
• The successful candidate will also possess strong expertise in leveraging Microsoft Azure services and development tools to deliver scalable AI-enabled applications and seamlessly integrate AI capabilities into organizational services and processes
• Additional qualifications include experience developing and maintaining complex Power Automate workflows to automate data ingestion, synchronization, and cross-platform business processes
• A strong understanding of AI governance, operational excellence, and security best practices is essential
• Candidates should have experience implementing telemetry, monitoring, and security controls across Copilot Studio, Microsoft Foundry, Azure, and the Power Platform, as well as configuring security measures such as rate limiting, API protection, and traffic management through Azure Front Door and Azure API Management (APIM)
• Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. on an ongoing basis without sponsorship
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, data science, computer engineering, math or related field with a Machine Learning or AI concentration
• Experience developing and maintaining AI-powered applications using Azure AI services, Azure OpenAI, Microsoft Foundry, and Microsoft Copilot technologies
• Experience integrating Copilot Studio agents with backend services using Power Automate, Azure Functions, APIs, and custom connectors in a large higher education institution
• Experience creating and administering Microsoft Foundry endpoints for AI models with Entra security for authentication and configuring pipelines in Power Platform to manage solution deployments
• Experience designing and implementing API gateways and authentication mechanisms using Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Functions, and Azure Key Vault to provide secure, unified access to AI models hosted on Azure

Benefits

• Comprehensive health and work-life benefits, including medical and dental
• Retirement benefits including defined benefit and defined contribution plans
• Generous vacation, holiday, and sick time and leave plans
• Onsite childcare (Ames, Iowa)
• Life insurance and long-term disability
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Various voluntary benefits and discounts
• Employee Assistance Program
• Wellbeing program
• WorkFlex options for some positions, offering flexibility on when, where, and how you do your work

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