Lead AI Engineer

Software Guidance & Assistance, Inc., (SGA), is searching for a Lead AI Engineer for a CONTRACT assignment with one of our premier Insurance Services clients. This position is fully remote working Eastern standard hours.

We're seeking a hands-on technical leader to architect, build, and operate AI Agents powered by Microsoft Semantic Kernel. You'll own end-to-end delivery: from prototyping and containerizing AI workloads, to setting up observability, to deploying and scaling in Azure. A .NET background is preferred.

Responsibilities :

• Lead design and implementation of AI Agents using Semantic Kernel, orchestrating prompts, skills, memory, and plugins
• Containerize services into Docker images; author and maintain Dockerfiles and multi-stage CI/CD pipelines
• Deploy and manage containerized workloads on Azure
• Integrate with Azure AI services (OpenAI, Cognitive Services) for embedding, completions, and vector stores
• Instrument services for observability on Azure
• Define and enforce best practices for secure configuration, secret management (Azure Key Vault), and identity (Managed Identities)
• Collaborate with data engineers, ML engineers, and architects to integrate retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and knowledge bases

Required Skills :

• 7+ years of software engineering experience, with 3+ years leading high-visibility projects
• Deep expertise in Semantic Kernel for .NET 8+
• Hands-on experience with Azure compute and AI services:
  • AKS, ACI, App Service, Azure Functions
  • Azure OpenAI Service, Cognitive Search, Cosmos DB or Azure SQL
• Strong containerization skills: Docker, multi-stage builds, image security scanning
• CI/CD pipelines experience (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions) for automated builds and deployments
• Observability and monitoring proficiency:
  • Instrumentation with Application Insights / OpenTelemetry
  • Log Analytics, Prometheus, Grafana dashboards
• Solid background in RESTful API design, microservices, and event-driven architectures
• Familiarity with security and compliance in cloud environments (Azure Policy, Key Vault, RBAC)
• Excellent communication skills; proven ability to drive technical decisions and mentor teams

Preferred Skills :

• Experience with vector and/or graph databases
• Prior work on retrieval-augmented generation or custom embedding pipelines
• Knowledge of Terraform for infrastructure as code
• Open source contributions or published Semantic Kernel examples

SGA is a technology and resource solutions provider driven to stand out. We are a women-owned business. Our mission: to solve big IT problems with a more personal, boutique approach. Each year, we match consultants like you to more than 1,000 engagements. When we say let's work better together, we mean it. You'll join a diverse team built on these core values: customer service, employee development, and quality and integrity in everything we do. Be yourself, love what you do and find your passion at work. Please find us at .

SGA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of Race, Color, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Religion, National Origin, Disability, Veteran Status, Age, Marital Status, Pregnancy, Genetic Information, or Other Legally Protected Status. We are committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, and our services, programs, and activities. Please visit our company to request an accommodation or assistance regarding our policy.

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