Azure AI Lead needed for Remote / Moline IL

Azure AI Lead

12 Month(s) Contract

Remote / Moline IL (But must come to office for important meetings monthly once)

Position Overview

We are seeking a highly skilled Azure AI Lead to drive the design, development, and delivery of AI solutions within the Microsoft Azure ecosystem. This role requires deep expertise in AI/ML, Azure cloud services, M365 architectures including Copilot, and enterprise AI solution delivery. As a Lead, you will guide engineering teams, ensure successful execution, and enable innovation across AI initiatives.

Key Responsibilities:

AI Strategy & Solution Delivery

• Design and lead the execution of AI strategies leveraging Azure AI, Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Copilot Studio, Azure AI Foundry, Azure Machine Learning, and Cognitive Services.
• Design scalable and secure AI solutions using Azure Functions, AKS, and Databricks.
• Contribute to AI governance and ensure compliance with enterprise security and responsible AI standards.

AI Development & Model Engineering

• Lead development of generative AI applications including LLMs, RAG models, AI agents, and custom pipelines.
• Implement prompt engineering, fine-tuning, and retrieval optimization.
• Design vector search architectures using Azure Cognitive Search and vector databases.
• Cloud, DevOps & MLOps
• Drive MLOps practices using Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions.
• Optimize cloud AI workloads for performance, cost, and security.
• Work with IaC tools such as Terraform, Bicep, and ARM templates for automation.

Cross-Team Leadership

• Collaborate with data scientists, engineers, and stakeholders to deliver AI-driven solutions.
• Mentor engineering teams and conduct AI design and code reviews.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies including LangChain, Semantic Kernel, and multi-agent frameworks.

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in AI/ML and Azure cloud environments.
• Strong proficiency in Python, C#, or R.
• Hands-on experience with M365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, Azure OpenAI, Bot Framework, and Cognitive Services.
• Deep understanding of LLMs, RAG architectures, and vector databases.
• Preferred Qualifications
• Master's degree in Computer Science, AI, or related field.
• Azure certifications (AI-102, AZ-305, DP-100).
• Experience with multi-cloud AI strategies and enterprise-scale AI deployments.