AI Engineer, Principal

At A-dec, we do more than create the highest quality products and services for the dental industry; we strive to deliver a superior employment experience for each of our team members. With an environment that encourages and assists each person in developing to their highest potential, a career at A-dec is incredibly rewarding.

Overview The Principal AI Engineer serves as the organization’s most senior applied artificial intelligence (AI) technical expert, responsible for defining, architecting, and scaling enterprise grade AI capabilities across the business. This role sets technical direction for applied AI, agentic systems, and advanced analytics, ensuring solutions are secure, scalable, and aligned with long term business strategy.

This role combines deep hands-on expertise with architectural ownership, technical governance , and mentorship. The Principal AI Engineer leads the design of complex AI systems that span multiple business domains including supply chain, finance, operations, sales, and customer service. Success is measured by sustained business impact, platform reuse, cost efficiency, and the ability to enable other teams to safely and effectively build on AI foundations.

The role emphasizes production excellence, responsible AI practices, and pragmatic innovation rather than academic research.

JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Define and own the enterprise AI technical architecture, standards, and reference patterns across models, data, platforms, and integrations

Lead the design and delivery of complex, cross functional AI systems including multi agent architectures, LLM based platforms, and decision intelligence solutions

Serve as the technical authority for applied AI, providing guidance on model selection, system design, scalability, performance, and cost optimization

Design and oversee reusable AI platforms, services, and frameworks that enable multiple teams to build and deploy AI capabilities consistently and safely

Architect and govern agentic AI systems including orchestration strategies, agent collaboration patterns, MCP enabled APIs, and secure tool and data access

Drive advanced Large Language Model implementations including retrieval augmented generation, fine tuning strategies, evaluation frameworks, and production guardrails

Establish enterprise best practices for AI lifecycle management including deployment, monitoring, drift detection, observability, and retirement

Partner with data, security, legal, and compliance teams to define responsible AI standards, auditability, and risk management practices

Evaluate and influence vendor strategy including third party AI platforms, tooling, and in house build versus buy decisions

Lead technical design reviews and provide architectural oversight across AI initiatives

Mentor senior engineers, data scientists, and product teams on applied AI design patterns and best practices

Translate complex AI concepts into clear recommendations for senior leaders and business stakeholders

Measure, continuously improve and communicate the business impact, reliability, and cost efficiency of AI solutions

Remain current with evolving AI trends by actively monitoring leading research and vendor roadmaps, prototyping emerging models and agent frameworks, and translating validated advancements into strategic recommendations and pilots that align with business priorities and deliver measurable value.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Technical

Skills:

Expert level proficiency in Python for building production AI systems, services, and automation

Deep understanding of data architecture, feature engineering, and data quality at enterprise scale

Strong systems design skills spanning AI models, APIs, data platforms, and enterprise integrations

Expertise in cloud-based AI architectures and deployment patterns across Azure, AWS, or GCPStrong grounding in software engineering best practices including version control, CI CD, testing, and documentation

Expert knowledge of security, privacy, and responsible AI considerations in regulated business environments

Ability to influence technical direction without direct authority

Preferred:

Strong applied evaluation…