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Director, Applied AI Engineering

3E
Full-time
On-site
Bethesda, Maryland, United States
$190,000 - $220,000 USD yearly
Artificial Intelligence
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.

Location:This position supports remote work and should be based near one of our U.S. East Coast office locations: Bethesda, MD, or Canton, OH.

What You’ll Do

    • 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

What Makes You a Great Fit

    • Minimum Qualifications
    • Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Machine Learning, or a similar field, or equivalent relevant experience in developing and deploying production-grade AI systems or SaaS platforms at scale.  
    • Demonstrated success leading software engineering organizations through meaningful transformation, with measurable improvements in speed, quality, reliability, and leverage
    • Experience building, mentoring, and scaling high-performing, globally-distributed engineering leaders and teams.
    • Strong business acumen with the ability to partner effectively with product leadership and executive stakeholders.
    • Deep hands-on experience with LLMs, generative AI, and agentic frameworks (MCP, A2A, OpenAI Agents SDK), including local or controlled deployments using tools like Ollama or similar
    • Proven experience re-architecting SDLCs and engineering workflows (CI/CD, quality gates, testing strategy, release practices, observability) to improve delivery speed and quality materially; 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).
    • 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.
    • 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.

What’s In It for You

    • 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/ 
Agencies: 3E is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. Please, no phone calls or emails. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at 3E via email, the Internet, or in any form and/or method without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of 3E. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by 3E because of the referral or through other means. 
We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.