Principal AI Engineer

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Position Summary

The Principal AI Engineer is responsible for leading the strategy design, development, and operationalization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) initiatives across the organization. This individual will serve as the enterprise leader in advancing both traditional and Generative AI capabilities. Working under the direction of the Director of Data and Advanced Analytics, this individual will shape and execute a cohesive AI and GenAI strategy that drives business innovation, operational efficiency, and digital transformation. This role requires collaboration across business units, technical teams, and external partners to convert complex problems into AI-enabled solutions that provide measurable value.

Grade: 20 Deadline to apply: Open until filled

Tasks and Responsibilities

- Lead the strategic vision and execution of enterprise-wide AI initiatives, ensuring alignment with organizational goals and digital transformation objectives.

- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to embed AI solutions into enterprise data workflows, ensuring models are well-governed, scalable, and deliver measurable business value by streamlining operations, improving decision-making, and unlocking actionable insights.

- Lead the design, development, and deployment of AI/ML solutions to support business functions such as forecasting, anomaly detection, computer vision, and natural language understanding.

- Lead the design, development and deployment of GenAI solutions using large language models (LLMs), image generation models, and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) architectures for applications such as summarization, content generation, and intelligent automation.

- Analyze and communicate AI model results and accuracy in a way that is accessible to non-technical stakeholders, ensuring transparency and informed decision-making.

- Develop, lead, and continuously refine the organization's Generative AI (GenAI) strategy, identifying high-impact use cases and enabling enterprise-wide adoption.

- Partner with internal teams to embed GenAI into business processes, tools, and platforms to improve decision-making, customer engagement, and operational workflows.

- Establish and maintain MLOps frameworks to ensure reproducibility, scalability, and continuous improvement of deployed models.

- Guide model governance and ethical AI practices, including bias mitigation, explainability, version control, and compliance with regulatory, privacy, and security requirements.

- Embed AI risk management via risk assessments, audits, and ensuring alignment with enterprise standards in partnership with internal audit, legal, and regulatory teams.

- Stay abreast of advancements in AI/ML and GenAI research and technology; introduce and assess emerging tools and techniques for potential adoption.

- Create and maintain reusable AI components, services, and APIs to accelerate solution development and delivery.

- Drive AI literacy and GenAI understanding across the organization through training, enablement programs, and cross-functional collaboration.

- Engage with external vendors, research institutions, and AI partners to integrate best-in-class AI capabilities and platforms.

- Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance to AI-focused staff and other cross-functional team members.

Minimum Skills

Minimum Knowledge and Abilities

Proven experience designing and implementing end-to-end AI/ML workflows using Python, TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn, or equivalent.

Demonstrated experience in supporting or driving execution of enterprise-wide AI initiatives in coordination with business and technical stakeholders.

Ability to influence direction and adoption of AI solutions through strong collaboration and delivery leadership.

Demonstrated ability to apply AI to structured and unstructured data sources, including text, images, and time series data.

Strong expertise in cloud-based machine learning platforms (e.g., Azure ML, AWS SageMaker, Google Vertex AI).

Familiarity with data engineering and storage technologies including SQL, Spark, Delta Lake, and cloud-based data lakes.

Experience with MLOps practices, including automated model training, deployment pipelines, and model monitoring.

Ability to translate business requirements into AI solutions with measurable ROI and clear KPIs with accountability for driving value realization.

Excellent communication skills and the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences.

Strong project management skills and experience delivering AI solutions from proof-of-concept through production.

Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments and collaborating across multidisciplinary teams.

Preferred Qualifications

- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field, or equivalent work experience.

- Experience deploying large language models (LLMs), computer vision models, or generative AI technologies in enterprise settings.

- Hands-on knowledge of vector databases, embedding models, and prompt engineering for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems.

- Certification in cloud AI/ML technologies (e.g., Azure AI Engineer, AWS Machine Learning Specialty, Google Professional ML Engineer).

- Prior experience working in the utility or energy sector and familiarity with AI applications in predictive maintenance, customer analytics, or load forecasting.

- Experience contributing to the development or execution of enterprise strategies involving advanced technologies such as AI, ML, or GenAI.

- Open-source contributions or published research in the field of AI/ML are a plus.

Competencies

Communicates Effectively

Driving Continuous Improvement

Delivering High Quality Work

Demonstrating Initiative

Acting as a Champion for Change

Evaluating and Implementing Ideas

Minimum Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, or related field.

Required Certifications

Working Environment

Indoor work, operating computer, manual dexterity, talking, hearing, repetitive motion. Use of personal computing equipment, telephone, multi-functioning printer and calculator.

Ability to travel to and from meetings, training sessions or other business-related events late events.

Physical Demands

Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body.

Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally, and all other sedentary criteria are met.

CPS Energy does not discriminate against applicants or employees. CPS Energy is committed to providing equal opportunity in all of its employment practices, including selection, hiring, promotion, transfers and compensation, to all qualified applicants and employees without regard to race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship status, veteran status, pregnancy, age, disability, genetic information or any other protected status. CPS Energy will comply with all laws and regulations.