AI Engineer (Temporary)

This position is a hybrid position position responsibilities are a combination of those performed remotely and those performed in person on the Cornell University Campus in Ithaca New York.

No Visa sponsorship available for this position.

What is Cornell University and what is Information Technology @ Cornell
Cornell University unique among peers is the federal land-grant institution of New York State a private endowed university and a member of the Ivy League. Information technologies (IT) is a strategic enabler for many functions at Cornell. Check out this link to find out more about IT Cornell.

The AI Strategy Enablement and Innovation team works closely with faculty staff students and campus partners to build and support AI services. The team also is responsible for piloting emerging tools and platforms guiding responsible use and translating institutional needs into practical solutions. The team collaborates across a shared internal toolset that includes Jira Teams SharePoint TDX workflow automation platforms LiteLLM GitHub Confluence and Outlook. The teams work spans platform access and support semester-long projects consulting engagements internal tools and training and enablement following a structured lifecycle from intake and triage through kickoff sprint cycles demo and review and offboarding/handoff to ensure continuity quality and responsible delivery.

What will you do:

The AI Engineer (Temporary) will be an integral part of Cornell Universitys AI Program a pioneering initiative that harnesses the power of generative AI to address real-world challenges critical to the universitys mission. Reporting to the Program Manager this position will work at the intersection of cutting-edge AI technologies and practical implementation building bespoke solutions that empower university departments faculty and students to optimize their workflows improve decision-making and unlock new opportunities for innovation. The position combines technical excellence with user-focused development to ensure AI solutions enhance equity accessibility and transparency reinforcing Cornells commitment to fostering inclusion and innovation across its campus.

The position will not only collaborate on transformative projects but also shape how higher education harnesses AI to do the greatest good. This is a unique opportunity to engage in high-priority high-impact projects while shaping how AI transforms higher education in the years to come.

As an individual contributor you will model and support a culture of inclusion belonging and wellbeing and continually seek to understand how your role behaviors and actions impact the success of this culture.

While position responsibilities vary greatly the Skills for Success and Leadership Skills for Successare foundational to what is expected ofevery employee and leader working at Cornell. These skills are essential for individual and organizational success. Staff Skills for Success; Leadership Skills for Success. Additionally every member of our community is expected to foster a culture of belonging and a healthy work environment by communicating across differences; being cooperative collaborative open and welcoming; showing respect compassion and empathy; engaging and supporting others regardless of background or perspective; speaking up when others are being excluded or treated inappropriately; and supporting work/life integration of oneself and others.

This role will be responsible for:

• Leveraging AI to tackle challenges such as improving academic advising processes designing dynamic learning tools enhancing operational efficiency and scaling administrative tasks.
• Working on highly visible projects from creating AI-driven dashboards for personalized student advising to developing natural language processing (NLP) based tools that streamline faculty research searches for media inquiries.
• Collaborating closely with stakeholders across the university including faculty researchers staff and students focusing on both immediate problem-solving and long-term innovation.
• Serves as Tech Lead for selected projects translating stakeholder needs into clear buildable solutions; facilitating sprint-based work; supporting student engagement where applicable; and contributing to internal operational tools and offboarding documentation.
• Manages AI-related service workflows in TDX supports access provisioning and ticket triage builds automation for repeatable processes and helps deliver consultations AI Exploration sessions onboarding materials guides and reusable knowledge resources.

Note: This position is a one (1) year temporary position with benefits which may be ended or extended based on organizational needs funding availability and performance.

Required qualifications include:

• Bachelors degree in Computer Science Information Science or related field with at least 1 year of relevant experience or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Proficiency in using Python AI APIs (OpenAI Anthropic Gemini etc.) machine learning algorithms and software development frameworks.
• Familiarity with building agentic solutions using frameworks/tools such as workflow automation platforms agentic coding tools (Claude Code) LangChain LangGraph Agents SDK etc.
• Strong understanding of advanced AI models and architectures including generative AI models (including LLMs).
• Practical experience in deploying AI apps to production including containerization technologies such as Docker.
• Familiarity with modern cloud platforms (AWS GCP Azure) MLOps pipelines and version control (Git) to support scalable AI workflows.
• Proven ability to distill complex organizational needs into robust AI solutions.
• Experience addressing real-world challenges using AI ideally in academic research or collaborative environments.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
• Proactive stakeholder engagement skills to refine project goals and ensure user-focused solution development.
• Demonstrated commitment to ethical AI practices ensuring that AI tools are implemented responsibly.
• Ability to cultivate and develop inclusive working relationships with students faculty staff and community members.
• Sound judgment about data risk permissions and architectural constraints and the ability to communicate tradeoffs clearly while aligning work with Cornell-approved platforms and responsible AI practices.
• A passion for translating cutting edge AI into real world solutions within a vibrant academic community.

Preferred qualifications include:

• Masters Degree.
• Experience building conversational agents or other generative AI applications in higher education or similar environments.
• Proficiency in relational non-relational or graph databases.
• Familiarity using frameworks such as TensorFlow PyTorch and Hugging Face.
• Familiarity with academic workflows from course management to research collaboration tools.
• Prior contributions to academic publications open-source projects or AI community initiatives.

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Non-Union Positions

Noted pay ranges reflect the potential pay opportunity for each job profile. The hiring rate of pay for the successful candidate will be determined considering the following criteria:

• Prior relevant work or industry experience

• Education level to the extent education is relevant to the position

• Unique applicable skills

• Academic Discipline

To learn more about Cornells non-union staff job titles and pay ranges see Career Navigator.

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The hiring rate of pay for the successful candidate will be determined in accordance with the rates in the respective collective bargaining agreement. To learn more about Cornells union wages see Union Pay Rates.

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