Lead AI Engineer, LLMs & SLMs
Artificial.Agency
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Engineering, Information Technology
Artificial.Agency is seeking a Lead AI Engineer to shape and drive the research and engineering efforts behind our multi-agent, multi-modal systems. You will lead a high-caliber team working on large and small language models, setting technical and research strategy, guiding fine-tuning and deployment efforts, and aligning AI innovation with product vision.
As a senior leader, you will not only contribute to cutting-edge technical work but also shape research direction, mentor talent, and influence cross-functional roadmaps to deliver transformative, real-time interactive systems.
Key Responsibilities
As a senior leader, you will not only contribute to cutting-edge technical work but also shape research direction, mentor talent, and influence cross-functional roadmaps to deliver transformative, real-time interactive systems.
Key Responsibilities
- Strategic Research Leadership: Define and drive the roadmap for LLM and SLM research and engineering, aligning with product, platform, and company goals.
- Team Development & Mentorship: Lead, mentor, and grow a world-class team of ML researchers and engineers, fostering a collaborative, high-performance culture.
- Model Innovation: Oversee fine-tuning, adaptation, and innovation on LLMs/SLMs using advanced methods (SFT, GRPO, DPO); ensure models meet cutting-edge standards for efficiency, performance, and capability.
- Deployment & System Optimization: Architect scalable deployment pipelines across cloud platforms (vLLM, NVIDIA Triton, etc.), optimizing system performance under latency, throughput, and resource constraints.
- Cross-Functional & Organizational Impact: Collaborate with product, game development, and platform teams to align AI advancements with business impact; represent the ML team’s work internally and externally, potentially through publications, open-source contributions, or conference presence.
- Research Innovation & Industry Awareness: Stay at the forefront of AI trends, research breakthroughs, and emerging technologies; identify and integrate promising methods that elevate our competitive edge.
- Preferably an advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field.
- 6+ years in ML research or engineering, including 2+ years in a technical leadership or management role.
- Proven experience leading research and development efforts in LLM/SLM domains, from idea to production.
- Expertise in fine-tuning, adapting, and deploying LLMs/SLMs using modern frameworks (vLLM, Triton, etc.).
- Proficiency in Python and ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, Jax).
- Strong understanding of system optimization, performance trade-offs, and scaling considerations.
- Passionate about advancing the application of AI research into real-world systems that impact users and industries.
- Lead & Shape Innovation: Set the vision and direction for transformative LLM and SLM systems, collaborating with top-tier experts to push the boundaries of applied AI.
- Maximize Real-World Impact: Architect and deliver AI systems powering millions of interactive, real-time experiences at scale.
- Grow & Influence: Thrive in a collaborative, empowering culture that values leadership, experimentation, and inclusive growth.