Principal Member of technical Staff- AI & Data Engineering

Join us as we work to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.

This position requires expertise in designing, developing, debugging, and maintaining AI-powered applications and data engineering workflows for both local and cloud environments. The role involves working on large-scale projects, optimizing AI/ML pipelines, and ensuring scalable data infrastructure.

As a PMTS, you will be responsible for integrating Generative AI (GenAI) capabilities, building data pipelines for AI model training, and deploying scalable AI-powered microservices. You will collaborate with AI/ML, Data Engineering, DevOps, and Product teams to deliver impactful solutions that enhance our products and services.

Additionally, it would be desirable if the candidate has experience in retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), fine-tuning pre-trained LLMs, AI model evaluation, data pipeline automation, and optimizing cloud-based AI deployments.

Responsibilities

AI-Powered Software Development & API Integration

· Develop AI-driven applications, microservices, and automation workflows using FastAPI, Flask, or Django, ensuring cloud-native deployment and performance optimization.

· Integrate OpenAI APIs (GPT models, Embeddings, Function Calling) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) techniques to enhance AI-powered document retrieval, classification, and decision-making.

Data Engineering & AI Model Performance Optimization

· Design, build, and optimize scalable data pipelines for AI/ML workflows using Pandas, PySpark, and Dask, integrating data sources such as Kafka, AWS S3, Azure Data Lake, and Snowflake.

· Enhance AI model inference efficiency by implementing vector retrieval using FAISS, Pinecone, or ChromaDB, and optimize API latency with tuning techniques (temperature, top-k sampling, max tokens settings).

Microservices, APIs & Security

· Develop scalable RESTful APIs for AI models and data services, ensuring integration with internal and external systems while securing API endpoints using OAuth, JWT, and API Key Authentication.

· Implement AI-powered logging, observability, and monitoring to track data pipelines, model drift, and inference accuracy, ensuring compliance with AI governance and security best practices.

AI & Data Engineering Collaboration

· Work with AI/ML, Data Engineering, and DevOps teams to optimize AI model deployments, data pipelines, and real-time/batch processing for AI-driven solutions.

· Engage in Agile ceremonies, backlog refinement, and collaborative problem-solving to scale AI-powered workflows in areas like fraud detection, claims processing, and intelligent automation.

Cross-Functional Coordination and Communication

· Collaborate with Product, UX, and Compliance teams to align AI-powered features with user needs, security policies, and regulatory frameworks (HIPAA, GDPR, SOC2).

· Ensure seamless integration of structured and unstructured data sources (SQL, NoSQL, vector databases) to improve AI model accuracy and retrieval efficiency.

Mentorship & Knowledge Sharing

· Mentor junior engineers on AI model integration, API development, and scalable data engineering best practices, and conduct knowledge-sharing sessions.

Education & Experience Required

· 12-18 years of experience in software engineering or AI/ML development, preferably in AI-driven solutions.

· Hands-on experience with Agile development, SDLC, CI/CD pipelines, and AI model deployment lifecycles.

· Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field.

· Proficiency in full-stack development with expertise in Python (preferred for AI), Java

· Experience with structured & unstructured data:

o SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server)

o NoSQL (OpenSearch, Redis, Elasticsearch)

o Vector Databases (FAISS, Pinecone, ChromaDB)

· Cloud & AI Infrastructure:

o AWS: Lambda, SageMaker, ECS, S3

o Azure: Azure OpenAI, ML Studio

· GenAI Frameworks & Tools: OpenAI API, Hugging Face Transformers, LangChain, LlamaIndex, AutoGPT, CrewAI.

· Experience in LLM deployment, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and AI search optimization.

· Proficiency in AI model evaluation (BLEU, ROUGE, BERT Score, cosine similarity) and responsible AI deployment.

· Strong problem-solving skills, AI ethics awareness, and the ability to collaborate across AI, DevOps, and data engineering teams.

· Curiosity and eagerness to explore new AI models, tools, and best practices for scalable GenAI adoption.

About athenahealth

Here’s our vision: To create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.  

What’s unique about our locations? 
From an historic, 19th century arsenal to a converted, landmark power plant, all of athenahealth’s offices were carefully chosen to represent our innovative spirit and promote the most positive and productive work environment for our teams. Our 10 offices across the United States and India — plus numerous remote employees — all work to modernize the healthcare experience, together. 
 
Our company culture might be our best feature. 
We don't take ourselves too seriously. But our work? That’s another story. athenahealth develops and implements products and services that support US healthcare: It’s our chance to create healthier futures for ourselves, for our family and friends, for everyone.  

Our vibrant and talented employees — or athenistas, as we call ourselves — spark the innovation and passion needed to accomplish our goal. We continue to expand our workforce with amazing people who bring diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives at every level, and foster an environment where every athenista feels comfortable bringing their best selves to work. 

Our size makes a difference, too: We are small enough that your individual contributions will stand out — but large enough to grow your career with our resources and established business stability. 
 
Giving back is integral to our culture. Our athenaGives platform strives to support food security, expand access to high-quality healthcare for all, and support STEM education to develop providers and technologists who will provide access to high-quality healthcare for all in the future. As part of the evolution of athenahealth’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, we’ve selected nonprofit partners that align with our purpose and let us foster long-term partnerships for charitable giving, employee volunteerism, insight sharing, collaboration, and cross-team engagement.   

What can we do for you? 
Along with health and financial benefits, athenistas enjoy perks specific to each location, including commuter support, employee assistance programs, tuition assistance, employee resource groups, and collaborative workspaces — some offices even welcome dogs.  

In addition to our traditional benefits and perks, we sponsor events throughout the year, including book clubs, external speakers, and hackathons. And we provide athenistas with a company culture based on learning, the support of an engaged team, and an inclusive environment where all employees are valued.  

We also encourage a better work-life balance for athenistas with our flexibility. While we know in-office collaboration is critical to our vision, we recognize that not all work needs to be done within an office environment, full-time. With consistent communication and digital collaboration tools, athenahealth enables employees to find a balance that feels fulfilling and productive for each individual situation.