← Back to IIOP

AI Engineer

Build products powered by machine learning and large language models.

Overview

AI engineers ship the systems that make ML useful — model APIs, evaluation harnesses, retrieval pipelines and agentic workflows. The role sits between research and product engineering.

A typical day

  • Design retrieval and prompting strategies
  • Fine-tune and evaluate models
  • Ship inference endpoints and monitor quality
  • Collaborate with product on new AI features

Skills that matter

  • Python
  • ML fundamentals
  • LLM tooling (LangChain, vector DBs, evals)
  • Systems design
  • Product sense

Indicative salary ranges

United Kingdom£60k – £160k / yr
United States$130k – $320k / yr
CanadaC$100k – C$220k / yr

How people get here

  • BSc/MSc in CS or Maths
  • Software engineer → ML specialisation
  • Bootcamp + strong open-source AI portfolio

Outlook

One of the fastest-growing job categories through 2030.

Related careers

Software EngineerData ScientistMLOps Engineer

Trusted external sources

Not sure this fits?

Talk to your IIOP AI Career Coach about whether this pathway aligns with your interests, values and readiness profile.

Sign in to chat with your coach