AI Engineer

Texas GovLink, Inc. is an Austin-based firm which has been a leading provider of technical and business professionals to clients in Texas. Our client, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), is currently seeking a AI Engineer to join their Traffic Technology group to build safety-focused AI for Texas roads. This role will be for someone who has applied AI experience developing real world solutions and will focus on creating and enhancing operational AI models for video imaging, computer vision, and analytics. The successful candidate will bring the following: • Real-world AI experience: • Professional role or substantial internships where you worked on a team delivering AI solutions • Hands-on background in some of: • Model development (ideally computer vision / video analytics) • Data/model pipelines (streaming or batch) • UX/UI or front-end work focused on AI • Comfortable working within an existing architecture and eager to learn and grow • Local to Austin, TX and willing to be on-site 4–5 days/week Responsibilities The Artificial Intelligence (AI) engineer will develop AI/ML proof-of-concept demonstrations and build new AI/ML solutions that scale with TxDOT’s pipelines and workflows. The role will be embedded within the Traffic Technology team with the goal to develop AI/ML for Operational Technology that improves the safety and operations of the TxDOT roadway system. The AI engineer will work across teams such as Traffic Technology, ITD AI team, and TRF to gather business requirements, develop AI software, and demonstrate successful solutions to end-users. • • Core Responsibilities • • • Gather and document AI solution requirements from business stakeholders. • Develop AI proof-of-concepts and transition successful prototypes into production systems. • Design and implement scalable AI pipelines for enterprise applications. • Train, fine-tune, and validate AI/ML models for optimal performance. • Write clean, efficient software code and scripts for AI workflows. • Conduct rigorous testing and quality assurance of AI models and outputs. • Ensure compliance with organizational IT governance, security, and audit standards. • • Stakeholder Engagement & Communication • • • Act as liason between Traffic Technology team, business stakeholders, and automation developers. • Facilitate requirements gathering and ensure clarity in AI solution design. • Communicate progress, risks, and issues to project sponsors and leadership teams. • • Delivery Excellence & Governance • • • Ensure automation projects comply with TxDOT’s IT governance, security, and audit requirements. • Promote reusable components and standardized AI development practices. • Conduct post-implementation reviews to capture lessons learned and improve delivery methods. • • Team Coordination & Support • • • Collaborate with data engineers, business analysts, and infrastructure teams. • Provide guidance on AI best practices and assist in troubleshooting. • Support knowledge sharing and continuous improvement within the team. Qualifications Minimum (Required): 3 years of: • Python – Production experience • AI/ML Production – Experience building and deploying ML models (1-3+) serving real users, not just experiments • Cloud Platforms – Experience with AWS, Azure, GCP, or OCI for deploying and managing ML workloads. • DevOps - Docker and Kubernetes experience • Databases - SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and NoSQL/vector databases • Scripting - Proficient in both Bash and PowerShell for automation • Command Line Interface (CLI) – Production experience working in CLI terminal Preferred (Optional): 3 years of: • CI/CD Experience: Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or similar automation pipelines • Computer Vision: Production CV experience with PyTorch/TensorFlow, OpenCV, object detection, segmentation, or real-time inference • Additional Languages: Go or Rust experience for performance-critical components • Feature stores (Feast, Tecton) or advanced feature engineering • Model optimization: quantization, pruning, knowledge distillation • Edge deployment or resource-constrained model deployment • Experiment frameworks for A/B testing ML models • Contributions to open-source ML projects • Real-time streaming data processing (Kafka, Kinesis) Overview At Texas GovLink, we value our consultants and are committed to providing an exceptional experience including: • Highly competitive pay rates • Local support staff for responsive, personal service • Comprehensive benefits package, including: • Medical insurance (with employer cost sharing) • Life insurance • A 401(K) plan with company match • Flexible spending through a cafeteria plan Candidates selected for interviews will be subject to a criminal background check and may be required to pass a drug screening, in compliance with federal and state regulations. All offers of employment are contingent upon successful completion of these checks. Texas GovLink is a proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.