Artificial Intelligence Engineer

Job Title: AI Engineer Location: East Lansing, MI or Detroit, MI (Fully on-site, 5 days per week) Duration: 12+ months of contract Engagement Type: Contract-to-hire preferred; client open to direct FTE placement for the right candidate Job Description: Seeking an AI Engineer to design, build, and deploy machine learning and AI-driven solutions supporting the bank's technology and business initiatives. This role requires strong hands-on Python development skills combined with a solid understanding of banking/financial services environments — including data sensitivity, regulatory considerations, and enterprise system constraints. The position is on-site 5 days per week across East Lansing and Detroit offices. This role is being engaged as a contract-to-hire, though the client is open to bringing on the right candidate as a full-time employee from day one. Key Responsibilities • Design, develop, and deploy AI/ML models and pipelines to support banking operations, risk, fraud detection, underwriting, customer experience, or process automation use cases • Write clean, production-grade Python code for data processing, model development, and integration with existing systems • Collaborate with data engineering, IT, and business stakeholders to identify opportunities for AI/ML applications within a regulated banking environment • Build and maintain data pipelines (ETL/ELT) to support model training and inference • Evaluate, fine-tune, and deploy both traditional ML models and modern LLM/generative AI solutions where applicable • Ensure models and AI systems meet banking industry standards for security, data privacy, and regulatory compliance • Document model methodology, performance, and monitoring processes for internal governance and audit purposes • Partner with IT infrastructure teams on deployment, scaling, and monitoring of AI solutions in production Required Qualifications • Strong, demonstrable Python development skills (production-level code, not just notebooks/scripting) • Prior experience working within a bank or financial services institution — direct exposure to banking data, systems, and/or regulatory environment is required • Experience with core ML/AI libraries and frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn, Hugging Face, LangChain, or similar) • Solid understanding of data engineering fundamentals — SQL, data pipelines, cloud or on-prem data platforms • Experience deploying models to production (MLOps practices, APIs, containerization a plus) • Strong communication skills, with the ability to work cross-functionally with both technical and business teams • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent practical experience) Preferred Qualifications • Experience with generative AI/LLM implementations in a regulated industry • Familiarity with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP) • Exposure to model risk management or model governance frameworks common in banking • Experience with core banking or lending platforms Logistics • Location: East Lansing, MI and Detroit, MI (candidate should be prepared to work from either/both locations as needed) • Work Arrangement: Fully on-site, 5 days per week — no remote/hybrid flexibility • Engagement Type: Contract-to-hire preferred; client open to direct FTE placement for the right candidate