Senior AI Engineer (Part Time) in Portland, Oregon - #72189 | VanderHouwen

Description

Job Id: 72189

Senior AI Engineer (Part-Time)
Our client is seeking a Senior AI Engineer to help architect and build a next-generation, multi-agent simulation platform powered by generative AI. This is a greenfield initiative focused on creating dynamic, stateful user experiences where AI agents collaborate, retain long-term context, and drive non-linear interactions at scale. The ideal candidate is highly technical, deeply experienced with LLM systems, and excited to define best practices in an emerging space.

This role is fully remote working around 20 hours per week.

Senior AI Engineer Responsibilities

• Design and implement complex multi-agent systems that power real-time, interactive simulation workflows.
• Architect scalable approaches to context and memory management, ensuring accurate, efficient, and low-latency AI responses.
• Develop and refine advanced prompting strategies, including structured system instructions and multi-agent communication patterns.
• Build and maintain evaluation frameworks to measure model performance, reliability, and end-to-end system behavior.
• Establish guardrails and moderation pipelines to mitigate risks such as hallucinations, prompt injection, and unsafe outputs.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with engineering teams to integrate AI capabilities into backend services and user-facing applications.
• Optimize system performance through token efficiency, caching strategies, and thoughtful orchestration of model interactions.

Senior AI Engineer Qualifications

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 1–3 years focused on building and deploying LLM-powered applications.
• Strong programming expertise in Python, with working knowledge of TypeScript and modern web frameworks.
• Proven experience designing and orchestrating LLM agents using frameworks such as LangGraph, CrewAI, OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude Agent SDK, or similar tools.
• Deep understanding of prompt engineering, context engineering, and token optimization strategies.
• Hands-on experience building evaluation pipelines to test and improve AI system performance.
• Experience implementing AI safety practices, including guardrails, moderation, and prompt injection mitigation.
• Solid foundation in software architecture, with the ability to design and deliver production-grade systems.
• Comfortable working in fast-evolving environments with ambiguous requirements and emerging technologies.

Compensation: (DOE)

VanderHouwen Contractors Enjoy Exceptional Benefit Perks!
As an eligible contract employee with VanderHouwen, you’ll have access to a full suite of benefits designed with your well-being in mind. Our comprehensive package includes medical, dental, vision, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, and a matching 401(k) to help secure your future.

Meet VanderHouwen
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VanderHouwen is an award-winning, Women & Diversity-Owned, WBENC certified professional staffing firm. Founded in 1987, VanderHouwen places experienced professionals across the nation! Our recruitment teams specialize in either Technology and IT, Engineering, Human Resources, or Accounting and Finance career markets. Partner with us to land your next exciting career!

VanderHouwen is an Equal Opportunity Employer and participates in E-Verify. VanderHouwen does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local, state, or federal civil rights laws.

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