Principal Machine Learning Engineer, NLP/LLM
Western Governors UniversityAbout the role
If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.
Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.
The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.
At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:
Job Description
Job Summary:
Western Governors University is hiring a Principal Machine Learning Engineer to join our team onsite in Salt Lake City, Utah. This person will lead cross-functional teams in developing and deploying scalable AI/ML solutions, with a focus on NLP and LLM models. This role combines visionary leadership with hands-on technical expertise to shape the future of Ed Tech at WGU.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities:
Define and execute NLP/LLM strategies and roadmaps.
Translate business needs into AI/ML capabilities.
Lead the design and development of complex AI systems, ensuring scalability and performance.
Manage the full ML lifecycle, including research, training, evaluation, and deployment.
Collaborate across teams to integrate ML solutions into WGU’s ecosystem.
Stay updated on AI advancements and drive their application.
Mentor ML engineers and foster professional growth.
Knowledge, Skill and Abilities:
Expertise in ML techniques, deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, TensorFlow), and cloud-based big data infrastructure.
Strong Python programming and MLOps experience (e.g., Databricks, MLFlow, Sagemaker).
Background in scalable, distributed systems and DevOps practices (Terraform preferred).
Experience with stream-processing systems (e.g., Kafka, Spark Streaming).
Proven ability to build and deploy production-grade AI/ML models
Qualifications:
M.S. or higher in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or a related field.
10+ years of software development in cloud environments.
8+ years in ML, including building and deploying large-scale models.
Leadership experience in senior engineering roles.
To explore more about our company and what makes working here special, visit our website at https://www.wgu.edu/about.html. To view current career opportunities and apply, please visit https://www.wgu.edu/about/careers.html.
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Position & Application Details
Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savingsApply for this role
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