Research AI Tooling Lead Engineer
Job Summary Work as the lead software engineer of a small team to develop, harden, and maintain artificial intelligence software tools and patterns for basic science and health research at a world-class research institution.
The incumbent will provide deep bioinformatics expertise and software architecture capacity to lead the curation of an ecosystem of open-source AI libraries and tools to be reviewed, hardened, and containerized for researchers to use in UCSF's secure environments in the Research Analysis Environment, the Facility for Advanced Compute, and the new UCSF AI HPC environment.
The tools provided in this ecosystem will align where possible with Jupyter code sample libraries the team will provide for researchers to enable them to progress from learning and discovery into production-quality deployment of tools.
Although the incumbent's duties will initially focus on GenAI/LLM tooling, it will establish frameworks and strategies that would also support many other AI/ML tools. Providing standardized tooling now will significantly reduce friction for researchers to integrate technologies for trustworthy AI in the future as the pathway for that effort becomes clearer.
Examples of tooling to be developed into reusable patterns includes (but are not limited to):
- Templates for transformers and inference models (encoder/decoders such as BERT, Llama, etc)
- AI integration libraries (such as Langchain, LlamaIndex, AutoGPT, etc)
- Vector databases and adapters (ie ChromaDB for local discovery, Azure for cloud)
- Multi-agent and skills-based tools (ie Autogen)
- Language agent model and concept mapping strategies (ie AI tools for Neo4j)
One of the key outcomes of this work will be a set of building blocks which can be combined to produce production-ready products used by other teams, including an LLM- and RAG-based co-pilot for UCSF's research data assets and a chatbot testing platform with the capacity for integration against sensitive research data.
The ideal candidate is passionate about open source software, software architecture, and creating well-documented standards and design patterns relied on by other data engineers. Additional responsibilities of the position may include assisting clients via complex AI solutioning requests and consults, implementation troubleshooting, communicating with key stakeholders via one-on-one training, documentation, requirements gathering, and other duties as assigned. The final salary and offer components are subject to additional approvals based on UC policy. Your placement within the salary range is dependent on a number of factors including your work experience and internal equity within this position classification at UCSF. For positions that are represented by a labor union, placement within the salary range will be guided by the rules in the collective bargaining agreement. The salary range for this position is $113,500 - $197,000 (Annual Rate). To learn more about the benefits of working at UCSF, including total compensation, please visit: https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html Department Description Academic Research Services (ARS) serves the needs of the UCSF research community by providing an integrated repository of HIPAA compliant clinical and life sciences data and a centralized, secure, professionally managed infrastructure for the storage and management of research data. ARS empowers medical scientific investigations by offering secure computing environments, data capture, management and analysis tools, and support services that meet researcher's needs.
This position is part of a new research AI tooling team within the ARS Research Tools group, which has a storied history of successfully deploying technology to enable cutting-edge work by researchers across many domains. Our team members have opportunities to provide direct impact for real-world efforts across the basic sciences, socio-behavioral studies, epidemiology, and public and global health initiatives.
Our team is distributed across the United States, and strives to protect a workplace with a strong focus on work/life balance. We work hard to appreciate the diverse backgrounds and life experiences of each of our team members. Our team culture includes an understanding that there can be many pathways for all of our journeys; in support of this we encourage applications from folks with a rich and varied background, including those re-entering the workforce. Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in computer science, or a related/quantitative area, **OR** equivalent combination of experience/training.
- CITI human subjects research protection (can be completed after hire)
- 5 or more years of experience managing code versioning and development workflows with a modern source control system such as Github; working knowledge of production system change control processes.
- Demonstrated knowledge of and at least 4 years of professional experience using modern data science and data engineering orientated high-level programming languages, including SQL and at least one of Python, Julia, PHP, and/or Node.js.
- Experience working in a structured software development environment with planned release cycles using a standardized project management framework (Agile, Kanban, Lean, or similar)
- Demonstrated ability to interconnect existing open source or commercial software libraries using standardized API-driven processes
- Working knowledge of underlying theory pertaining to AI/ML technologies, including NLP, vectorization, inference models, generative adversarial networks, etc
- Demonstrated knowledge of modern AI/LLM foundational engineering tooling, such as Langchain, Chainlit, ChromaDB, etc
- Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate with end users and diverse stakeholders in appropriate technical and non-technical terms
- Experience writing and executing application test plans or utilizing test-driven design practices
Preferred Qualifications
- Advanced degree in health care information technology, computer science or a related/quantitative area, **OR** equivalent combination of experience / training.
- Post-graduate education in computer science, mathematics, or artificial intelligence, **OR** equivalent combination of experience / training.
- 5 or more years of experience guiding technical implementation and providing technical mentorship in a team of engineers.
- At least 5 years of experience working with open-source libraries as a contributor and/or community leader.
- Demonstrated ability to harden open source tools to be deployed in a secure environment, preferably one with specific
- Demonstrated knowledge of modern AI/LLM low-code/no-code prototyping platforms, such as LangFlow, Langsmith, etc
- Proven experience deploying tools or solutions leveraging foundational GenAI/LLM engineering tooling (for example, building and deploying a containerized multi-agent RAG-enabled chatbot using Python libraries).
- Experience delivering platform-quality tools or experiences to a user community, preferably composed of researchers and/or developers.
- Working knowledge of microservice or service mesh technologies
- compliance mandates
- Experience managing documentation with Wikis, markdown, and/or document assemblers such as MkDocs.
License/Certification
- CITI human subjects research protection (can be completed after hire)
About UCSF The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It is the only campus in the 10-campus UC system dedicated exclusively to the health sciences. We bring together the world's leading experts in nearly every area of health. We are home to five Nobel laureates who have advanced the understanding of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, aging and stem cells. Pride Values UCSF is a diverse community made of people with many skills and talents. We seek candidates whose work experience or community service has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to professionalism, respect, integrity, diversity and excellence - also known as our PRIDE values.
In addition to our PRIDE values, UCSF is committed to equity - both in how we deliver care as well as our workforce. We are committed to building a broadly diverse community, nurturing a culture that is welcoming and supportive, and engaging diverse ideas for the provision of culturally competent education, discovery, and patient care. Additional information about UCSF is available at diversity.ucsf.edu
Join us to find a rewarding career contributing to improving healthcare worldwide. Equal Employment Opportunity The University of California San Francisco is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information. Job Code and Payroll Title 005933 BIOINFORMATICS PROGR 4 Job Category Clinical Systems / IT Professionals Bargaining Unit 99 - Policy-Covered (No Bargaining Unit) Location San Francisco, CA Campus Mission Center Building (SF) Additional Shift Details M-F regular business hours |
University of California - San Francisco Campus and Health
Nov 23, 2024