Lead AI/ML Engineer – GenAI, LLM, RAG

Job Title: Lead AI/ML Engineer – GenAI, LLM, RAG Location: Eden Prairie, MN (Remote) Employment Type: Contract (W2 through ZipStaff — No C2C or 1099) About the OpportunityZipStaff is seeking a Lead AI/ML Engineer to design, build, and deploy enterprise Generative AI solutions at a major healthcare organization.You will sit with a cross-functional team (one product manager, a senior lead, three developers, plus data scientists, data engineers, and application developers) and own production LLM work plus Responsible AI controls. This is a hands-on lead seat — not a research-only role and not a prompt-only role. What You’ll Do: • Architect and develop production Generative AI and LLM solutions. • Design and implement RAG, vector search, and knowledge-retrieval platforms. • Build scalable APIs, AI services, and cloud-native ML / LLM infrastructure. • Establish evaluation for quality, accuracy, groundedness, and safety. • Lead Responsible AI: bias mitigation, hallucination reduction, security, privacy, and compliance controls. • Partner with product, business, and engineering on high-value use cases. • Evaluate emerging AI technology and recommend what to adopt. • Influence and mentor engineers on the delivery team. Required Qualifications: • 10+ years in software engineering, machine learning, or AI engineering. • 5+ years building and deploying LLM or Generative AI solutions in production. • Bachelor’s in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field. • Strong Python and modern software-engineering practices. • Cloud platforms (Azure or AWS). • Hands-on RAG, vector databases, prompt engineering, and AI application development. • Proven lead of complex technical initiatives across functions. • Responsible AI, governance, privacy, and security in a regulated environment. • Ability to work on-site in Eden Prairie, MN. • Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship now or in the future. Preferred Qualifications: • Healthcare or another regulated industry. • Production evaluation frameworks (groundedness, safety, accuracy). • Mentoring and platform-building, not only feature delivery. Benefits: • Health Insurance. • Dental Insurance. • Vision Insurance. • 401(k) + 401(k) matching. • Paid time off. • Referral Program. About ZipStaff:ZipStaff partners with leading organizations to connect skilled technology professionals with high-impact contract opportunities. We focus on quality matches, clear communication, and long-term success for candidates and clients.To apply, submit your resume highlighting production LLM or RAG systems you deployed, the cloud and vector stack, and how you measured quality or safety. Notebook-only or prompt-only backgrounds will not be considered.