Lead AI Developer

Department: Information Technology

Classification: Info Technology Spec 3

Job Category: Classified Staff

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type: On Site Required

Sponsorship Eligibility: Not eligible for visa sponsorship

Pay Band: 06

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check: Yes

About the Department

Information Technology Services (ITS) provides technology and collaborative solutions that contribute to and facilitate innovative teaching and learning opportunities for students and faculty of the George Mason University community. ITS works transparently to drive excellence in teaching, research, and administrative operations.

About the Position

The Lead AI Developer ensures that every AI agent deployed to support faculty research, automate staff workflows, or proactively guide students operates flawlessly and free of hallucinations. Furthermore, this role serves as the elite technical lead for the student incubator, transforming student interns into highly recruited enterprise AI engineers through rigorous code review and architectural mentorship. The role has deep AI skills in building AI Agents, Agentic AI Platforms, LLM’s and understand highly technical AI concepts required for building and managing an AI platform. Additionally, this role will serve as the PatriotAI product owner, shaping the technical roadmap for the platform's lifecycle.

Responsibilities

Core Agentic Architecture & Intelligence Integration

• Design, code, and deploy the foundational AI infrastructure utilizing the Microsoft enterprise stack (Azure AI Studio, Copilot Studio, AI Foundry);
• Build the complex, bidirectional intelligence loops required to process IoT sensor data for the Campus Digital Twin, and engineer advanced AI copilots designed to accelerate massive data analysis and complex grant writing for university researchers; and
• Engineer the complex API integrations connecting the Azure AI stack with the university’s Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) infrastructure to power the proactive, AI-driven threat-hunting capabilities of the Student SOC.

Technical Mentorship & Zero-Hallucination Quality Control

• Serve as the senior technical expert for the 10-20 student builders;
• Conduct rigorous code reviews, refine their prompt engineering strategies, and teach advanced context-window management; and
• Act as the final technical gatekeeper to ensure all student-built AI agents are secure, scalable, and devoid of hallucinations before production release.

SSOT Data Engineering & “Touch Once” Automation

• Build and maintain the highly secure data pipelines connecting the university’s core legacy databases to the modern AI platform;
• Engineer the backend of the Digital Forms Backbone, strictly enforcing governance, security, and architectural protocols so that staff and faculty are liberated from organizational requirements that could cause rework;
• Organize work around industry best practices and educate/train students to adopt recognized gold standards, such as NIST, ITIL, Agile, etc.; and
• Architect and deploy the autonomous AI Help Desk agent, building a secure Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipeline that connects directly to the enterprise ITS Knowledge Base, ensuring Zero-Hallucination IT troubleshooting for the campus community.

Multi-Cloud Prototyping & Technical Scaling

• Research, prototype, and prepare the technical infrastructure for Patriot AI’s expansion into multi-cloud ecosystems;
• Ensure the architecture remains flexible enough to enable researchers and students to match the best possible Large Language Model (LLM) to their specific university use case; and
• Emphasize best practices and use industry tools to ensure students are market- and industry-ready when they graduate.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in related field;
• Significant experience in systems engineering, software development, and explicitly deploying machine learning or generative AI solutions into a live enterprise production environment;
• Experience with Product Operating Model;
• Advanced proficiency in tools such as Python, generative AI frameworks (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex), and complex RESTful API integrations;
• Demonstrated ability to architect retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines connected securely to enterprise databases;
• Exceptional ability to communicate highly complex machine learning concepts to student developers, functioning as a patient but rigorous technical mentor;
• Strong background with Agile methodologies, SDLC, API development, and project and Code management; and
• Strong ability to communicate, collaborate and deliver high value products.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in related field;
• Considerable experience serving in a technical lead capacity, specifically mentoring junior developers, interns, or students through complex architectural builds;
• Knowledge of IoT sensor data integration and digital twin technical concepts; and
• Skill in optimizing vector databases and fine-tuning large language models to understand higher education terminologies and research vernacular.

Instructions to Applicants

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Lead AI Developer at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a Cover Letter/Letter of Intent with Resume for review.

Posting Open Date: November 12, 2026

Posting Close Date: November 30, 2026

Open Until Filled: No

Mason Ad Statement

George Mason University is a nationally ranked R1 research university committed to creating a more just, free, and prosperous world. With 40,000 enrolled students, George Mason is the largest and most diverse public research university in Virginia, offering degree programs at the master's, doctoral, and professional level, along with certificates and credentials.

George Mason fosters an All Together Different environment for students, faculty, and staff, driven by our core beliefs. We believe in inclusivity over exclusivity; we believe in advancing our mission by being willing to take risks, not avoiding them; and we believe our best work is possible when we apply our diversity of origin, identity, circumstance, and thought.

Equity Statement

George Mason University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, committed to promoting inclusion and equity in its community. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or veteran status, or any characteristic protected by law.

Campus Safety Information

Mason’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report is available at http://police.gmu.edu/annual-security-report/