Lead AI Engineer, NLQ & Agentic Systems

About the Role

As a Lead AI Engineer on Upwork's Data Platform & Services (DPS) team, you will combine deep data engineering expertise with emerging AI capabilities to build production-grade AI-powered systems. You will design and deploy agentic frameworks, natural language querying (NLQ) capabilities, and prompt/LLM evaluation strategies to unlock insights at scale across Upwork. This role offers the opportunity to deliver tangible impact by enabling faster decision-making, democratizing data access, and empowering analysts and stakeholders throughout the company.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement scalable agentic frameworks that coordinate multiple AI agents to deliver accurate and reliable outcomes.
• Build and optimize natural language query solutions that provide compliant, intuitive, and self-service access to enterprise data.
• Develop and maintain evaluation frameworks for LLMs and prompts, driving measurable improvements in accuracy, scalability, and resilience.
• Partner with data engineering peers to integrate AI orchestration with Python, SQL, and Snowflake pipelines.
• Contribute to AI-powered summarization and explanation tools that enhance reporting, insights, and executive reviews.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with product, analytics, and business teams to ensure solutions meet measurable business goals.

Requirements

• Proven experience delivering AI-powered data systems in production, including hands-on expertise with LLMs and prompt engineering.
• Strong foundation in modern data engineering, with proficiency in Python, SQL, and platforms such as Snowflake.
• Demonstrated ability to design agentic orchestration frameworks that scale across diverse business scenarios.
• A collaborative problem-solver with strong communication skills, able to align stakeholders and create clarity across teams.
• Growth mindset—excited to learn, iterate, and deliver measurable business outcomes through applied AI.