AVP, AI Engineer, Innovation

Harrison Street•Chicago, IL

About The Position

Harrison Street is seeking to hire an AI Engineer within the Innovation Department, reporting to the Chief Innovation Officer. This individual will be instrumental in designing, building, and deploying AI/ML systems that further enhance the Firm’s AI strategy.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Machine Learning, Data Science, Mathematics, Physics, or a related quantitative field
3–7 years of professional experience in AI/ML engineering or a closely related role
Hands-on experience with LLMs and Generative AI, including RAG, prompt engineering, embeddings, fine-tuning, and agentic frameworks
Experience with cloud platforms
Strong data engineering skills
Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders

Nice To Haves

Master's degree or PhD in a relevant field
Prior experience in financial services, investment management, or real estate
Understanding of deal execution, due diligence, underwriting, and portfolio analytics
Experience building and deploying AI systems in regulated environments
Translational Thinking - Ability to bridge AI capabilities and investment decision-making, making models actionable
Human-Centered Design - Commitment to building AI systems that augment rather than replace human judgment
Intellectual Curiosity - Passion for staying current with emerging AI technologies, industry trends, and competitive developments
Ownership & Execution - Ability to lead projects from concept through production with minimal supervision

Responsibilities

Design, develop, and deploy production-grade machine learning models to further enhance decision making
Build and maintain Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) architectures, agentic AI workflows, and multi-model orchestration pipelines to surface insights from structured and unstructured data
Develop AI tools that translate model outputs into human-readable insights
Build and optimize data pipelines to ingest, clean, and structure proprietary datasets across the Firm's investment portfolio
Work within secure infrastructure to deploy scalable, secure AI solutions
Integrate AI models with existing Firm systems, databases, and reporting workflows
Partner with investment, asset management, portfolio management, and Impact teams to identify AI use cases and translate business needs into technical solutions
Facilitate innovation workshops, design thinking sessions, and prototype demonstrations for senior leadership
Expand existing relationships with external partners, startups, and research institutions as appropriate to advance the Firm's AI capabilities
Ensure all AI systems are designed with human-in-the-loop principles
Adhere to the Firm's AI Policy, including data access controls, bias mitigation, explainability standards, and regulatory compliance
Build guardrails around AI scope, data access, and output reliability