AI Research Engineer Jobs in North Carolina
AI Research Engineer jobs in North Carolina are active and growing, concentrated in university research corridors, life sciences, and enterprise software, with openings at every level from entry-level applied ML roles through senior research scientist positions. The largest hiring metros are the Research Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill), Charlotte, and Greensboro, where employers such as IBM, SAS Institute, and Duke Health maintain substantial research and engineering operations. The most in-demand specialties include large language model development, computer vision, and reinforcement learning applied to biomedical and financial domains. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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The Artificial Intelligence Engineer (AI Engineer) will design, develop, deploy, and integrate machine learning models, AI tools, and other analytics products into Alliance systems and workflows to improve member health, quality of services, and administrative processes. The AI Engineer will help to stand up the foundational platforms and processes that will facilitate development and sustainment of machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities at Alliance now and into the future.
This position is full-time hybrid. Selected candidate must come into the Home office in Morrisville on Wednesdays, for business meeting as needed, reside within 50 miles of Morrisville North Carolina.
Responsibilities & Duties
Build and Integrate Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Solutions
- Collaborate with technical managers and cross-functional teams to design, build, and deploy AI/ML models and solutions to improve care management, patient care decisions, and administrative processes. May include solutions leveraging descriptive analytics, predictive analytics, large-language models (LLMs), generative AI tools (GenAI), or prescriptive tools
- Analyze data, such as medical claims, electronic health records, and care management records, to understand patient care and business processes and identify opportunities for AI/ML to improve processes and care outcomes
- Develop specific analytics problem statements and modeling objectives from broadly defined care management and administrative use cases
- Iteratively develop data pipelines, AI/ML models, and supporting code to address analytics use cases
- Evaluate AI/ML models and tools – both internal (developed at Alliance) and external (developed by third parties) – with evaluation pipelines and appropriate metrics consistent with both modeling objectives and the intended health or process outcomes to be achieved with the tool
- Collaborate with application development, external vendors, and other internal IT teams to deploy and sustain AI/ML models and tools
- Design and implement model/tool monitoring reports or dashboards to disseminate information about model performance and impacts to stakeholders
Support Development of Platforms and Internal Processes for AI/ML Projects
- Collaborate with AI and IT leaders to establish and refine internal processes to govern development, evaluation, deployment, and sustainment of AI/ML tools
- Contribute to development of iternal and/or cloud-based infrastructure for development, evaluation, deployment, and monitoring of AI/ML tools
- Develop reusable resources, such as internal data processing or modeling libraries and reusable features, for use across AI/ML initiatives
- Adhere to all laws, regulations, internal policies, and ethical guidelines related to patient privacy, confidentiality, information security, etc., while developing AI/ML solutions
Communication and Collaboration
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including both technical and non-technical personnel, to execute AI/ML initiatives
- Communicate with subject matter experts within various functions inside Alliance to understand existing business processes, values, goals, opportunities, and constraints that will guide AI/ML development, integration, and evaluation
- Present results of analysis, model/tool evaluations, recommendations, etc., to technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Provide honest assessments of models, tools, AI/ML opportunities, and progress toward project goals to supervisors, collaborators, and other stakeholders within Alliance
- Support efforts to share knowledge about AI/ML tools, case studies, impacts, and opportunities internally across Alliance and, as deemed appropriate, with outside groups such as through industry group meetings
Continuous Learning and Professional Development
- Stay up to date on relevant AI and ML software, tools, modeling techniques, etc.
- Maintain awareness of AI/ML advances and use cases specifically relevant to managed care and other key Alliance functions
Minimum Requirements
Education and Experience
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics or a related technical field and three (3) years of experience developing and deploying software, machine learning, and/or artificial intelligence tools in a professional setting, including:
- Data wrangling and exploratory analysis of complex, real-world data
- Iterative development and evaluation of artificial intelligence and machine learning models
- Deployment, integration, and monitoring of AI/ML models and/or third-party AI/ML tools into production environment for internal or external use
Professional experience collaborating with non-technical stakeholders and/or users to define analytics problems based on open-ended business problem statements, interpret data and analyses, scope modeling activities, and evaluate AI or machine learning performance in the context of business outcomes.
At least two (2) years of experience with Python and relevant libraries for data analysis, machine learning, and AI, such as pandas, Keras, and LangChain.
Preferred:
Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics or a related technical field.
Specific experience working with generative AI and large language models (LLMs).
Specific experience with medical claims, electronic health records, and other semi-structured medical data.
Experience using Azure Machine Learning, Azure AI Services and/or Databricks (e.g., Mosaic AI, AutoML).
Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities
- Strong technical expertise in AI/ML algorithms, data modeling, and data engineering.
- Fluency with Python and relevant libraries such as pandas, Keras, LangChain, etc.
- Ability to work with both structured (tabular) and unstructured (text, imagery, etc.) data sources for analysis and modeling.
- Good verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to explain analysis results and AI/ML modeling concepts, modeling approaches, and performance.
- Excellent analytical thinking, data analysis, and data visualization skills
- Experience with version control tools (e.g., git) and project management tools (e.g., Azure DevOps)
- Knowledge of medical claims data, electronic health records, and/or other healthcare-specific data sources
- Experience with large language models (LLMs) and generative AI models (GenAI), such as Llama and gpt-oss
- Experience with Azure Machine Learning, Azure AI Services, Databricks and/or comparable services
- Proficiency with SQL for querying structured data from relational databases
Employment for this position is contingent upon a satisfactory background check and credit check, which will be performed after acceptance of an offer of employment and prior to the employee's start date.
Salary Range$107,607-$137,198/Annually
An excellent fringe benefit package accompanies the salary, which includes:
- Medical, Dental, Vision, Life, Long Term Disability
- Generous retirement savings plan
- Flexible work schedules including hybrid/remote options
- Paid time off including vacation, sick leave, holiday, management leave
- Dress flexibility
Education
Required- Bachelors or better in Computer Science
- Bachelors or better in Engineering
- Bachelors or better in Mathematics
- Bachelors or better in Statistics
- Masters or better in Computer Science
- Masters or better in Engineering
- Masters or better in Mathematics
- Masters or better in Statistics
Equal Opportunity Employer
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights (https://www.eeoc.gov/poster) notice from the Department of Labor.
See All 9 AI Research Engineer Jobs in North Carolina
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Find AI Research Engineer JobsAI Research Engineer Jobs by City in North Carolina
Where North Carolina roles are concentrated, by current openings.
AI Research Engineer Job Market in North Carolina
A snapshot from current North Carolina openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring



Top Industries Hiring
- Manufacturing
What North Carolina Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in AI research engineer jobs across North Carolina.
- Master's or PhD in computer science, machine learning, or a closely related field
- Hands-on experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch or TensorFlow
- Proficiency in Python and experience with ML pipelines and model training at scale
- Demonstrated research output such as peer-reviewed publications or open-source contributions
- Experience deploying and monitoring models in production cloud environments
- Strong communication skills for presenting findings to technical and non-technical stakeholders
AI Research Engineer Jobs in North Carolina: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a ai research engineer in North Carolina?
Most ai research engineer roles in North Carolina require at least a master's degree in computer science, machine learning, statistics, or a related field, and many senior positions expect a PhD. There is no state-issued license for this role, so candidates build their credentials through graduate study, research projects, and published work. North Carolina universities such as NC State, Duke, and UNC Chapel Hill are common pipelines into the state's research and industry positions.
How much do AI research engineers make in North Carolina?
AI research engineers in North Carolina earn a median of about $128,370 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $82,410 for the lowest 10% to over $182,050 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire ai research engineers in North Carolina?
Employers hiring ai research engineers in North Carolina right now include Coca-Cola Consolidated, Lenovo, and Corning, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. North Carolina's Research Triangle concentration of university spinouts, federal contractors, and established technology firms makes it one of the Southeast's most consistent markets for this role.
Which North Carolina cities have the most ai research engineer jobs?
Charlotte, Raleigh, and Morrisville have the most ai research engineer openings in North Carolina. The Research Triangle pulls the largest share because of the density of research universities, federal agencies such as EPA and NIH offices, and companies like SAS Institute and IBM that use the area as a research base, while Charlotte's growing fintech and data analytics sector drives demand in the western part of the state.
Are there remote ai research engineer jobs in North Carolina?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 75% of ai research engineer openings tied to North Carolina are remote or hybrid as of September 2026, reflecting how much of the work involves model development, experimentation, and code review that can be done distributed. The parts of the role most likely to require on-site presence are hardware-adjacent research, lab collaboration, and early-stage team work at startups.
How can I get hired as a ai research engineer in North Carolina with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is through a research assistant or junior ML engineer role tied to a North Carolina university lab or a company's early-career program. NC State's Industry Expansion Solutions and Duke's research computing teams regularly bring in graduates for applied research support roles. Candidates without experience strengthen their position by building a public portfolio on GitHub, completing a graduate certificate in machine learning from UNC or NC State, and targeting companies in the Research Triangle that partner directly with universities for talent pipelines.
Where can I find and apply to ai research engineer jobs in North Carolina?
You can find and apply to ai research engineer jobs in North Carolina on Migrate Mate, which lists current North Carolina openings. Search the listings, find roles that fit your background and location preference, and apply directly to each one.
See All 9 AI Research Engineer Jobs in North Carolina
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