Applied AI Engineer Jobs in San Diego, CA

Overview

We are at an inflection point in how Talent Acquisition operates. AI agents and automation are no longer experiments — they are becoming core to how we attract, assess, and hire at scale. This role exists to make sure we get that transition right.

The Principal Applied AI Lead is the person who bridges the gap between what's possible with today's AI tools and what our TA teams actually need. You'll partner directly with recruiting, sourcing, ops, and coordination teams to understand their workflows, identify the highest-value opportunities for AI, and then build working solutions — not decks, not recommendations, actual tools that change how the work gets done. You'll also own the governance layer: how agents are deployed, supervised, measured, and improved over time.

This is not a traditional PM role or a pure engineering role. This is someone with genuine TA domain knowledge and real AI fluency who can move fast, exercise high judgment about what's worth building, and own solutions from prototype through production.

Responsibilities

• Partner with TA teams across the org to identify the highest-value AI and automation opportunities — distinguishing genuine leverage from novelty
• Develop a deep understanding of TA's workflow pain points, data landscape, and strategic priorities to inform where AI creates durable impact
• Design and build working AI prototypes and automations — from scoping the problem to putting a functional solution in front of stakeholders for validation
• Use LLM APIs, agent frameworks, AI-native platforms, and workflow automation tools to iterate quickly without requiring dedicated engineering resources for every build
• Run structured pilots and tool evaluations with defined success criteria — test in controlled environments, measure outcomes, and govern the path to scaled deployment
• Translate validated prototypes into clear requirements and partner with engineering to move from proof-of-concept to production
• Author and maintain job descriptions for all TA AI agents, defining their responsibilities, decision rights, authorities, and escalation paths
• Establish and track performance metrics for each agent — accuracy, timeliness, reliability, process outcomes — and run regular review cycles to drive improvement
• Serve as the human supervisor for AI agents in production, maintaining clear accountability for how they're trained, integrated, and escalated
• Build the playbooks, workflow blueprints, and governance frameworks that make AI adoption scalable and repeatable across TA
• Develop TA team members' AI fluency through hands-on sessions, shared examples, and clear frameworks for when and how to use AI effectively
• Collaborate with HR, Legal, and Compliance to ensure all deployments meet regulatory and accountability requirements from the start, not at the end

• Stay current on the AI tooling landscape and bring informed, tested recommendations on what the org should adopt, integrate, or build custom

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience spanning Talent Acquisition, TA operations, or HR — and hands-on AI implementation; you need both, not one or the other
• A genuine track record of building things with AI: you have used LLM APIs, prompt engineering, agent frameworks, and automation platforms to create working solutions without heavy engineering support
• Experience taking solutions from concept through production deployment, including navigating the technical, organizational, and process realities that come with it
• Strong process design instincts — you've written governance frameworks, performance standards, or SOPs and know how to make them usable by real teams
• Demonstrated ability to influence without authority — your credibility comes from insight and delivered work, not title
• Strong communicator who can translate complex AI capabilities into plain language for TA leaders, and translate fuzzy operational problems into specific, buildable solutions

• Comfortable building in ambiguous territory — this function is being stood up, not inherited

Intuit provides a competitive compensation package with a strong pay for performance rewards approach. This position may be eligible for a cash bonus, equity rewards and benefits, in accordance with our applicable plans and programs (see more about our compensation and benefits at Intuit®: Careers | Benefits). Pay offered is based on factors such as job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and work location. To drive ongoing fair pay for employees, Intuit conducts regular comparisons across categories of ethnicity and gender. The expected base pay range for this position is: