Artificial Intelligence; AI Developer

Overview

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Developer, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, SC. The AI Developer supports the USC Upstate’s AI environment in the design, development, and deployment of advanced AI solutions, with a focus on Generative AI (GenAI) and Large Language Models (LLMs). This position will develop tools and applications to support enterprise-level administrative operational use cases across the university. The AI Developer collaborates with faculty, staff, and administrative stakeholders to create scalable, secure, and user-friendly AI systems aligned with institutional goals.

This position will work with academic administrative stakeholders to design AI solutions that align with university policy, foster ethical innovation, and improve student and operational outcomes.

• AI Application Development – Design, build, and optimize scalable, maintainable AI applications using GenAI and LLMs for administrative tasks, optimized for cloud environments.
• Develop APIs, microservices, or web-based interfaces that enable secure and intuitive interaction with AI models.
• Prototype and test AI tools for data summarization, Q&A, semantic search, text generation, and other advanced capabilities.
• Support and Collaboration – Collaborate closely with administrative stakeholders, bridging technical and non-technical teams to identify and implement customized AI workflows or tools.
• Assist in evaluating, fine-tuning, and deploying open-source or proprietary LLMs for domain-specific tasks.
• Provide guidance on responsible AI use and model limitations in administrative operational contexts.
• Enterprise AI Integration – Work with IT development team to identify opportunities to integrate GenAI into university business processes (e.g., knowledge management, process automation). IT development team leader approves projects.
• Ensure solutions comply with data security, privacy, and governance policies.
• Testing and Technical Documentation – Write documentation for developed tools, workflows, and APIs for review and audit. Coordinates with AI Educator.
• Conduct model validation and performance evaluations in controlled environments.
• Continuous Learning and Innovation – Stay up-to-date on emerging AI models, frameworks, and best practices.
• Participate in AI-related communities of practice or consortium activities representing the university.
• Recommend and test new AI techniques that align with the university’s data strategy and digital transformation goals.
• Participate in establishing and maintaining AI governance and responsible AI deployment frameworks, ensuring transparency, fairness, and compliance with university standards.
• Other Duties – Other duties as assigned.

• Requires a bachelor’s degree in a job related field and 4 or more years of job related experience, which may be substituted by an equivalent combination of job related certification, training, education, and/or experience.
• A successful background check is required.

• Master’s degree or PhD in a related field.
• At least 2 years of experience with AI/ML development, including LLMs, transformers, or NLP systems.

$95,954;
Salary is commensurate with education and experience.

USC Upstate offers a valuable benefits package including but not limited to:

The University of South Carolina is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution. Women, minorities, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.