Senior AI Engineer

Location: Orlando, United States of America
Thales people architect solutions that enable two-thirds of planes to take off and land safely. We create in-flight entertainment systems that engross 50 million fliers every year and we develop the avionics that control the world’s largest commercial aircrafts. Our simulators train the next generation of pilots for fighter jets, transporters and search and rescue helicopters. And, together, each and every member of our aerospace team makes a difference.
When you rely on airlines to connect you in flight, you rely on Thales. In an increasingly fast paced world, we make the unpredictable, predictable by connecting and entertain passengers to make your life better. Combining a diversity of talents, we master the decisive moments that matter to passengers and airlines. Whatever it takes.

Senior AI Engineer

Orlando, FL (Hybrid)

Position Summary

Thales is looking for a Senior AI Engineer to serve as a senior technical contributor within the Thales InFlyt Experience ecosystem, leading the design, development, and operationalization of advanced applied AI solutions that enhance the inflight passenger experience for millions of travelers worldwide. This role combines deep hands-on engineering expertise with technical leadership responsibilities to drive scalable, secure, and production-ready AI capabilities across cloud and edge environments.

Operating with a high degree of autonomy, the Senior AI Engineer architects and delivers enterprise-grade AI systems, including agentic workflows, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) platforms, orchestration frameworks, and intelligent automation solutions. You will partner closely with engineering, product, platform, cybersecurity, and business stakeholders to align AI capabilities with strategic priorities, customer needs, operational scalability, and responsible AI practices.

In this position, you will also contribute to the evolution of the organization’s AI architecture, engineering standards, and platform capabilities while providing technical guidance and mentorship across engineering teams. As the Senior AI Engineer, you will play a key role in accelerating AI adoption, enabling innovation, and improving business outcomes through scalable and maintainable AI-driven solutions.

Key Areas of Responsibility

• Contribute to the definition and evolution of enterprise AI architecture strategies, scalable design patterns, frameworks, and engineering standards supporting applied AI initiatives across the organization, while influencing platform, infrastructure, and integration decisions to support long-term scalability, maintainability, and alignment across AWS cloud and edge-based deployments.
• Lead the end-to-end delivery of AI solutions, including problem definition, architecture selection, software development, infrastructure design, deployment, observability, and continuous optimization within production environments.
• Architect, develop, and operationalize advanced AI systems, including agentic AI architectures, RAG pipelines, orchestration frameworks, human-in-the-loop solutions, and intelligent automation capabilities, while designing and developing reusable AI frameworks, accelerators, and engineering components to improve consistency, speed, scalability, and quality across AI initiatives.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders across engineering, product, platform, operations, and business teams to identify high-value AI opportunities and translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions, while collaborating with technical and business leadership to support AI adoption initiatives, roadmap discussions, and strategic innovation efforts.
• Contribute to AI governance, security, and compliance practices, including model evaluation frameworks, responsible AI standards, data privacy considerations, risk mitigation, and operational guardrails, and drive AI system observability and operational excellence through monitoring, evaluation frameworks, feedback loops, performance tuning, and continuous improvement strategies.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineering teams by promoting best practices in AI solution design, software engineering, cloud architecture, and production readiness, and serve as a technical subject matter expert in applied AI technologies, contributing to internal knowledge sharing, technical reviews, and external engagements as appropriate.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, Computer Science, Cloud Computing, or related technical field; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 4+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, cloud engineering, AI/ML engineering, or related technical disciplines, including 3+ years of hands-on experience designing, developing, and deploying production-grade AI/ML solutions within enterprise or large-scale environments.
• Demonstrated experience contributing to technical architecture decisions and influencing engineering direction across cross-functional teams, with strong collaboration and communication skills and the ability to work effectively across technical and non-technical stakeholder groups.
• Strong expertise in applied AI solution patterns including agentic architectures, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), orchestration frameworks, evaluation pipelines, and intelligent automation, along with a solid understanding of modern AI system concepts including memory management, planning, tool orchestration, model evaluation, guardrails, and responsible AI principles.
• Strong proficiency in Python and modern application development technologies including APIs, React, and TypeScript, with hands-on experience implementing scalable cloud-native applications and distributed systems supporting AI workloads.
• Hands-on experience with AWS cloud technologies, including serverless architectures, infrastructure automation, and AI/ML services such as Amazon Bedrock; experience with infrastructure-as-code and DevOps practices using technologies such as Terraform, CI/CD pipelines, and automated deployment frameworks; and strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities with the ability to translate complex business needs into scalable technical solutions.

Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States for any employer at the time of hire. This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship or for assuming sponsorship of an employment visa now or in the future.

If you’re excited about working with Thales, but not meeting the requirements for this position, we encourage you to join our Talent Community!

Special Position Requirements

• Schedule: Core business hours Monday – Friday.
• Physical Environment: General office & warehouse environment.
• Regulatory Compliance Requirements: None.

Why Join Us?

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This position will require successfully completing a post-offer background check. Qualified candidates with [a] criminal history will be considered and are not automatically disqualified, consistent with federal law, state law, and local ordinances.

We are an equal opportunity employer, including disability and veteran status. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected Veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you need an accommodation or assistance in order to apply for a position with Thales, please contact us at [email protected].

The reference Total Target Compensation (TTC) market range for this position, inclusive of annual base salary and the variable compensation target, is between

Total Target Cash (TTC) 120,375.00 - 204,662.00 USD Annual

This reflects how companies in a similar industry and geographic region generally pay for similar jobs. This range helps the Company make pay decisions as one data point among many. Where a position falls within this range is also dependent on other factors including – but not limited to – the employee’s career path history, competencies, skills and performance, as well as the company’s annual salary budget, the customer’s program requirements, and the company’s internal equity. Thales may offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s status protected by local, state, or federal law.

(For Internal candidate, if you need more information, please reach out to your HR Shared Service, 1st Point) 

Thales provides an extensive benefits program for all full-time employees working 30 or more hours per week and their eligible dependents, including the following:

•Elective Health, Dental, Vision, FSA/HSA, Voluntary Life and AD&D, Whole Group Life w/LTC, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity, Accident Insurance, Legal Plan, Identity Theft, and Pet Insurance

•Retirement Savings Plan after 30 days of employment with a company contribution and a match, and with no vesting period

•Company paid holidays and Paid Time Off

•Company provided Life Insurance, AD&D, Disability, Employee Assistance Plan, and Well-being Program