Principal AI Engineer

Job Description:

Job Title: Principal AI Engineer

Location: Springfield, Missouri

Department: Information Technology

Employment Type: Full-time

Job Summary: Join a compassionate, collaborative team making a measurable difference by delivering AI-driven analytics that empower business decisions and improve outcomes for stakeholders. This role offers the opportunity to lead high-impact AI initiatives, mentor cross-functional teams, shape enterprise AI strategy, work with cutting-edge LLM and Snowflake technologies, and build production-ready systems that increase data accessibility and drive faster insights. We seek a self-directed, systems-thinking engineer with strong communication skills and a passion for translating complex analytical needs into scalable technical solutions.

The Principal AI Engineer is the senior technical contributor within Analytics responsible for designing, developing, and implementing enterprise AI capabilities on the data platform with a focus on Snowflake integration. This hands-on role develops natural language-to-SQL solutions, semantic data models, and prototype applications that enable governed, conversational access to enterprise data, and guides their transition into scalable, production-ready solutions.

This position offers…

• Employee Assistance Program - 24/7 counseling services, legal assistance, & financial consultation for you and your household at no cost
• Mileage Reimbursement - Company paid for work functions requiring travel
• Employee Discounts - Hotels, Theme Parks & Attractions, College Tuition
• Workplace Culture - An environment cultivating employee wellbeing, valuing each individual's humanity, and actively promoting a healthy, joyful workforce
• Additional Perks & Benefits - Scroll down to bottom of this post to learn more

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design and implementation of LLM-enabled analytics capabilities leveraging Snowflake and Cortex AI features
• Develop natural language-to-SQL solutions and conversational interfaces that allow business users to query governed enterprise data
• Collaborate with Data Engineering to design and maintain semantic data models that support reliable AI-driven query generation
• Build prototype AI applications to validate high-value business use cases and demonstrate new capabilities
• Guide the transition of prototypes into scalable, production-ready solutions and establish architectural patterns and best practices for LLMs with structured data
• Assist Data Engineering with prompt design, query-generation frameworks, evaluation approaches, and integration tasks
• Identify high-impact opportunities for AI across analytics, reporting, and decision-support workflows
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies, tools, and Snowflake platform capabilities for potential adoption
• Support development of standards for responsible, secure AI usage aligned with enterprise data governance
• Document system architecture, design decisions, and implementation approaches
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to analytics and data engineering team members
• Function in accordance with operational guidelines and professional ethics; participate in staff development activities; perform other duties as assigned

Education, Experience, and/or Credential Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Data Science, Information Systems, or related field
• 7+ years of experience in data, analytics, engineering, or applied AI roles
• Demonstrated experience building or prototyping AI/LLM-driven solutions in enterprise environments
• Experience with modern data warehouse platforms (Snowflake preferred)
• Proficiency in SQL and Python
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) preferred
• Healthcare or regulated industry experience preferred but not required

Additional Qualifications:

• Strong understanding of modern data warehouse architecture and analytics data modeling practices
• Experience designing natural language query interfaces, prompt engineering, context management, and grounding techniques for LLM systems
• Knowledge of semantic data modeling and data governance principles
• Ability to translate complex analytical questions into scalable technical solutions and communicate clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Self-directed problem solver with leadership and mentoring experience
• Successful completion of background check including criminal record, driving record, abuse/neglect, and fingerprint check required
• Current driver's license, acceptable driving record, and current auto insurance required

Physical Requirements

• Sedentary work: exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally and/or negligible force frequently to lift, carry, push, or pull objects; repetitive movements of hands, fingers, and arms for typing and/or writing during work shift
• Primarily sitting with occasional walking or standing for brief periods

Keywords: Principal AI Engineer, LLM, Snowflake, Cortex AI, natural language to SQL, semantic data modeling, data engineering, Python, SQL, enterprise AI

Position Perks & Benefits:

Paid time off: full-time employees receive an attractive time off package to balance your work and personal life

Employee benefits package: full-time employees receive health, dental, vision, retirement, life, & more

Top-notch training: initial, ongoing, comprehensive, and supportive

Career mobility: advancement opportunities/promoting from within

Welcoming, warm, supportive: a work culture & environment that promotes your well-being, values you as human being, and encourages your health and happiness

Brightli is on a Mission:

A mission to improve client care, reduce the financial burden of community mental health centers by sharing resources, a mission to have a larger voice in advocacy to increase access to mental health and substance user care in our communities, and a mission to evolve the behavioral health industry to better meet the needs of our clients.

As a behavioral and community mental health provider, we prioritize fostering a culture of belonging and connection within our workforce. We encourage applications from individuals with varied backgrounds and experiences, as we believe that a rich tapestry of perspectives strengthens our mission. If you are passionate about empowering local communities and creating an environment where everyone feels valued and supported, we invite you to join our mission-driven organization dedicated to cultivating an authentic workplace.

We are an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.

Brightli is a Smoke and Tobacco Free Workplace.