AI Engineer Lead at Allstate in Chicago, IL

AI Engineer Lead Location: Chicago River Point At Allstate, great things happen when our people work together to protect families and their belongings from life’s uncertainties. And for more than 90 years, our innovative drive has kept us a step ahead of our customers’ evolving needs. From advocating for seat belts, air bags and graduated driving laws, to being an industry leader in pricing sophistication, telematics, and, more recently, device and identity protection. Job Description At Allstate Investments, we are seeking an AI Developer who is a fast learner and rapid problem solver, capable of quickly understanding new domains, technologies, and business problems, and translating them into high impact proof-of-concept (PoC) solutions. This role requires the ability to move quickly from idea to working prototypes, validate value early, and then guide successful PoCs into scalable, production-ready AI solutions. As a member of the Investments Technology group, your work directly supports an $80bn portfolio and an organization of 300+ experts committed to excellence, innovation, and the highest ethical standards. You will be a hands-on developer – pairing daily with other engineers and guiding adoption of LLMs, RAG, vector stores, and agentic frameworks. You’ll partner closely with product and platform leaders to build AI systems. You will: Collaborate with a highly talented and diverse team of professionals Continuously expand your skill set by learning new technologies, tools, and methodologies. Proactively identify opportunities for innovation, with the autonomy to rapidly explore, prototype, and validate new ideas. Play a key role in the design, development, and deployment of AI/ML solutions. Lead the transition of AI/ML initiatives from proof of concept to scalable, production-ready solutions. KeyResponsibilities: Establish and socialize strongAIengineering fundamentals, design patterns, codequality standards. Participate in projects,demonstratingtechnicalexpertiseand a hands-on approach in experimentation and productization. Partner with product stakeholders toiterate quicklyonPoCs, incorporating feedback and refining solutions in short cycles. Qualifications: Minimum of 5 years of python development Minimum of3years of experience working on AI projects, with a focus on productizing AI/ML solutions. Deep understanding of machineleaningfundamentalsand ability to apply them in developing and implementing AI/ML solutions. Experience with GenAI technologies and techniques (e.g., RAG, fine-tuning, vector stores, Agenticframeworks). Data-driven decision making, combining robust analytical thinking with sound businessjudgment. Excellent communicationwith both technical and non-technical team members. Comfort with hands-on involvement in AI/ML experimentation and model development. Solid grasp of software development principles, including design patterns, testing, and version control such as Git.(preferred) Inquisitive nature, with a deep understanding of both technical and business aspects.(preferred) Technical Skills Needed: 1) Programming & Engineering Excellence Python (advanced), APIs, pipelines, and AI orchestration Java/ReactJS(optional) 2)LLM & GenAI Engineering Hands-on experience with LLMs(preferably GPT models) Prompting patterns and structured outputs Model evaluationincluding accuracy/faithfulness checks, hallucination mitigation, regression testing Safety/guardrails patterns appropriate for enterprise use 3)Demonstrated ability toleverageGitHub Copilot for code acceleration: Rapid scaffolding ofcode,services,APIs, anddevelopment 3) Data Skills — SQL + SQL Server, Microsoft Fabric(optional) SQL skills Query authoring, joins,indexing awareness Ability to design data accesspatternsfor AI 4) LLM & GenAI Engineering Hands-on experience with LLMs (commercial) Prompting patterns and structured outputs Strong experience implementing RAG architecturewith ingestion pipelines, chunking strategies Vector database / vector search experiencewithIndexing, similarity search, metadata filtering Experience with MCP patterns,Standardizing tool/context access for models and agent runtimes Designing MCP servers/tool endpoints and integrating them into LLM apps Experience implementing agentic workflows, A2A patternssuch asmulti-agentcollaboration (planner/executor/reviewer/retriever roles) 8) Cloud MSAzureFabricpreferred 9) Observability & Production Support Experienceoperatingand supporting AI-enabled services in production: Logging, metrics, tracing (APM tools such as Datadog) Model/prompt monitoring, drift signals, quality regression detection Supervisory Responsibilities • This job does not have supervisory duties. Education • 4 year Bachelors Degree #LI-PG1 Skills Building Architecture, Emerging Technologies, Ideation, Large Language Model (LLM) Fine-Tuning, Python (Programming Language), Structured Query Language (SQL) Compensation Compensation offered for this role is 151,700.00 - 221,675.00 annually and is based on experience and qualifications. The candidate(s) offered this position will be required to submit to a background investigation. Joining our team isn’t just a job — it’s an opportunity. One that takes your skills and pushes them to the next level. One that encourages you to challenge the status quo. One where you can shape the future of protection while supporting causes that mean the most to you. Joining our team means being part of something bigger – a winning team making a meaningful impact. Allstate generally does not sponsor individuals for employment-based visas for this position. Effective July 1, 2014, under Indiana House Enrolled Act (HEA) 1242, it is against public policy of the State of Indiana and a discriminatory practice for an employer to discriminate against a prospective employee on the basis of status as a veteran by refusing to employ an applicant on the basis that they are a veteran of the armed forces of the United States, a member of the Indiana National Guard or a member of a reserve component. For jobs in San Francisco, please click “here” for information regarding the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. To view the “EEO Know Your Rights” poster click “here”. This poster provides information concerning the laws and procedures for filing complaints of violations of the laws with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. To view the FMLA poster, click “here”. This poster summarizing the major provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and telling employees how to file a complaint. It is the Company’s policy to employ the best qualified individuals available for all jobs. Therefore, any discriminatory action taken on account of an employee’s ancestry, age, color, disability, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual and reproductive health decision, marital status, medical condition, military or veteran status, national origin, race (include traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles), religion (including religious dress), sex, or sexual orientation that adversely affects an employee's terms or conditions of employment is prohibited. This policy applies to all aspects of the employment relationship, including, but not limited to, hiring, training, salary administration, promotion, job assignment, benefits, discipline, and separation of employment.