Senior AI Engineer, ICT
ICAO · Montréal
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) sets international Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) for aviation safety, air navigation, security and environmental protection. To that effect, ICAO is a knowledge-based organization engaged in the development of intellectual property.
The Bureau of Administration and Services (ADB) plays a lead role in the effective and efficient administrative management of the Organization by ensuring the provision of high-quality physical and human resources, by applying the highest standards of work ethics and conduct, and by using results based management skills and tools to support the Organization in implementing its Strategic Objectives, in order to serve all stakeholders of the world aviation community.
The Information Management Services (IMS) function is responsible for planning, developing and implementing the Organization’s information management and digital technology strategy, establishing common ICT standards, and enabling secure, reliable and innovative digital services across Headquarters and Regional Offices.
Within IMS, the Senior AI Engineer supports the design, development, deployment and continuous improvement of the Organization’s artificial intelligence solutions, with a focus on generative AI, retrieval-augmented generation and multi-agent systems built on Microsoft Azure and .NET. The role contributes to the responsible adoption of AI in accordance with the Organization’s enterprise architecture, data governance, privacy, cybersecurity and ethical requirements.
The incumbent works under the technical direction of the AI Architecture Focal Point, who sets solution architecture and technical standards, assigns technical priorities and reviews deliverables, and under the administrative supervision of the responsible Business Applications Lead. The incumbent works closely with developers, business owners, cybersecurity and data management stakeholders.
Develops and enhances enterprise AI solutions, achieving results such as:
- Implement AI solutions in accordance with the architectures, technical specifications and standards defined by the AI Architecture Focal Point.
- Design, develop and optimize generative-AI solutions in C#/.NET, including retrieval-augmented generation, AI agents and multi-agent workflows, using Microsoft Azure AI services, with Python used for supporting tooling, prototyping and evaluation where appropriate.
- Build reusable components, application programming interfaces and integration patterns for enterprise platforms and data sources.
- Compare models, prompts, retrieval strategies and configuration options for accuracy, cost, performance and maintainability, and present findings to inform technical decisions.
- Apply established coding, documentation, testing and version-control practices.
- Deliver prototypes and production-ready enhancements that meet approved functional and non-functional requirements.
Strengthens the quality and reliability of production AI services, achieving results such as:
- Implement automated pipelines for testing and deployment of AI applications.
- Define measurable quality criteria and conduct systematic evaluations using RAGAS or equivalent .NET-native evaluation frameworks, covering faithfulness, answer relevance, context precision and recall, latency, cost and user outcomes.
- Monitor production solutions for hallucination, bias, misuse, security vulnerabilities and service degradation, and implement corrective measures.
- Apply data protection, access control, logging, auditability, resilience and secure-development requirements throughout the AI lifecycle.
- Maintain technical documentation, evaluation evidence, operating procedures and support handover materials.
- Support incident analysis, troubleshooting, performance tuning and continuous improvement of deployed AI services.
Supports responsible AI practices and technical assessments, achieving results such as:
- Assess proposed AI use cases, datasets and cloud services for feasibility, risk and fit, and provide evidence-based recommendations to the AI Architecture Focal Point.
- Implement human oversight, transparency, explainability and fairness controls in AI solutions.
- Explain AI capabilities, limitations, risks and trade-offs to technical and non-technical stakeholders in clear and practical terms.
- Remain current with relevant AI research, standards, regulation and industry practices, and assess their applicability to the Organization’s AI solutions.
Builds team capability and performs other related duties, achieving results such as:
- Collaborate with developers, analysts and multidisciplinary teams, participate in design and code reviews, and promote knowledge sharing and reusable engineering practices.
- Develop technical guidance and demonstrations that enable informed and responsible use of AI.
- Perform other related duties, as assigned.
Essential
A first-level university degree in artificial intelligence, computer science, data science, machine learning, software engineering, mathematics, statistics or a related field in combination with additional qualifying experience.
Desirable
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or academic equivalent) in artificial intelligence, computer science, data science, machine learning, software engineering, mathematics, statistics or a related field
- Relevant professional certification in cloud architecture, AI engineering, machine learning, data engineering or information security.
- Training or certification in responsible AI, privacy engineering, secure software development or technology governance.
- Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate.
Essential
- A minimum of eight (8) years of progressively responsible experience in software engineering, data science or artificial intelligence, including at least two (2) years designing and delivering generative AI solutions in production environments.
- Demonstrated experience with generative AI, large language models, prompt and context engineering, retrieval-augmented generation, vector search, AI agents and systematic evaluation, including RAG evaluation frameworks such as RAGAS or equivalent.
- Hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure cloud and AI services, containerization, source control, continuous integration and deployment, and production monitoring.
- Strong proficiency in C# and .NET for production development of enterprise applications and AI solutions, including integration with Azure AI services, APIs and SQL Server.
- Working knowledge of Python for AI tooling, prototyping, data processing and evaluation, including RAGAS-based evaluation pipelines.
- Experience integrating AI solutions with enterprise applications, structured and unstructured data sources, identity services and security controls.
- Strong knowledge of data governance, privacy, cybersecurity, responsible AI and the operational risks associated with probabilistic systems.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively within a technical team under established architectural direction, and to communicate clearly with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Experience with .NET AI orchestration frameworks such as Semantic Kernel or Microsoft Agent Framework.
Essential
- Fluent reading, writing and speaking abilities in English.
Desirable
- A working knowledge of a second language of the Organization (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish).
Conditions of Employment
It should be noted that this consultancy is to be filled for an initial period of twelve (12) months with a possibility of an extension.
Please note that the daily rate for Band C varies from $402 to $578.
How to apply
Interested candidates must complete an on-line application form. To apply, please visit ICAO's e-Recruitment website at: https://careers.icao.int.
Applications must describe at least two production AI systems the candidate has delivered, including the candidate’s role, the solution architecture and how quality was evaluated.
Shortlisted candidates will be required to complete a technical assessment covering C#/.NET development and RAG solution design and evaluation.
Notice to Candidates
ICAO does NOT charge any fees or request money from candidates at any stage of the selection process, nor does it concern itself with bank account details of applicants. Requests of this nature allegedly made on behalf of ICAO are fraudulent and should be disregarded.