Director, AI and Agentic Engineering

Ryan Specialty

Director of AI responsible for architecting and scaling AI solutions at Ryan Specialty. Leading a high-performing team to drive business impact and automation through AI technologies.

Posted 6/12/2026full-timeChicago • Illinois • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $168,000 - $210,000 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AWSAzureCloudGoogle Cloud PlatformPython

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Define and own the enterprise AI architecture, spanning LLMs, SLMs, fine-tuned models, and retrieval-augmented systems
Establish model selection frameworks
Design and govern AI infrastructure: vector databases, embedding pipelines, model registries, and inference optimization
Lead the adoption and governance of Model Context Protocols (MCPs)
Architect multi-agent systems capable of reasoning, planning, and executing across complex business processes
Design agent orchestration patterns
Lead end-to-end business process automation using AI
Collaborate with process owners to identify and prioritize automation opportunities with measurable ROI
Develop and maintain the enterprise AI roadmap
Build and enforce AI governance frameworks
Act as the internal AI thought leader
Recruit, develop, and lead a high-performing AI team
Build a center-of-excellence model that distributes AI capability and fluency across business units

Requirements

What you’ll need

10+ years in software engineering, data, or applied AI with at least 3 years in senior AI/ML leadership role
Deep hands-on expertise with large language models (GPT-4 class, Claude, Llama, Mistral) and small language models in production
Proven track record architecting and deploying agentic AI systems using frameworks such as LangGraph, AutoGen, CrewAI, or equivalent
Strong command of Model Context Protocols (MCPs) and tool-use patterns for connecting agents to enterprise systems
Experience leading end-to-end AI-powered business process automation — not just prototypes, but production-grade systems with SLAs
Proficiency in Python and familiarity with cloud AI ecosystems (AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, GCP Vertex AI)
Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous business problems into structured, solvable AI architectures
Must have used Claude Code, Codex or Github Copilot in the prior roles

Benefits

Comp & perks

Paid time off for company holidays, vacation, sick, and personal days
Paid parental leave
Mental health services
Comprehensive benefits package to support physical, financial, and emotional well-being

ATS Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

large language modelssmall language modelsagentic AI systemsModel Context Protocolsbusiness process automationPythonAI architectureinference optimizationembedding pipelinesvector databases

Soft Skills

leadershipcollaborationproblem-solvingteam developmentthought leadershipgovernancecommunicationprioritizationorganizational skillsstrategic planning