ICON is looking for a pragmatic builder who has made the leap from traditional software engineering into the emerging world of agentic AI development. As an AI Software Engineer at ICON, you will be responsible for designing and shipping AI-powered tools, workflows, and autonomous agents that accelerate ICON's construction technology platform. This role reports to the Sr. Director, Defense Technology Programs and is available for remote work with periodic travel to ICON HQ in Austin, TX as projects require.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Design and build agentic AI systems that automate complex, multi-step workflows across ICON's software platform
Develop LLM-powered features and products using state-of-the-art foundation models and APIs (e.g. Anthropic, OpenAI)
Architect and implement multi-agent pipelines, tool-use systems, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations
Build robust RAG systems including document ingestion, chunking strategies, embedding pipelines, and vector retrieval
Collaborate with software and domain teams to identify high-leverage AI automation opportunities and translate them into shipped products
Own the full development lifecycle of AI features: prototyping, evaluation, deployment, and iteration
Serve as a technical resource and informal mentor on agentic AI best practices across the engineering organization
Stay at the leading edge of the agentic AI landscape and bring emerging techniques into production

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

6+ years of professional software engineering experience with a strong foundation in backend or full-stack development
Demonstrated experience building and shipping production-grade products using LLMs and agentic frameworks
Proficiency in TypeScript and/or Python
Deep understanding of prompt engineering, context management, and LLM reasoning patterns
Experience with tool-use, function calling, and agent orchestration (e.g. LangChain, LlamaIndex, Claude Code, or custom implementations)
Ability to design and execute structured evals to measure and improve AI system performance
Strong communication skills and comfort working cross-functionally with both technical teams and non-technical stakeholders
Must be able to obtain and maintain security clearance.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) server development and integration
Familiarity with vector databases (e.g. pgvector, Pinecone, Weaviate)
Experience with fine-tuning, RLHF, or model evaluation pipelines
Background in ML fundamentals: embeddings, transformers, attention mechanisms
Exposure to structured output generation and LLM-based data extraction
Experience working with code generation agents (e.g. Claude Code, Cursor, Devin-style systems)
Familiarity with AWS and serverless infrastructure for AI workloads
Experience working in or alongside government, defense, or regulated environments
Interest or background in the AEC (architecture, engineering, construction) industry

Rate Range: $126,400 - $180,000

ICON is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an innovative, inclusive, diverse and discrimination-free work environment. Employment with ICON is based on merit, competence, and qualifications. It is our policy to administer all personnel actions, including recruiting, hiring, training, and promoting employees, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin or ancestry, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other legally protected classification in accordance with applicable federal and state laws. Consistent with the obligations of these laws, ICON will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities.

Furthermore, as a federal government contractor, the Company maintains an affirmative action program which furthers its commitment and complies with recordkeeping and reporting requirements under certain federal civil rights laws and regulations, including Executive Order 11246, Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (as amended) and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (as amended).

Headhunters and recruitment agencies may not submit candidates through this application. ICON does not accept unsolicited headhunter and agency submissions for candidates and will not pay fees to any third-party agency without a prior agreement with ICON.

As part of our compliance with these obligations, the Company invites you to vol

AI Software Engineer II, Government Technology at ICON plc