Independent Contractor Ai Agent Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Job Description
UW Information Technology has an outstanding opportunity for AI Agent Builder to join their team.
About this Opportunity
Reporting to a Technology Manager in Infrastructure Service and AI Platforms, the AI Agent Builder will support the artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives at the university and its three campuses. This role is a pivotal role in shaping and implementing our AI strategy to transform UW into an AI-powered University. The AI Agent Builder is a core technical role within the AI Platforms team, focused on the design, development, deployment, and ongoing enhancement of AI-powered agents and intelligent automation solutions that serve the university. The AI Agent Builder Engineer role will work within Service Management and AI Platform team under the UW's IT infrastructure Umbrella that provides critical technology support to all three campuses, UW Medicine, and research operations around the world.
This is a full-time hybrid position with the expectation of being in the Seattle, U-District office a minimum of 3 days per week.
Key Responsibilities
[25%] AI Agent Design & Development

• Demonstrated experience designing, building, and iterating on AI agents to improve performance, functionality, and user outcomes.
• Architect and implement advanced RAG pipelines, including embedding strategies, vector search optimization, contextual window management, and hybrid retrieval techniques.

[25%] Administrative & Workflow Automation

• Identify and automate repetitive administrative processes across departments using AI-powered workflows.
• Integrate AI agents with university enterprise systems (e.g., SIS, LMS, HRIS, ERP, ticketing systems) via APIs and connectors.

[15%] Research Support

• Build AI tools that assist researchers with literature review, data analysis, grant writing support, and knowledge synthesis.
• Support advanced use cases involving long-context reasoning, structured data augmentation, and research corpus grounding.

[20%] Custom Tools for Faculty & Staff

• Develop bespoke AI-powered tools tailored to departmental needs (e.g., document drafting assistants, scheduling agents, data query tools).
• Implement agent orchestration frameworks such as CrewAI or equivalent enterprise-grade platforms; experience with nebulaONE or similar orchestration environments is highly desirable.

[15%] Platform & Operations

• Monitor agent performance, usage analytics, and user feedback to continuously improve deployed solutions.
• Implement guardrails, safety mechanisms, and evaluation frameworks to ensure responsible AI behavior.

Required Qualifications
To be considered for this opportunity your application must demonstrate you meet both the minimum qualifications and additional qualifications listed below. Equivalent education and/or experience may substitute for minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license, certification, and/or registration.
Minimum Qualifications
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Software Engineering, or a related field or experience.
• 3 + years of professional software development experience demonstrating strong computer science fundamentals and API integration expertise, professional experience in software development.
• Demonstrated experience in AI/ML or LLM-based applications.
• Demonstrated portfolio of deployed AI agent solutions or automation tools (GitHub repositories, case studies, or equivalent evidence of hands-on work).
• Demonstrated experience building AI agents, chatbots, or conversational AI systems using modern LLM frameworks.
• Hands-on experience with LLM APIs (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or open-source models) and prompt engineering.
• Strong understanding of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), embeddings, vector search, and contextual grounding strategies.
• Familiarity with vector databases (e.g., Pinecone, Weaviate, ChromaDB, pgvector) and embedding-based retrieval.
• Experience with REST APIs, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP), and containerization (Docker).
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a cross-functional teams.
Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in higher education, research institutions, or the public sector.
• Demonstrated experience designing, building, and iterating on AI agents
• Experience with enterprise AI orchestration platforms such as nebulaONE or comparable environments.
• Experience with agent-to-agent (A2A) coordination models and advanced tool-use frameworks.
• Experience with fine-tuning, evaluation, or alignment of language models.
• Knowledge of data privacy regulations (FERPA, HIPAA) and responsible AI principles.
• Experience building no-code/low-code tools or platforms for non-technical users.
• Contributions to open-source AI/ML projects.
• Experience with REST API and MCP integrations is highly desirable; familiarity with A2A integrations is a plus but not required.

Working Conditions
• Work in an open office environment and contribute to collaborative teamwork focused on problem-solving.
• Daily interactions with other team members, subject matter experts and stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• While the general working hours are within Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. the AI Agent Builder Engineer will, on occasion, need to adjust hours to accommodate the business needs and deadlines.
• Attend and occasionally present at conferences.
Compensation, Benefits and Position Details
Pay Range Minimum:
$87,624.00 annual
Pay Range Maximum:
$142,392.00 annual
Other Compensation:
Benefits:
For information about benefits for this position, visit https://www.washington.edu/jobs/benefits-for-uw-staff/
Shift:
First Shift (United States of America)
Temporary or Regular?
This is a regular position
FTE (Full-Time Equivalent):
100.00%
Union/Bargaining Unit:
Not Applicable
About the UW
Working at the University of Washington provides a unique opportunity to change lives - on our campuses, in our state and around the world.
UW employees bring their boundless energy, creative problem-solving skills and dedication to building stronger minds and a healthier world. In return, they enjoy outstanding benefits, opportunities for professional growth and the chance to work in an environment known for its diversity, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits and natural beauty.
Our Commitment
The University of Washington is committed to fostering an inclusive, respectful and welcoming community for all. As an equal opportunity employer, the University considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, citizenship, sex, pregnancy, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, disability, or veteran status consistent with UW Executive Order No. 81.
To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 or dso@uw.edu.
Applicants considered for this position will be required to disclose if they are the subject of any substantiated findings or current investigations related to sexual misconduct at their current employment and past employment. Disclosure is required under Washington state law.