Volunteer Software Engineers Jobs in Iowa (NOW HIRING)

Position Title

AI Engineer

Job Group

Professional & Scientific

Required Minimum Qualifications

High school diploma or equivalent and 3 years of related experience

Job Description: Summary

Information Technology Services (ITS) at Iowa State University is seeking an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineer (Software Developer II) to support the development, deployment, and maintenance of AI solutions in a higher education research institution. This role is centered on the practical implementation of AI tools and features that support the university’s mission and improve institutional services. The ideal candidate will work closely with stakeholders to gather and refine AI requirements, build AI applications, and manage their ongoing performance in production environments. This position emphasizes practical implementation, testing, and lifecycle support of AI features integrated into institutional services and platforms.

Duties

• Collaborate with end users and stakeholders in a higher education, extension, and research environment to gather and document business and technical requirements for AI capabilities.
• Design, develop, test, and maintain AI applications and services using low-code Microsoft tools to meet institutional needs.
• Integrate AI functionality into university systems using the Microsoft technical stack.
• Design and implement multi-agent architecture elements in the Microsoft ecosystem.
• Troubleshoot, debug, and resolve issues in both custom and third-party applications.
• Monitor system health, analyze logs and metrics, and implement fixes as needed.
• Maintain secure access patterns, authentication, authorization, and data protection controls for AI applications using the Azure cloud platform.

Preferred Qualifications

• Education, training, or certification in artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning.
• Develop and maintain AI-powered applications using Azure AI services, Azure OpenAI, Microsoft Foundry and Microsoft Copilot technologies.
• Integrate Copilot Studio agents with backend services using Power Automate, Azure Functions, APIs, and custom connectors.
• Create and administer Microsoft Foundry endpoints for AI models with Entra security for authentication.
• Configure and maintain pipelines in Power Platform to manage solution migrations and deployments.
• Design and implement API gateways and authentication mechanisms using Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Functions, and Azure Key Vault to provide secure, unified access to AI models hosted on Azure.

Desired Qualifications

• Integrate AI agents with enterprise platforms, such as Salesforce, for live-agent handoff and case creation via custom connectors and OAuth workflows.
• Implement telemetry, monitoring, and security controls across Copilot Studio, Microsoft Foundry, Azure, and Power Platform.
• Implement security measures such as rate limiting via Azure Front Door or API Management (APIM).
• Utilize Microsoft Azure development tools to build AI solutions and integrate AI functionality into university services.
• Configure Copilot Studio topics, generative answers, plugins, actions, and knowledge sources to support university department-specific use cases.
• Build conversational and autonomous AI agents using Copilot Studio.
• Develop and manage advanced Power Automate flows to automate data ingestion and synchronization between platforms.
• Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. on an ongoing basis without sponsorship. Immigration sponsorship is not available for this position.

Employment Terms

Appointment Type: Regular

Number of Months Employed Per Year: 12

Month Work Period Time Type: Full time

Pay Grade: PS810

Original Posting Date: August 28, 2026

Posting Close Date: September 3, 2026

Job Requisition Number: R19810

Benefits

• Retirement benefits including defined benefit and defined contribution plans
• Generous vacation, holiday, and sick time and leave plans
• Onsite childcare (Ames, Iowa)
• Life insurance and long-term disability
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Various voluntary benefits and discounts
• Employee Assistance Program
• Wellbeing program
• WorkFlex options for some positions. WorkFlex offers flexibility on when, where, and how you do your work.

About Iowa State University

Located just 30 minutes north of Des Moines, the city of Ames was recently named one of the Top 10 cities in the U.S. for campus life and career opportunities. Iowa State University is a welcoming community of students, faculty, and staff. Campus community members have a wide range of backgrounds and experiences and are committed to engaging with each other respectfully as outlined in the university's Principles of Community. Iowa State recognizes that diverse intellectual and philosophical perspectives are vital to innovation, critical thinking skills, and a dynamic academic community that fosters the land‑grant ideals of putting science, technology, and human creativity to work. All offers of employment, oral and written, are contingent upon the university’s verification of credentials and other information required by federal and state law, ISU policies/procedures, and may include the completion of a background check and/or a consumer credit check.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Iowa State University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, ethnicity, religion, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, genetic information, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. Veteran.

Inquiries regarding non‑discrimination policies may be directed to Office of Equal Opportunity, 2680 Beardshear Hall, 515 Morrill Road, Ames, Iowa 50011, Tel. 515-294-7612, email eooffice@iastate.edu.

Iowa State University provides reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants with questions about access or requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should email employment@iastate.edu or call (515) 294-4800 or Toll-Free: (877) 477-7485. TTY users are welcome to use the Iowa Relay Service number by dialing 7-1-1 or (800) 735-2942.

General ISU compensation information can be found on the University Human Resources website. Please note that this is only a list of ranges and individuals will be paid commensurate with qualifications.