Senior AI Engineer

For over four decades, PAR Technology Corporation (NYSE: PAR) has been a leader in restaurant technology, empowering brands worldwide to create lasting connections with their guests. Our innovative solutions and commitment to excellence provide comprehensive software and hardware that enable seamless experiences and drive growth for over 100,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries. Embracing our "Better Together" ethos, we offer Unified Customer Experience solutions, combining point-of-sale, digital ordering, loyalty and back-office software solutions as well as industry-leading hardware and drive-thru offerings. To learn more, visit partech.com or connect with us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram.

Position Description:

We are seeking a pioneering Senior AI Engineer to be the first dedicated AI specialist in the PAR Retail R&D organization. This is a hands-on builder role focused on architecting and integrating our first generation of AI-powered products and services. You will be responsible for turning business needs into production-ready solutions by leveraging both foundational machine learning and cutting-edge Generative AI. As our go-to expert, you will define the foundational architecture for gluing together modern AI platforms, establish engineering best practices, and build the services that will power the future of our retail offerings.

Position Location:

Canada, Remote

Reports To:

Director, Software Development

What We’re Looking For:

· 10+ years of professional software engineering experience.

· Demonstrable experience of at least 3+ years in a role with hands-on experience focused on developing and deploying AI/ML solutions.

· Proven experience architecting and building solutions using modern AI services from major cloud providers (e.g., Azure OpenAI, Amazon Bedrock, Google Vertex AI).

· Hands-on experience with vector databases (e.g., Pinecone, Chroma, Milvus) and LLM application frameworks (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex).

· Strong proficiency in Python and its ecosystem for both software development and AI/ML.

· Expertise within the Databricks ecosystem, including hands-on experience with Delta Lake, Unity Catalog for governance, the Feature Store, and deploying models via Databricks Model Serving.

· Experience with MLOps tools and principles, especially MLflow.

· A strong understanding of how to "glue" systems together by developing and integrating with REST or GraphQL APIs.

· Expert knowledge of machine learning fundamentals, including natural language processing (NLP).

· Experience implementing responsible AI practices, like model fairness, explainability, and bias mitigation, while adhering to data privacy regulations and secure ML deployment best practices.

· Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently in a fast-paced, sometimes ambiguous environment.

· Bachelor's degree in computer science or a related technical field.

Additional skills:

· Experience with other model types such as deep learning or reinforcement learning is a plus.

· Experience integrating ML solutions with CI/CD pipelines and monitoring tools (e.g., DataDog, Grafana).

· Experience defining and tracking success metrics for AI projects (e.g., accuracy, business KPIs)

· While not required, some familiarity with NodeJS or Ruby on Rails is a plus.

· Experience in Fuel and CStore industry, Customer Loyalty, and/or Payments is a strong plus.

Unleash your potential: What you will be doing and owning:

· Architectural Strategy: Define and establish the foundational architecture and best practices for all future AI/ML projects, ensuring our systems are scalable, maintainable, and robust from the ground up.

· End-to-End AI Implementation: Design, build, train, and deploy machine learning models to solve key business problems, from initial data collection and feature engineering to production monitoring.

· Proof-of-Concept Refinement: Collaborate with other engineers to evaluate existing PoCs. You will be tasked with identifying areas for improvement, optimizing algorithms, and re-architecting solutions for scalability, performance, and reliability.

· Hands-on Technical Contribution: Act as the subject matter expert on AI/ML within the company. Provide guidance and technical direction to other engineers and stakeholders, while actively participating in the implementation of AI initiatives.

· MLOps & Infrastructure: Establish and champion MLOps best practices to create a robust and automated machine learning lifecycle. This includes building data pipelines, model versioning, automated testing, and deployment frameworks.

· Strategic Collaboration: Work closely with product managers, data analysts, and business leaders to identify high-impact opportunities for AI. Translate business requirements into technical specifications and actionable project plans.

· Stay Current: Continuously research and evaluate the latest advancements in AI/ML to ensure our company remains at the forefront of technological innovation.

PAR is proud to provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. We also provide reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable laws. If you require reasonable accommodation to complete a job application, pre-employment testing, a job interview or to otherwise participate in the hiring process, or for your role at PAR, please contact [email protected]. If you’d like more information about your EEO rights as an applicant, please visit the US Department of Labor's website.