Lead AI Engineer

Compensation Range:

$170,000 - $200,000 CAD

Compensation Disclaimer:

The salary range listed reflects the base pay for this role at Altus Group and is provided where required by local regulations. Actual offers may differ based on experience, market conditions, and other relevant factors. The range does not include additional compensation such as bonuses, equity, benefits, or other incentives.

Job Summary:

This role will lead the design, development, and production deployment of advanced AI and machine learning capabilities across a commercial real estate SaaS platform. The position combines hands‑on technical leadership with applied research, building both LLM-powered features and custom domain‑specific models. The role partners closely with engineering, product, data, and architecture teams to translate complex business problems into scalable AI solutions, while establishing standards, infrastructure, and best practices for AI development across the organization.

Key Responsibilities:

• Architect and implement AI-powered features across the SaaS platform, including agentic workflows, intelligent data extraction, and analysis capabilities
• Lead research and development of custom AI/ML models tailored to the commercial real estate domain
• Evaluate fine-tuning foundation models versus building domain-specific models from scratch
• Establish technical standards, patterns, and best practices for AI/ML development across feature teams
• Lead hands‑on development of complex AI systems, including LLM integrations, RAG architectures, and multi‑agent orchestration
• Design and implement model training pipelines, experiment tracking, and model versioning infrastructure
• Make build‑versus‑buy decisions for AI tooling and frameworks, balancing innovation with pragmatism
• Design scalable infrastructure for AI workloads, including model serving, inference optimization, and GPU resource management
• Partner with engineering and architecture leaders to identify AI opportunities and guide implementation
• Collaborate with Platform, Data, and Analytics teams to ensure access to high-quality, unified data
• Work with product managers to translate business requirements into technical AI solutions
• Mentor engineers on AI/ML techniques, prompt engineering, and agentic frameworks
• Drive the technical roadmap for AI capabilities across applied LLM work and custom model development
• Lead research initiatives advancing CRE‑specific AI applications
• Champion AI adoption through internal knowledge‑sharing initiatives such as the AI Guild
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and research, leading proofs‑of‑concept where appropriate
• Establish experimentation frameworks for rapid iteration and A/B testing of AI features
• Contribute to the AI/ML community through publications, blogs, or open‑source work
• Define governance models, quality gates, testing strategies, and safety measures for AI systems
• Create documentation and runbooks to support reliable operation of AI-powered features
• Balance rapid innovation with responsible AI practices and risk management

Key Qualifications:

• 8+ years of product engineering experience, with at least 3 years focused on production AI/ML systems
• Proven experience training, evaluating, and deploying custom ML models in production environments
• Hands‑on experience with both LLM‑powered applications and traditional ML model development
• Deep understanding of model architectures, training methodologies, and optimization techniques
• Strong software engineering fundamentals, including system design, APIs, and cloud architectures
• Experience leading technical initiatives across teams or operating at staff or tech lead level
• Active hands‑on coder with ongoing experience writing production code and training models
• Publication record (academic papers, patents, or significant open‑source contributions) is a strong plus
• Expert‑level knowledge of ML fundamentals, including neural networks, transformers, and optimization algorithms
• Deep experience with deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX
• Experience with LLM application patterns including RAG, prompt engineering, fine‑tuning, and agentic architectures
• Proficiency with distributed training, GPU optimization, and experiment tracking tools
• Strong foundation in statistics, probability, and mathematical optimization
• Experience with advanced ML architectures such as transformers, diffusion models, graph neural networks, or reinforcement learning
• Knowledge of vector databases, embeddings, and semantic search technologies
• Experience in data engineering for ML, including feature stores, data pipelines, and data quality practices
• Understanding of MLOps practices such as model monitoring, A/B testing, shadow deployments, and versioning
• Cloud experience (AWS, Azure, or GCP) supporting ML workloads at scale
• Strong technical communication skills with ability to explain complex concepts to diverse audiences
• Pragmatic, collaborative leadership style with comfort operating in ambiguity
• Experience working in enterprise SaaS environments with mature products

This is a newly created position within the team.

Unlock your Altus Experience!

If you’re looking to advance your career in an industry that is transitioning for greatness, there’s no better place than Altus Group.

Our high trust, high performance culture prioritizes progressive programs that empower you to deliver your greatest performance while promoting collective success where everyone is recognized and connected.

We offer boundless opportunities in a rapidly growing global business: mentorship from the best and brightest in CRE, access to our Altus Intelligence Academy, and the chance to work with the best data sets, tools and technology in the industry.

What Altus Group offers:

• Rewarding performance: competitive compensation, incentive and bonus plans, and a total rewards package prioritizing mental, physical, and financial well-being.
• Growth and development: we invest in your professional learning. Our Altus Intelligence Academy offers over 150,000 hours of learning content.
• Flexible work model: our Activity-Based Work model provides flexibility to align your work location to the needs of the work — use the office for collaboration and remote work for focused tasks.

Inclusivity & Accessibility

Altus Group is committed to fostering an inclusive work environment where all clients and employees feel welcomed, accepted and valued. We provide an atmosphere free from barriers to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, and encourage equal opportunities for all employees. We’re seeking candidates with diverse experiences and provide accessible candidate experiences throughout the selection process. If you need accommodation, please contact us at accessibility@altusgroup.com or +1 888 692 7487.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

AI tools may be used to support the initial stages of screening for this role; however, all assessments and final hiring decisions are reviewed and made by an Altus Group hiring professional.

Background Checks

Please note that as part of our commitment to maintaining a safe and secure workplace, Altus Group may conduct background checks on candidates who receive a conditional offer of employment. These checks may include, but are not limited to, verification of employment history, education credentials, criminal records, credit history (where relevant), and reference checks. The scope and nature of background checks may vary depending on the role, location, and applicable laws. All background checks will be conducted in compliance with local laws and regulations, and candidates will be informed of any checks required as part of the recruitment process.

Other Notes / Application Process

We appreciate all applicants; however, only those selected to move forward will be contacted. Thank you for your interest in Altus Group.

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