Business Systems and AI Engineer

About the Foundation The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic, not-for-profit grantmaking institution based in New York City. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-President and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors, the Foundation makes grants in support of research in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics; initiatives to increase access and opportunity in science education; projects to develop or leverage technology to empower research; and efforts to enhance and deepen public engagement with science. Position Overview The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation seeks a Business Systems and AI Engineer to advance its work with artificial intelligence and build reliable systems that support grantmaking and operations. The Foundation has adopted an AI policy and strategy, is well along in enabling its staff, and is building its own AI infrastructure. This role partners closely with the Director of Information Technology and Grants Management, bringing independent technical judgment to decisions about what to buy, build, improve, and maintain. This is a new position on the Information Technology and Grants Management team. The role combines hands-on engineering with responsibility for shared AI tools and staff learning. Working directly with program, grants, finance, communications, and operations colleagues, this person will translate needs into practical improvements and help staff use AI effectively. A central responsibility is making the Foundation's custom software understandable, documented, and maintainable by others over time. Key Responsibilities AI direction and shared tools Help develop and implement the Foundation’s AI priorities and choose the right platforms and tools. Evaluate needs and options, including purchasing services, building tailored solutions, and continuing existing approaches, considering value, cost, reliability, security, and long-term maintenance. Develop and maintain centrally supported AI tools, agents, and integrations, including tools that help staff search and draw on institutional knowledge. Manage access, evaluate output quality, and monitor usage and operating costs. Help get the Foundation’s data ready for AI, including cleaning up data, tightening file permissions, and reducing oversharing in Microsoft 365 and Box. Assess relevant AI developments and explain their practical implications to staff and leadership. Help establish standards for evaluation, human review, data privacy and security, and responsible use consistent with Foundation policies. Business systems and sustainable engineering Work with staff to understand their needs and lead prioritized projects from discovery and design through implementation, rollout, and ongoing support. Build and maintain applications, APIs, automations, and integrations connecting Salesforce, Microsoft 365, Box, and external research and data sources. Improve the grants management system and related reporting and data quality. Work within the Foundation’s existing systems, including Salesforce, Microsoft 365, Box, internal APIs and Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, and Postgres, using AI-assisted development tools. Design and maintain the CI/CD pipelines that test and deploy changes. Review and strengthen existing custom software. Maintain documentation, tests, deployment procedures, and operational guides so another qualified person can understand, modify, and support the systems. Operate services reliably through monitoring, troubleshooting, and incident response. Coordinate with external partners on implementation, security, and specialist support. Staff learning and collaboration Develop practical training, guides, and individual support that help colleagues use approved AI tools effectively, understand their limitations, and review their outputs. Help staff assess experiments and, where appropriate, turn useful approaches into shared, supported tools. Gather feedback and evaluate whether new tools improve the work they were designed to support. Provide backup technology support when other IT staff are unavailable, such as help desk requests, A/V for meetings, and enterprise software administration, and coordinate with the Foundation’s managed service provider to resolve issues. Qualifications and Experience Required 5+ years of related professional experience and a bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, AI, or a related field (or an equivalent combination of education and experience). Strong programming skills in Python or TypeScript, experience building APIs and integrations, and working knowledge of SQL. Experience with Git and GitHub, testing, code review, and CI/CD pipelines such as GitHub Actions, and the ability to understand and improve an existing codebase. Practical experience using AI-assisted development tools such as Claude Code or Codex, with the ability to explain, test, debug, and take responsibility for the resulting code. Experience applying AI tools to day-to-day work and evaluating their usefulness and limitations. Strong understanding of data privacy and security considerations when building AI tools. Ability to work closely with nontechnical colleagues, clarify needs, explain trade-offs, and make sound decisions about scope and priorities. Strong communication and documentation skills, and the ability to teach and support colleagues with different levels of comfort with technology. Preferred Candidates need not have experience with every technology below. We value strong engineering judgment and the ability to learn. Direct experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers or integrations, LLM APIs, AI agents, retrieval-augmented generation, or vector search. Developing staff training, guiding technology adoption, or administering shared AI tools. Salesforce administration or development, including Flow, Apex, or SFDX; or comparable experience with complex business applications. Cloud or serverless platforms, Postgres, and production monitoring and incident response. Experience in philanthropy, research administration, or another nonprofit setting. Work Arrangements and Compensation This full-time position is based at the Foundation's offices at Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan. Staff work in the office Tuesday through Thursday and may work remotely on Mondays and Fridays, except when job commitments require in-person presence. The base pay range for this role is $155,000 to $175,000. New hires are typically placed in the lower half of the range, allowing room for growth over time. Actual placement is based on job-related skills, experience, and expertise, as evaluated during the interview process. The Foundation offers an excellent benefits package, including a generous employer retirement contribution. No Visa sponsorship is provided for this position.