LLM Engineer

A global higher education leader in innovative teaching, research and public service, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill consistently ranks as one of the nation's top public universities. Known for its beautiful campus, world-class medical care, commitment to the arts and top athletic programs, Carolina is an ideal place to teach, work and learn.

One of the best college towns and best places to live in the United States, Chapel Hill has diverse social, cultural, recreation and professional opportunities that span the campus and community.

University employees can choose from a wide range of professional training opportunities for career growth, skill development and lifelong learning and enjoy exclusive perks that include numerous retail and restaurant discounts, savings on local child care centers and special rates for performing arts events.

As the University's Chief Academic Officer, the Provost has broad responsibilities for advancing the education and research missions of the University. The Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost ( OEVCP) provides the leadership for UNC-CH's strategic planning for academic programs. The Provost's organization ensures the development and enhancement of high quality baccalaureate, masters and doctoral-level programs through ongoing program review and assessment, the raising of academic standards, and the expansion of research and other scholarship/creative activity.

The LLM Engineer will design, build, and operate large language model-powered tools and applications across the institution. Working within the CAIO office and in close collaboration with the University Library, the engineer will contribute to two flagship initiatives: PromptLab, UNC's shared generative AI service built on LibreChat, and Carolina Source, a proposed institutional knowledge platform with a governed retrieval layer and federated applications.

Master's or Bachelor's and 0-2 years' experience; or will accept a combination of related education and experience in substitution.

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Information Science, or a related field
Demonstrated experience building and deploying production-grade LLM-powered applications
Proficiency in Python and relevant frameworks including LangChain, LlamaIndex, Hugging Face Transformers, or equivalent
Experience with RAG architectures, vector databases, and embedding models
Familiarity with major LLM APIs including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and open-source alternatives
Working knowledge of cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP) and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)
Experience with web application development using JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, or React
Experience with platform operations including monitoring, incident investigation, upgrades, and recovery

Master's degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Computational Linguistics, Information Science, or a related field
Experience with LibreChat, LiteLLM, or similar open-source generative AI platforms
Experience designing or implementing enterprise search and knowledge retrieval platforms (Azure AI Search, Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, or equivalent)
Familiarity with data governance frameworks, access control design, and permission-based retrieval architectures
Experience building federated application architectures on top of shared knowledge or data platforms

Not Applicable.

H-1B sponsorship is not available for this position.

If you experience any problems accessing the system or have questions about the application process, please contact the Office of Human Resources at (919) 843-2300 or send an email to employment@unc.edu
Please note: The Office of Human Resources will not be able to provide specific updates regarding position or application status.

The University is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes all to apply without regard to age, color, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation. We encourage all qualified applicants to apply, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.