Lead AI Engineer
Upwork Inc.’s (Nasdaq: UPWK) family of companies connects businesses with global, AI-enabled talent across every contingent work type including freelance, fractional, and payrolled. This portfolio includes the Upwork Marketplace, which connects businesses with on-demand access to highly skilled talent across the globe, and Lifted, which provides a purpose-built solution for enterprise organizations to source, contract, manage, and pay talent across the full spectrum of contingent work. From Fortune 100 enterprises to entrepreneurs, businesses rely on Upwork Inc. to find and hire expert talent, leverage AI-powered work solutions, and drive business transformation. With access to professionals spanning more than 10,000 skills across AI & machine learning, software development, sales & marketing, customer support, finance & accounting, and more, the Upwork family of companies enables businesses of all sizes to scale, innovate, and transform their workforces for the age of AI and beyond.
Since its founding, Upwork Inc. has facilitated more than $30 billion in total transactions and services as it fulfills its purpose to create opportunity in every era of work. Learn more about the Upwork Marketplace at Upwork.com
Upwork ($UPWK) is the world’s human and AI-powered work marketplace that connects businesses with highly skilled, AI-enabled independent talent from across the globe. From entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 enterprises, companies rely on Upwork’s trusted platform and its mindful AI companion, Uma, to find and hire expert talent, leverage AI-powered work solutions, and drive business transformation. With on-demand access to professionals spanning more than 10,000 skills across AI & machine learning, software development, sales & marketing, customer support, finance & accounting, and more, Upwork enables businesses of all sizes to scale, innovate, and build agile teams for the age of AI and beyond.
Upwork’s platform has facilitated more than $25 billion in economic opportunity for talent around the world. Learn more at Upwork.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X.
As a Lead AI Engineer on our Data Platform & Services (DPS) team, you will apply your expertise in AI capabilities to build and deploy production grade AI powered systems towards data engineering, analytics & product evolution use cases. You’ll design and deploy agentic frameworks, natural language querying (NLQ) capabilities, and prompt/LLM evaluation strategies that unlock insights at scale across Upwork. This is an opportunity to deliver tangible impact, enabling faster decision-making, democratizing data access, and empowering analysts, product teams and stakeholders throughout the company.
Responsibilities
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- Design and implement scalable agentic frameworks that coordinate multiple AI agents to deliver accurate and reliable outcomes.
- Build and optimize natural language query solutions that provide compliant, intuitive, and self-service access to enterprise data.
- Develop and maintain evaluation frameworks for LLMs and prompts, driving measurable improvements in accuracy, scalability, and resilience.
- Partner with data engineering peers to integrate AI orchestration with Python, SQL, and Snowflake pipelines.
- Contribute to AI-powered summarization and explanation tools that enhance reporting, insights, and executive reviews.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with product, analytics, and business teams to ensure solutions meet measurable business goals.
What it takes to catch our eye
- Proven experience delivering AI-powered data systems in production, including hands-on expertise with LLMs and prompt engineering.
- Strong foundation in modern data engineering, with proficiency in Python, SQL, and platforms such as Snowflake.
- Demonstrated ability to design agentic orchestration frameworks that scale across diverse business scenarios.
- A collaborative problem-solver with strong communication skills, able to align stakeholders and create clarity across teams.
- Growth mindset, excited to learn, iterate, and deliver measurable business outcomes through applied AI.
Come change how the world works.
Upwork is establishing its first international operational hub in Lisbon, Portugal. The new office is expected to be fully operational by Q4 2026.
This position will initially be employed through a partner to ensure a seamless hiring process while we establish the hub. Once the hub is established, there may be opportunities to transition to employment with Upwork depending on business needs and other requirements. While employed by the partner, you’ll work as part of Upwork’s team, with access to our resources, culture, and growth opportunities.
Our partner will offer competitive benefits. When Upwork’s hub is established, we will be excited to offer employment and benefits directly as business needs require.
Upwork is committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforce. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or any other status protected by applicable law.
To learn more about how Upwork processes and protects your personal information as part of the application process, please review our Global Job Applicant Privacy Notice.
To learn more about how Upwork processes and protects your personal information as part of the application process, please review our Global Job Applicant Privacy Notice
Perks and Benefits
Health and Wellness
Parental Benefits
Work Flexibility
Office Life and Perks
Vacation and Time Off
Financial and Retirement
Professional Development
Diversity and Inclusion