Senior AI Operations (AI Ops) Engineer
Navan
At Navan, we aren't building a single, generic chatbot. We are building a Composable AI Microservice Architecture, a swarm of hundreds of hyper-specialized AI services, each meticulously "programmed" to solve small, focused tasks with high precision. This fleet powers Ava, our AI support engine, and a suite of cutting-edge generative tools for travel and expense management.
As a Senior AI Operations (AI Ops) Engineer, you are the architect of the platform that makes this scale possible. You will move beyond traditional MLOps to manage a "factory" of Language Models. Your challenge is one of orchestration and standardization, ensuring that every service in the swarm meets a rigorous bar for quality, reliability, and cost-efficiency.
What You’ll Do
- Orchestrate the AI Fleet: Build and own the runtime environment for 100+ specialized AI services. Manage model routing, context versioning, and standardized memory/history stores.
- High-Density Inference Optimization: Design and implement SageMaker Multi-Model Endpoints (MME) and Inference Components to serve multiple tuned SLMs per GPU, maximizing hardware utilization while minimizing latency.
- Deterministic Service Excellence: Treat reliability as a layered engineering problem. Build deterministic "shells" around probabilistic LM outputs, prioritizing data-layer validation and strict serialization.
- Automated Evaluation & Observability: Implement "LLM-as-a-judge" patterns and automated benchmarking to detect semantic drift and hallucinations across the fleet before they impact the user.
- Standardize the Workflow: Obsess over building reusable patterns and Terraform-based infrastructure that eliminate "snowflake" configurations, allowing us to deploy new specialized AI tasks in minutes.
- Agency Strategy: Partner with AI Researchers to find the "Goldilocks zone" for agentic autonomy—balancing the flexibility of LLM tool-use with the precision required for production stability.
What We’re Looking For
- Experience: 5+ years in SRE, Platform Engineering, or MLOps, with at least 2 years focused on deploying LLMs/SLMs in production environments.
- SageMaker Mastery: Deep hands-on expertise with AWS SageMaker, specifically configuring Multi-Model Endpoints (MME), Inference Components, and GPU-backed instances (G5/P4).
- SLM Expertise: Proven experience with Small Language Models (e.g., Mistral, Llama 3, Phi) and parameter-efficient fine-tuning (PEFT) deployment strategies like LoRA/QLoRA.
- Technical Stack: * Languages: Strong proficiency in Python and Terraform.
- Orchestration: Experience with Docker, Kubernetes (EKS), or AWS ECS/Fargate.
- Data: Familiarity with Snowflake and Vector Databases.
- The "AI Ops" Mindset: You understand that AI at scale is a statistical challenge. You are comfortable debugging issues at the data/serialization layer rather than defaulting to prompt tweaks.
- CI/CD & Automation: Experience building robust pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions) for non-deterministic software, including automated "eval" stages.
- Education: BS or MS in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related technical field.
The posted pay range represents the anticipated low and high end of the compensation for this position and is subject to change based on business need. To determine a successful candidate’s starting pay, we carefully consider a variety of factors, including primary work location, an evaluation of the candidate’s skills and experience, market demands, and internal parity.
For roles with on-target-earnings (OTE), the pay range includes both base salary and target incentive compensation. Target incentive compensation for some roles may include a ramping draw period. Compensation is higher for those who exceed targets. Candidates may receive more information from the recruiter.
About Navan
Navan (Nasdaq: NAVN) is the leading all-in-one business travel, payments, and expense management platform that makes travel easy for frequent travelers. From finding flights and hotels to automating expense reconciliation, with 24/7 support along the way, Navan delivers an intuitive experience travelers love and finance teams rely on. See how Navan customers benefit and learn more at navan.com.
Culture of Excellence
Our team is our competitive edge — a high-performance group of smart, driven people committed to winning together. This dedication to excellence is why we’ve been recognized as a Best Place to Work by Built In (2023–2026), a G2 Best Global Software Company (2025-2026), a CNBC Disruptor 50 (2022-2025), and a Forbes Fintech 50 (2022-2025). At Navan, we provide an environment where top talent excels, offering the autonomy and fast-paced trajectory needed to build a defining career and do the best work of your life.
Our Benefits
Navan offers a comprehensive benefits program designed to support your well-being, financial security, and life outside of work. Our benefits, thoughtfully tailored by country to meet local needs, include healthcare coverage, insurance offerings, and wellness resources for you and your family.
We support long-term financial growth through retirement savings programs and opportunities to participate in our equity plans, so you can share in Navan’s success. To promote balance, we offer flexible time off, country-specific holidays, and paid parental leave for all new parents. Additional benefits include connectivity and commuting support, mental health resources, and exclusive travel-related perks. Wherever you’re based, our benefits evolve with you.
Workplace Policy
Navan believes in the value of in-person connections, whether that’s sitting down to have lunch with one another, taking a walking 1:1, or collaborating in a room together. The connections forged through face-to-face interactions improve company culture and drive business results. Navan invests in global office spaces — in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, among others — that feel welcoming. In-office perks such as company-provided lunches and happy hours create a strong team environment to help you do your best work. Our employees work from the office four days a week. Please expect this policy for all roles that are tied to an office.
Equal Opportunity
Navan is an equal opportunity employer. We make all employment decisions based solely on merit. We provide equal employment opportunity to all applicants and employees without discrimination on the bases of race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We prohibit any such discrimination or harassment. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including hiring.
Accommodations
Navan complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as amended by the ADA Amendments Act, and all applicable state or local law. Navan will reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with a disability in connection with applications for employment as required by law.
If you need any assistance or accommodations due to a disability, you are welcome to email us at [email protected].
Candidate Privacy Notice
Please review Navan's Candidate Privacy Notice here.
Job Search Best Practices
We have been made aware of recruitment scams involving fraudulent attempts to lure job seekers into sending money or personal information in return for fake job offers or coerce them into purchasing equipment by electronic funds transfer (Zelle, Venmo, etc.) Legitimate Navan recruiters will never ask for money in any recruitment or onboarding activities. All available job openings at Navan will be posted on Navan’s website and all Navan recruiters will be reachable through an email address ending in “@navan.com” or “@navan.tech” or "@talent.navan.com".