Applied AI engineer
Build AI features that work beyond the demo.
The outcome this role owns
A tested application that connects models, data and tools, with predictable failure handling and operating costs.
Four levels of maturity
Proposed framework · Evidence-based discussion · Not a validated assessment scale
Foundation
Builds a small model-backed feature and explains its limits. Keeps credentials and sensitive data out of examples.
Evidence to look for
A working feature with documented limitations
Pilot
Adds retrieval or tools, builds test cases and checks access controls in a supervised pilot.
Evidence to look for
A pilot with retrieval tests and permission checks
Production
Ships a maintained service with versioned evaluations, monitoring, fallbacks and incident procedures.
Evidence to look for
A deployment record, evaluation history and incident drill
Organisational
Sets reusable engineering patterns across teams and evaluates model changes against shared quality and cost thresholds.
Evidence to look for
A migration decision supported by regression results
A practical work sample
Provide a small document collection and a question-answering prototype. Ask the candidate to identify wrong answers, design an evaluation set and prevent retrieval of documents a user cannot access.
Use synthetic or public data, explain the evaluation criteria in advance and allow reasonable adjustments. Discuss the reasoning as well as the finished artifact.
What to question
Success is judged only by a few convincing outputs, with no record of failures or test coverage.
Related market signal: language generation
Language-generation adoption is a signal of commercial use. It includes bought software and cannot measure the supply of engineers who can build it.
Highest observed shares among covered markets, 2025. These are context, not recommended hiring locations.
Eurostat source and definitions ↗
Salary context
Check source role titles carefully. Broad categories and adjacent roles are labelled.
Explore related salary evidence ↗Framework sources
This guide is an original synthesis drawing on the sources below. The sources do not publish or endorse these role levels.