Senior AI Engineer. Innovation and R&D

Who are we?

A place where tech thinkers and future builders turn bold ideas into breakthrough experiences, we welcome your unique perspective.

Help us challenge assumptions, uncover bias, and remove barriers—because progress starts with fresh ideas. You’ll find belonging, purpose, and a team that welcomes you—because when you feel valued, you’re empowered to do your best work.

Job Summary

Researches, prototypes and proves new GenAI and agentic ideas that raise Equinix’s internal productivity and create capabilities for external products. Works in the AI Innovation and R&D pod, running experiments from hypothesis to working prototype, measuring each against quality, cost and business value, and handing validated ideas to product and platform teams as production-ready designs. Innovation areas include small language models (SLMs) and open-weight model customization, token economics, agent and workflow automation, and other emerging AI techniques.

Knowledge and Application

Applies deep working knowledge of modern AI techniques: LLM and SLM development, parameter-efficient tuning, distillation, quantization, retrieval, agent orchestration, and tool-use and function-calling models. Understands how model size, context length, caching and routing drive token cost and latency. Reads and applies current research, and benchmarks open-weight and commercial models on the same tasks. Applies established engineering and model-governance practices and proposes improvements.

Complexity and Problem Solving

Works on open-ended problems where the right approach is not yet known. Frames each idea as a testable hypothesis with success metrics, selects methods, datasets and evaluation criteria, and decides with evidence whether to scale, change or stop. Resolves tradeoffs among quality, cost, latency, security and operational complexity. Work is reviewed at design and milestone gates.

Collaboration and Interaction

Partners with Product, Platform, InfoSec, Legal, Finance and business teams to find high-value use cases. Explains results and tradeoffs to senior and non-technical stakeholders. Advises teams on which AI approach fits their problem. Accountable through the pod for delivery of innovation targets.

Responsibilities

Innovation and prototyping

• Identify and test GenAI and agentic ideas for internal productivity and external product use cases
• Build prototypes quickly, validate them with business teams against defined success metrics, and hand off production-ready designs and reference implementations
• Track new models, techniques and tools; document which apply to Equinix and which do not

Small language models and model customization

• Benchmark open-weight and commercial models on shared task datasets: quality, latency, cost, license terms
• Fine-tune, distill and quantize models for defined tasks, including tool-use and agentic behavior, and show measured gains over the baseline
• Feed results into the recommended-model catalogue owned by the Principal PM

Token economics and inference

• Build cost models per agent and workflow: tokens, calls, caching, compute and cost per completed task
• Test cost controls: model routing, context compression, caching, batching and budget limits
• Optimize serving (e.g., vLLM, SGLang) with the platform team

Evaluation and rigor

• Make experiments reproducible: versioned data, code, configs and results
• Gate each prototype’s promotion on evaluation thresholds, using the Agent Intelligence evaluation platform
• Turn failures and feedback into tuning data, regression tests or design changes

Responsible practice

• Document each model or solution: intended use, data provenance, limitations and evaluation results
• Apply license, data-boundary and security requirements with InfoSec and Legal

Qualifications

Required

• 5–8 years in ML or software engineering, including 3+ years in LLM or deep-learning development
• Track record of taking AI ideas from prototype to production or to a documented decision to stop
• Hands-on experience with at least one of: fine-tuning or parameter-efficient tuning (e.g., LoRA), distillation, quantization, agent or retrieval systems
• Experience building evaluation harnesses and using results to make decisions
• Ability to build cost and performance models for AI workloads
• Proficiency in Python and PyTorch, and with Hugging Face tooling
• Clear written and verbal communication with non-technical stakeholders

Nice to have

• Experience with inference and serving (e.g., vLLM, SGLang), batching and GPU optimization
• Preference optimization or reinforcement learning, and tool-use or function-calling fine-tuning
• Experience with multi-agent systems, model routing and MLOps
• Experience with open-weight model licensing, model governance or responsible-AI programs
• Published research, patents or open-source contributions
• BS or MS in computer science, machine learning or a quantitative field, or equivalent experience

What success looks like

• Each quarter, a set of innovation ideas is tested, with a documented scale, change or stop decision for each
• Each tested workflow has a measured cost per task and a documented model choice
• Every promoted prototype has an evaluation record and documentation

The targeted pay range for this position in the following location is / locations are:

Canada - Toronto Office TRO : 142,000 - 212,000 CAD / Annual

United States - Redwood City Office GHQ : 190,000 - 286,000 USD / Annual

Our pay ranges reflect the minimum and maximum target for new hire pay for the full-time position determined by role, level, and location.The pay range shown is based on our compensation structure in place at the time of posting and may be updated periodically based on business needs. Individual pay is based on additional factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education and/or training.

The targeted pay range listed reflects the base pay only and does not include bonus, equity, or benefits. Employees are eligible for bonus, and equity may be offered depending on the position.

Equinix Benefits

As an employee, you become important to Equinix’s success. We ensure all your benefits are in line with our core values: competitive, inclusive, sustainable, connected and efficient. We keep them competitive within the current marketplace to ensure we’re providing you with the best package possible. So, wherever you are in your career and life, you’ll be able to enhance your experience and bring your whole self to work.

Employee Assistance Program: An Employee Assistance program is available to all employees.

US Benefits: - Insurance: You may enroll in health, life, disability and voluntary plans that are designed for you and your eligible family members. - Retirement: You and Equinix may contribute to a retirement plan to help you plan for your financial future. - Paid Time Off (PTO) and Paid Holidays: You will receive an accrued amount of PTO each pay period along with various paid holidays for you to rest and recharge. Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific plan or program terms. Canada Core Benefits: - Insurance: You may enroll in healthcare coverage that is designed to complement the provincial healthcare system, along with life, disability and optional benefit plans that are designed for you and your eligible family members. - Retirement: You may also enroll in Equinix-sponsored retirement or savings plans: Defined Contribution Pension Plan (DCPP), Group Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) and Tax-Free Savings Plan (TSFA). - Vacation and Paid Holidays: Equinix offers both vacation and personal time, along with various paid holidays for you to rest and recharge. Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits. Benefits are subject to specific plan or program terms, and to change at Equinix discretion.

Equinix is committed to ensuring that our employment process is open to all individuals, including those with a disability.  If you are a qualified candidate and need assistance or an accommodation, please let us know by completing this form.

Equinix is an Equal Employment Opportunity and, in the U.S., an Affirmative Action employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to unlawful consideration of race, color, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, place of birth, citizenship, sex, pregnancy / childbirth or related medical conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or domestic partnership status, age, veteran or military status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, political / organizational affiliation, status as a victim or family member of a victim of crime or abuse, or any other status protected by applicable law. 

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This posting is a new position within our organization.