AI/ML Engineer - School

We believe in the power and joy of learning At Cengage, our employees have a direct impact in helping students around the world discover the power and joy of learning. We are bonded by our shared purpose – driving innovation that helps millions of learners improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education. Cengage's portfolio of businesses supports student choice by providing a range of pathways that help learners achieve their goals and lead a choice-filled life. Our culture values inclusion, engagement, and discovery Our business is driven by our strong culture, and we know that creating an inclusive workplace is absolutely essential to the success of our company and our learners, as well as our individual well-being. We recognize the value of diverse perspectives in everything we do, and strive to ensure employees of all levels and backgrounds feel empowered to voice their ideas and bring their authentic selves to work. We achieve these priorities through programs, benefits, and initiatives that are integrated into the fabric of how we work every day. To learn more, please see https://www.cengagegroup.com/about/inclusion-and-belonging/ . The AI/ML Engineer – School (K-12) delivers AI solutions tailored to K-12 educators, students, and administrators. You will build production AI features that save teachers time on lesson planning and grading, provide personalized support to students, and do so under the strictest compliance and safety standards of any education segment. This role is unique because K-12 demands more than technical skill — it demands sensitivity to child safety, FERPA compliance, COPPA considerations, and the realities of how teachers actually work. The ideal candidate has shipped K-12 or consumer-safe AI features before and understands that in this domain, 'safe by default' is table stakes. Key Responsibilities K-12 AI Feature Development Build AI tools for teacher lesson planning, worksheet creation, and content adaptation Develop AI-powered grading, feedback, and formative assessment features Create age-appropriate student support, tutoring, and help experiences Build administrator analytics and early-warning systems for student intervention Integrate AI capabilities into the Cengage School product ecosystem Compliance & Child Safety Ensure FERPA, COPPA, and state-level student data privacy compliance in every feature Implement child safety guardrails, content filtering, and age-appropriate AI behavior Partner with Governance on policy enforcement for minors and classroom contexts Handle parent, district, and state-level data privacy and audit requirements Build transparency and explainability into AI features used with minors Optimization & Impact Optimize features based on teacher usage data and feedback Measure teacher adoption rates, time saved per educator, and classroom impact Partner with curriculum and learning science teams on efficacy measurement Iterate rapidly while maintaining compliance posture at every release Maintain documentation and engineering runbooks for all deployed features Required Qualifications Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field 4+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 2 years focused on AI/ML Strong proficiency in Python with experience building production ML or LLM systems Hands-on experience with modern AI APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock) Strong understanding of FERPA, COPPA, and education data privacy requirements Experience building AI systems with safety, content filtering, and guardrails Solid software engineering fundamentals including testing, CI/CD, and system design Excellent judgment on child safety and age-appropriate design decisions Preferred Qualifications Prior experience building AI features for K-12 or consumer-safe environments Background in EdTech with direct teacher or classroom exposure Familiarity with state-level student data privacy regulations (SOPIPA, New York Ed Law 2-d) Experience with content moderation, red-teaming, or AI safety evaluation Familiarity with agentic AI frameworks (LangChain, LlamaIndex) Experience with accessibility standards (WCAG, Section 508, DOJ accessibility) Tools & Technologies You should be comfortable with many of the following: Languages: Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, SQL AI/ML: OpenAI API, Anthropic API, AWS Bedrock, LangChain, Hugging Face Safety: Content moderation APIs, custom guardrail systems, red-team frameworks Cloud: AWS (Lambda, ECS, SageMaker, Bedrock), Azure OpenAI Data: Snowflake, Databricks, Postgres, Redis DevOps: Docker, Terraform, GitHub Actions, CI/CD pipelines Key Competencies Child Safety First — makes conservative design choices when minors are involved Compliance Rigor — builds FERPA/COPPA compliance into every feature from the start Teacher Empathy — understands the realities of classroom workflow and time pressure Shipping Mindset — delivers features on cadence while maintaining compliance posture Technical