Senior AI/ML Engineer
Software Engineering, Data Science
USD 1,923-1,923 / hour
From here,
your career.
From here,
your career.
Let’s build the future of career-focused education together.
Allied health, cosmetology, and the trades are booming.
As the first comprehensive EdTech platform built for career schools, we provide the integrated software and services that help place more students in meaningful, in-demand jobs.
Ready to accomplish a mission that matters? Join our remote-first company where startup energy meets proven results.
Why join Portico?
- Work from anywhere
We’re a remote-first team with colleagues across multiple time zones.
- Collaborate with experts
Work alongside industry veterans—without getting bogged down by bureaucracy.
- Enjoy comprehensive benefits and fair compensation
Competitive pay, incentives, unlimited PTO, and health coverage. It’s the whole (benefits) package.
- Get professional development support
Surprise: We’re big on education. Get the budget for whatever makes you better at what you do.
- Build equity with a growing company
High performers have the chance to earn an ownership stake in the company.
Career education matters
now more than ever.
Career-focused education is growing because students want training that leads directly to meaningful, well-paying careers.
At Portico, we support the institutions that turn students’ investments in themselves into career success.
When you join our team, you’re contributing to our mission to reshape how people think about the path from education to employment.
Get in on the ground floor of something big—and growing.
Portico brings together four established industry leaders into a new platform. We combine the startup energy of building something transformative with the credibility and expertise that comes from decades of experience.
We’re in it for the long term, and that means investing in the people who will shape our technology and our impact.
Our values.
Customer Centricity
We prioritize the needs of our customers, ensuring our solutions truly solve their challenges.
Innovation
We continuously evolve to provide the best technology for career-focused institutions.
Transparency
We build trust through open communication, integrity, and accountability.
Who thrives at Portico.
Visionaries
We care about the best idea—not where it comes from. When you bring a solution, we provide the resources to build it.
Team Players
Our environment is collaborative. Together, we’re creating the playbook as we work.
Self-Starters
In our roll-up-your-sleeves environment, industry background matters, but passion for our mission and transferable skills matter more.
What our colleagues are saying.
“Working at Portico means collaborating with teammates across different time zones, cultures, and technical backgrounds. We face challenges together, learn from one another, and build solutions stronger than any of us could achieve alone.”
–Ming Zhong, Software Engineer
“The most rewarding part of my job as a QA Analyst is collaborating with a fantastic team. It’s knowing that our collective efforts in developing great software directly contribute to a seamless and positive user experience for our customers.”
–Christian Sandoval, QA Analyst
“Portico leadership at all levels are committed to improving the work environment and experience to make team members successful. The culture is one of listening and commending.”
–Sarah Scott, Financial Aid Processor
“I love working at Portico because we’re transforming education by giving schools the power to work smarter, and students the chance to thrive. It’s inspiring to know the work we do directly impacts student success every single day.”
–Eleni Lalios Manikas, VP Channel Sales
“Having worked in higher ed, I’ve experienced what it’s like being siloed within departments. It means so much to me to offer solutions that can make our students’ lives easier, our clients’ lives easier.”
-Kristin Woods, Product Manager
“What motivates me most is when clients have our product exceed their expectations. We really want them to succeed in what they do day in and day out.”
-Todd Northup, Customer Success Manager
“I worked at a school previously, and it’s always about the success of students for me. Here at Portico, we build technology that makes their lives easier. That’s a motivator for me.”
-Siana Stewart-Mullings, Chief Operations Officer
Explore current opportunities.
We’re hiring for roles that will help us scale our impact and serve more institutions.
Entry-Level Financial Aid Reporting Specialist
Job Title: Entry-Level Financial Aid Reporting Specialist
Department: Financial Aid
We’re looking for someone who finds satisfaction in getting the details right, and understands that behind every data point is a student counting on accuracy. As an Entry-Level Financial Aid Reporting Specialist, you’ll support the integrity of our financial aid operations by keeping reports clean, systems updated, and compliance on track. If you’re organized, curious, and comfortable working with data, you’ll fit right in here.
What you’ll do.
Reporting & data accuracy:
- Generate, run, and distribute various operational and compliance reports as needed
- Review reports for accuracy, completeness, and discrepancies
System updates & data management:
- Assist with updates and data entry in federal systems, including NSLDS
- Maintain accurate documentation of updates and corrections
Reconciliation & compliance support:
- Support reconciliation processes and help identify inconsistencies in records
- Ensure compliance with institutional policies and federal regulations
Collaboration & administrative support:
- Collaborate with internal teams to resolve data or reporting issues
- Assist with additional administrative duties related to financial aid processing as assigned
What you bring.
Education and experience:
- High school diploma or equivalent required; associate’s or bachelor’s degree preferred
- Experience working in higher education or financial aid (preferred)
Technical skills:
- Basic understanding of data entry and reporting processes
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office, especially Excel
- Ability to learn new systems and software quickly
- Familiarity with NSLDS, COD, or other federal student aid systems (preferred)
- Experience working with databases or reporting tools (preferred)
Professional qualities:
- Strong attention to detail and organizational skills
- Strong written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to handle confidential information with discretion
Compensation.
How to apply.
Implementation Consultant – Customer Relationship Management
Job Title: Implementation Consultant – CRM
Department: Customer Success
Portico is looking for a talented professional with previous experience in the higher education industry, specifically with customer relationship management (CRM) or similar education technology implementations. In this role, you’ll help ensure successful onboarding for new and existing clients by supporting needs analysis, system configuration and testing, feature delivery, and training tailored to each institution’s unique goals and workflows. You’ll serve as a trusted guide throughout implementation, helping customers navigate complexity with clarity, confidence, and practical support.
What you’ll do.
Lead implementation projects from onboarding through go-live:
- Deliver quality implementation leadership to customers including mentoring, training, knowledge transfer, and active support of the customers’ project tasks before go-live and beyond.
- Lead business requirements and needs analysis phase of the implementation project. Identify, document, and communicate customer’s business needs and use cases.
- Manage clients through their configuration stage, release updates, user acceptance testing, and conclude assessment of operational readiness.
- Provide go-live planning, guidance, and end user training through an incubation period after launch.
Configure solutions around customer needs:
- Gather and demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the customer’s business processes, through development of appropriate configuration strategy.
- Build strong, long-term relationships with customers and third-party partners.
- Address potential challenges to meet or exceed client established timelines.
What you bring.
Education and experience:
- Minimum two years of experience with CRM or similar software implementation.
- Bachelor’s degree in MIS, Computer Science, or other technical degree. (Preferred)
Skills:
- Strong experience developing process flows from use cases and business processes.
- Outstanding communication skills, both written and verbal.
- Ability to manage subject matter experts for multiple projects simultaneously and set appropriate priorities.
- Ability to present live to diverse audiences.
Professional strengths:
- Strong commitment to team success, proactively assisting internal team members and/or participating in internal continuous training initiatives.
- High-ownership, methodical, and thorough approach to problem-solving.
- Strong organizational and time management skills.
- Ability to work independently.
Travel.
Compensation.
How to apply.
Implementation Consultant – Student Information System
Job Title: Implementation Consultant – Student Information System
Department: Customer Success
Portico is looking for a talented professional with previous experience in the higher education industry, specifically with student information systems (SIS) or similar education technology implementations. In this role, you’ll help ensure successful onboarding for new and existing clients by supporting needs analysis, system configuration and testing, feature delivery, and training tailored to each institution’s unique goals and workflows. You’ll serve as a trusted guide throughout implementation, helping customers navigate complexity with clarity, confidence, and practical support.
What you’ll do.
Lead implementation projects from onboarding through go-live:
- Deliver quality implementation leadership to customers including mentoring, training, knowledge transfer, and active support of the customers’ project tasks before go-live and beyond.
- Lead business requirements and needs analysis phase of the implementation project. Identify, document, and communicate customer’s business needs and use cases.
- Manage clients through their configuration stage, release updates, user acceptance testing, and conclude assessment of operational readiness.
- Provide go-live planning, guidance, and end user training through an incubation period after launch.
Configure solutions around customer needs:
- Gather and demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the customer’s business processes, through development of appropriate configuration strategy.
- Build strong, long-term relationships with customers and third-party partners.
- Address potential challenges to meet or exceed client established timelines.
What you bring.
Education and experience:
- Minimum two years of experience with SIS or similar software implementation.
- Bachelor’s degree in MIS, Computer Science, or other technical degree. (Preferred)
Skills:
- Strong experience developing process flows from use cases and business processes.
- Outstanding communication skills, both written and verbal.
- Ability to manage subject matter experts for multiple projects simultaneously and set appropriate priorities.
- Ability to present live to diverse audiences.
Professional strengths:
- Strong commitment to team success, proactively assisting internal team members and/or participating in internal continuous training initiatives.
- High-ownership, methodical, and thorough approach to problem-solving.
- Strong organizational and time management skills.
- Ability to work independently.
Travel.
Compensation.
How to apply.
Senior AI/ML Engineer
Job Title: Senior AI/ML Engineer
Department: Engineering
You’ll help us take big ideas in AI from “cool demo” to “real-world impact.” This role sits at the crossroads of research and production, where your work will shape both our AI culture and the future of student success technology.
What you’ll do.
Turn AI prototypes into production systems:
- Productionize AI proofs of concept (LLMs, NLP, predictive analytics) into secure, scalable, compliant solutions.
- Build APIs and services that integrate AI into Portico’s core platform (CRM, SIS, student success tools).
- Deploy cloud-native AI services in AWS/Kubernetes to ensure reliability, scalability, and security.
Design and optimize LLM-powered applications:
- Train and tune applications such as retrieval-augmented generation, classification, and summarization.
- Research emerging architectures and frameworks, applying them to practical challenges in education technology.
Embed AI across Portico’s products:
- Collaborate with product and engineering teams to weave AI-powered workflows into financial aid, student engagement, retention, and reporting features.
- Establish safeguards that align with compliance requirements (Title IV, FERPA) and build institutional trust.
Ensure responsible AI at scale:
- Develop monitoring and analytics pipelines to track fairness, accuracy, and performance in live environments.
- Bring a compliance-aware, responsible AI mindset to every design decision.
What you bring.
Education and experience:
- 7+ years of experience in software engineering or applied machine learning, with a strong record of delivering AI/ML systems into production.
- Experience building and deploying cloud-native applications on AWS or Azure, using Kubernetes and containerization.
- Experience with cloud-native AI services such as AWS Bedrock or Azure ML.
- Demonstrated ability to solve for latency, scale, cost and reliability when taking models from research to production.
- Strong understanding of compliance-aware AI in regulated domains (FERPA, Title IV).
Skills:
- Extensive hands-on experience building and deploying LLM-powered applications (RAG, summarization, classification) in real-world environments.
- Solid understanding of embeddings, vector databases, and modern AI/ML frameworks (e.g., Hugging Face, OpenAI API, LangChain, LangGraph).
- Proficiency in backend development with Python with experience in ML/AI frameworks (e.g., PyTorch, Pandas, TensorFlow). Familiarity with TypeScript or C++ is considered a plus.
Professional qualities:
- A responsible AI mindset, ensuring transparency and safeguards in every design.
- Strong communicator, able to explain complex trade-offs to technical and non-technical peers alike.
- Collaborative by nature, energized by cross-functional work with product, data, and customer-facing teams.
- Mission-driven, motivated by building technology that reduces friction and improves student outcomes.