AI Solutions Engineer

Scope

Responsibility: Global

Department: IT

Reporting to: Global Supply Chain and Operations Director

Direct reports: None

Budget responsibility: None

Relationship management

Internal: IT team, Information Security, Data Protection, HR, Supply Chain, Finance, Programs.

External: Software/AI vendors and tool providers as required.

Context

Relief International (RI) is an international non-profit organization that partners with communities impacted by conflict, climate change and disaster to save lives, build greater resilience and promote long-term health and wellbeing.

Our team of more than 5,000 staff and local volunteers work in countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, providing Health and Nutrition, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), Education and Livelihoods programming that creates the foundation for community resilience.

We do this by working with local actors to develop safe and inclusive local programming that is evidence based, conflict sensitive, climate smart, and reaches those in need.

Relief International is an alliance of four organizations with one shared mission, comprised of Relief International, Inc., Relief International-France, Relief International-UK and Relief International-Europe, which operate under a one-team concept under a single senior leadership team.

Job Profile

This is a new position at RI, created to build and embed practical AI capability across the organisation, enabling staff to access and generate information faster and more reliably — so that more time can be spent supporting the communities we serve. The role sits within the global IT function and works closely with teams across HR, Supply Chain, Finance, and Programmes to deliver tools that improve how staff work day to day.

The role focuses on designing and building AI agents and chatbots within Microsoft Copilot that use organisational data stored in SharePoint, including policies, SOPs, guidance, templates, meeting notes, donor rules, and proposals. You will create Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions that:

• answer staff questions using approved RI documents only
• provide clear citations to source documents
• respect existing SharePoint permissions
• work reliably for staff across multiple countries and functions

This is a hands‑on, delivery‑focused role. You will often work independently, translating high‑level business needs into safe, usable Copilot solutions. You are not expected to train AI models or conduct academic research; the value of the role lies in making Copilot work effectively, securely, and responsibly in a real NGO environment.

You will design, build, and maintain AI assistants that help staff access internal knowledge, answer compliance and policy questions, and produce high‑quality draft documents grounded in approved sources. You will work closely with IT Support, RIs PowerApps automation Specialist, IT Security, Data Protection, and business teams, owning the full lifecycle of these tools — from content ingestion and retrieval design through to monitoring, staff guidance, and ongoing support — ensuring they can be sustained and improved over time.

Key Responsibilities

Build Copilot Agents

• Design and build Copilot agents that use Retrieval‑Augmented Generation (RAG) to interrogate internal repositories, extract key facts, and produce structured, citation‑based answers and draft documents grounded in SharePoint and related Microsoft 365 repositories. While RI primarily uses Microsoft Copilot, other AI tools may be considered where they integrate with RI’s Microsoft‑driven IT environment and comply with its security architecture and policies.
• Configure knowledge sources, prompts, and grounding rules so that responses are accurate, policy‑based, and citation‑
• Build agents that support common NGO use cases, such as:
  • policy and compliance questions
  • SOP lookups
  • drafting structured documents using templates
  • product pricing and freight volume estimations
  • meeting summaries and actions

Knowledge Ingestion and Retrieval

• Prepare SharePoint content for effective AI retrieval, including:
  • document structuring and chunking
  • metadata and tagging strategies
  • handling multiple versions and “latest approved” content
  • reducing duplication and outdated material
• Improve retrieval quality using available Copilot and Microsoft search capabilities to minimise irrelevant or misleading responses.

Security, Privacy, and Responsible Use

• Ensure all AI agents respect existing user permissions (users only see what they are allowed to see).
• Apply safe‑by‑design practices to reduce common AI risks such as hallucinations, prompt injection, or inappropriate data exposure.
• Work closely with IT, Information Security, and Data Protection colleagues to ensure solutions align with RI policies and donor expectations.

Stakeholder Engagement and Enablement

• Work with the Supply Chain and Operations Director to define RIs AI principles and guardrails and communicating this internally within the organization
• Work with teams across HR, Finance, Supply Chain, and Programmes to identify priority use cases.
• Translate loosely defined business questions into practical, safe AI enabled solutions.
• Develop and rollout guidance and training for staff on effective use of AI tools, limitations, and safe handling of sensitive information.
• Develop and rollout internal AI adoption materials, FAQs, and responsible use messaging
• Produce, share and train staff on technical documentation (architecture, runbooks, data flows, access control model, test scripts) for all tools developed
• Support our IT support team in their first line support of AI agents, building their capacity to support these new tools, and provide the second and third line support for the AI agents.
• Monitor usage and quality of AI agents and improve them based on feedback.
• Maintain documentation so solutions can be understood and supported by others.
• Support basic handover and first‑line troubleshooting with the IT support team.

Behaviour and Conduct

• Will ensure the highest standards of behaviour inside and outside of work promotes the values in RI’s code of conduct and safeguarding policies
• Will be a model for ethical conduct standards for other team members
• Will ensure own actions and the actions of the teams members they manage do not impact the safety of the RI team and the vulnerable communities we serve
• Will ensure external stakeholders are aware of RI conduct and reporting mechanisms
• Report any concerns

Person Specification

Skills, knowledge and expertise required for the role.

Essential Criteria

• Practical experience building AI assistants or chatbots using RAG over organisational documents (e.g. SharePoint, file servers, Confluence).
• Hands on experience with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, particularly SharePoint, Teams, and Copilot.
• Ability to work with large volumes of documents and make them usable for AI retrieval.
• Working knowledge of identity and access control concepts (e.g. understanding how permissions flow in SharePoint / Entra ID).
• Experience building production grade tools or services that real users rely on.
• Strong ability to work independently, prioritise work, and explain technical decisions simply.
• Comfortable working in a globally distributed organisation with remote colleagues.
• Experience training or supporting non technical users in new digital tools.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience with Azure services related to search or AI (e.g. Azure AI Search).
• Familiarity with data protection, information governance, or audit requirements.
• Experience working in an NGO, humanitarian, or donor funded environment.

RI Values

Guided by the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, as well as “Do No Harm,” Relief International Values:

• Integrity
• Adaptability
• Collaboration
• Inclusivity
• Sustainability