AI Engineer

**Only W-2 candidates who are local to the Columbia area will be considered, no C2C

Job at a glance:**

• This opening is a 12-month contract position with likely extension or conversion to FTE

• Eligible to sign up for benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision, and 401k) on day 1

• Onsite position 3 days per week (Tue, Wed, Thurs) in Columbia, SC

Job Description:

This is a new role to establish a core competency in agentic AI systems. This engineer will be pivotal in designing and deploying advanced AI agents and will build the foundational frameworks for future AI use cases across the organization.

Day to Day:

• A typical day will involve a mix of hands-on coding, architectural design, and research. The engineer will spend a significant portion of their time in Python, building and optimizing agentic AI systems using frameworks like LangChain. This includes integrating these agents with our backend services and deploying them using CI/CD pipelines into our cloud environment. They will also be responsible for researching and testing new agentic models and frameworks, monitoring agent behavior in production, and collaborating with data scientists and business stakeholders to refine requirements and ensure the ethical deployment of AI solutions.
• NOT Looking for: We are not looking for candidates whose primary experience is in data analytics or traditional machine learning (e.g., regression, classification) without significant exposure to Generative AI.
• Team: The team is an innovative, collaborative, and empowering environment. We are building the next generation of AI solutions for the enterprise in a fast-paced, project-oriented setting. This is a multi-platformed environment that values creativity, continuous learning, and a customer-focused mindset. The new engineer will play a crucial role in shaping our AI strategy and building foundational tools and accelerators that will drive innovation across the company.

Required Technologies:

• 3–6 years of hands-on experience in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, or related fields. Python & AI/ML Libraries: Deep hands-on experience in Python for AI/ML development.
• Generative AI Development: Proven experience developing Gen AI or AI/ML solutions, from use case conceptualization to production deployment.
• Infrastructure & DevOps: Strong understanding of cloud environments (AWS preferred), LLM hosting, CI/CD pipelines, Docker, and Kubernetes.
• Agentic AI Concepts: Knowledge of agentic/autonomous systems (e.g., reasoning, planning, tool use).

Tech Stack:

• Python
• JavaScript/TypeScript
• AI Tools and Libraries (e.g. LangGraph, LangChain, Deep Agents, Claude Skills, etc.)
• AI Models (e.g. Claude, OpenAI, etc.)
• AI Concepts (e.g. Prompt Engineering, RAG, Agentic AI, etc.)
• Distributed SDLC/DevOps (e.g. github, pipelines, VS Code, testing frameworks, etc.)
• Platforms (Container Platforms, Cloud Platforms, Document Databases, AWS)
• API Design

Nice to Have:

• Proficiency in Python development and FastAPI/Flask frameworks, along with SQL.
• Familiarity with agentic AI frameworks and concepts such as LangChain, LangGraph, AutoGen, Model Context Protocol (MCP), Chain of Thought prompting, knowledge stores, and embeddings.
• Experience developing autonomous agents using cloud-based AI services.
• Experience with prompt engineering techniques and model fine-tuning.
• Strong understanding of reinforcement learning, planning algorithms, and multi-agent systems
• Experience working across cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and deploying AI solutions at scale.