Associate Software Engineer - AI

Job Description 

Critical member of the Product Engineering team, responsible for designing, developing, and deploying AI-powered features and agentic experiences into OC Tanner's product portfolio. 

Core Responsibilities 

• Design and implement AI-powered features using large language models (LLMs) from providers including Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, and open-source alternatives 

• Build agentic AI systems using frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, and similar orchestration tools to create intelligent, multi-step workflows 

• Develop and maintain production-grade AI applications that integrate with existing product infrastructure 

• Architect prompt engineering strategies and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems to optimize AI responses for product-specific use cases 

• Collaborate with Product Managers, UX Designers, and Engineering teams to identify opportunities for AI enhancement across the product suite 

• Build and optimize vector databases and semantic search capabilities to power intelligent product features 

• Implement monitoring, evaluation, and quality assurance frameworks for AI system outputs 

• Design and maintain APIs and integrations between AI services and core product functionality 

• Prototype and validate new AI capabilities, conducting rapid experimentation to assess feasibility and value 

• Ensure responsible AI practices including output validation, bias mitigation, and user privacy protection 

• Document AI system architectures, decision rationales, and implementation patterns for team knowledge sharing 

• Stay current with rapidly evolving AI/ML landscape and evaluate emerging tools and techniques for product application 

Technical Environment 

• Work with commercial LLM APIs (Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT-4, etc.) and open-source models 

• Utilize AI orchestration frameworks including LangChain, LangGraph, and related ecosystem tools 

• Develop using Python as primary language for AI/ML workflows 

• Implement vector databases (Pinecone, Chroma, Weaviate, etc.) for semantic search and retrieval 

• Build RESTful APIs and microservices to expose AI functionality 

• Deploy AI services using cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP) 

• Integrate with existing product databases and data pipelines 

• Use version control (Git) and collaborative development workflows 

Skills and Special Requirements 

• Strong proficiency in Python programming with focus on AI/ML libraries and frameworks 

• Deep understanding of large language model capabilities, limitations, and prompt engineering techniques 

• Experience building production applications with LangChain, LangGraph, or similar agentic AI frameworks 

• Knowledge of vector databases and semantic search architectures 

• Familiarity with API design and integration patterns 

• Understanding of RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) system architectures 

• Ability to translate business requirements into AI-powered product features 

• Experience with A/B testing and evaluation metrics for AI systems 

• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work in ambiguous, rapidly-evolving technical domains 

• Excellent communication skills to explain AI capabilities and limitations to non-technical stakeholders 

• Understanding of responsible AI principles including bias, fairness, and privacy considerations 

Education/Experience 

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, or related technical field 

• 3+ years of software engineering experience with at least 2 years focused on AI and looking for production experience AI/ML applications. 

• Demonstrated experience shipping AI-powered features to production environments 

• Portfolio of projects showcasing LLM integration and agentic AI system development preferred 

• Good in Communication skills and English