A DAY IN THE LIFE:

As an AI Software Engineer, you’ll spend your days architecting and building AI-powered systems that leverage foundational models like OpenAI, Claude, and Llama to solve real business problems. You’ll balance hands-on development of backend services and APIs with designing scalable AI integration patterns, building experimentation frameworks, and ensuring seamless deployment across our technology stack.

You’ll work closely with product managers to translate business needs into technical implementations, collaborate with data scientists on model integration, and guide teams on adopting the latest AI capabilities. You’ll drive rapid test-and-learn cycles, prototyping solutions that unlock significant business opportunities. You’ll also champion best practices for responsible AI implementation, ensuring our solutions are scalable, reliable, and maintainable.

This role is perfect for an expert generalist who thrives in fast-paced environments and wants to be at the forefront of AI innovation, turning cutting-edge technology into practical business solutions.

Team: Embedded within the AI Pathfinder team, collaborating across a cross-functional group of ~8–10 engineers, data scientists, and product managers within the Technology zone

Similar job titles: AI Platform Engineer, AI Engineer

WHAT WE’LL TRUST YOU TO DELIVER:

AI Solution Development

• Design and build backend services and APIs that deploy AI-powered features using foundational models
• Implement scalable architectures supporting AI workflows, automation, and data processing pipelines
• Create end-to-end solutions that translate high-level business problems into functional AI implementations
• Build experimentation frameworks enabling rapid iteration and deployment of AI functionalities

System Integration & Architecture

• Integrate AI services into complex technology stacks, ensuring seamless interoperability
• Connect AI capabilities with microservices, AWS platform components, and Redshift data systems
• Manage complex dependencies across multi-stack environments
• Ensure system reliability, scalability, and maintainability

Innovation & Experimentation

• Drive test-and-learn cycles with rapid prototyping of AI-driven solutions
• Evaluate and adopt new AI frameworks, tools, and capabilities
• Build proof-of-concept solutions for the company’s most exciting problems
• Stay current with the evolving AI ecosystem to guide technical decisions

Cross-Team Collaboration

• Partner with product managers to understand and translate business requirements
• Work with data scientists on model integration and optimization
• Coordinate with frontend engineers on API design and feature delivery
• Document system designs, APIs, and workflows for knowledge sharing

WHAT YOU LIKELY BRING TO THE TABLE: 

• 5+ years of backend software engineering with strong Python skills; experience with Java is a plus
• Proven track record designing and developing scalable APIs and distributed services (FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Redis)
• Deep understanding of cloud infrastructure (AWS Services, Bedrock), container orchestration (Kubernetes, Docker), and CI/CD pipelines
• Hands-on experience integrating AI/ML services and managing AI API dependencies (OpenAI, Claude, LangChain, vector databases)
• Practical knowledge of AI orchestration frameworks and data pipeline tooling (Redshift, Temporal)
• Test-and-learn mindset with strong rapid prototyping abilities
• Excellent communication skills for both technical and business stakeholders
• Experience with responsible AI principles, data privacy, and system reliability

Who we are:

At Focused, we move quickly to deliver quality software that achieves client outcomes and meets their customer’s needs. We strategically partner with our clients to leverage our expertise in design and software, while our clients bring their own domain expertise. We work with a variety of clients from different industries, collaborating as we get new products to market, modernizing legacy systems, or helping teams learn the skills they need to be successful.   

Our values:

• Listen first • We are experts in product practices but life long learners in the domain of our customers. We research, collaborate, and understand. 
• Learn why • We ask questions and talk to users to understand problem spaces, objectives, and goals, which allows us to deeply invest and drive towards the outcomes of our clients. 
• Love your craft • We love diving into a variety of domains and solving problems.  We take pride in delivering value, in communicating progress, and guiding our clients to success.

At Focused, our Engineers are both practitioners and experts in their craft. This role would play a crucial role in shaping and implementing engineering best practices and ensuring the successful delivery of complex software projects. With clients, we develop trust and influence - we are unintimidated and unintimidating. With colleagues, we set the standard for how we deliver success for clients.

What would you be doing?

• Build AI-enabled applications leveraging LangChain and LLMs to deliver meaningful, production-ready outcomes for clients.
• Deep expertise in LangChain, LangGraph and LangSmith.
• Lead teams through end-to-end delivery across the stack, from backend services to modern web UIs.
• Pair program daily with teammates and clients to share knowledge, improve code quality, and grow together.
• Practice TDD and continuous refactoring to ensure code is reliable, maintainable, and understandable.
• Guide architecture decisions to support scalability, observability, and performance.
• Collaborate closely with designers, product managers, and stakeholders to continuously deliver valuable software.
• Coach developers on the team through pairing, mentoring, and modeling healthy engineering culture.
• Influence technical direction beyond the team, working across client orgs and Focused’s internal practices to share lessons, shape approaches, and raise the collective bar.
• Stay curious through experimenting with new patterns in the GenAI space, share what works (and what doesn’t), and help evolve how we build AI-powered software.

We are excited about you, because you:

• You’re a hands-on, full stack engineer with a strong track record of delivering software in collaborative, agile environments.
• You’ve worked with LangChain (or similar agentic frameworks), and understand how to architect AI-native systems responsibly and effectively.
• You believe that code quality matters, and that TDD and pairing help build better systems and stronger teams.
• You’ve worked across multiple languages or frameworks (e.g., Python, Node, Java, React, Next.js) and are pragmatic about tool selection.
• You’re excited about what’s happening in the AI space but stay focused on delivering value.
• You have experience navigating complex organizations, building bridges across functions, and helping teams adopt modern development practices.
• You’re as comfortable in the code as you are in a client meeting and can translate technical risks and wins into language anyone can understand.
• You love to share what you’re learning and make the team around you better.

If you had worked at Focused over the last 3 months you may have:

• Paired with a teammate to build a document Q&A system using LangChain and OpenAI APIs
• Helped design an architecture that integrates LLM agents into a legacy enterprise workflow
• Refactored a flaky test suite to support continuous delivery with confidence
• Built and deployed a full stack GenAI MVP with a React frontend and FastAPI backend
• Facilitated an architecture spike to evaluate vector database options for semantic search
• Contributed a new section to our internal AI playbook
• Helped write this job req

What to know before you apply: 

• This role will require being in the Chicago office three days per week and up to 20% travel within the United States.
• Focused is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of the employment Visa process at this time.
• The Chicago base salary range for this role is $120,000 - $175,000.

Who we are:

At Focused, we move quickly to deliver quality software that achieves client outcomes and meets their customer’s needs. We strategically partner with our clients to leverage our expertise in design and software, while our clients bring their own domain expertise. We work with a variety of clients from different industries, collaborating as we get new products to market, modernizing legacy systems, or helping teams learn the skills they need to be successful.   

Our values:

• Listen first • We are experts in product practices but life long learners in the domain of our customers. We research, collaborate, and understand. 
• Learn why • We ask questions and talk to users to understand problem spaces, objectives, and goals, which allows us to deeply invest and drive towards the outcomes of our clients. 
• Love your craft • We love diving into a variety of domains and solving problems.  We take pride in delivering value, in communicating progress, and guiding our clients to success.

At Focused, our Engineers are both practitioners and experts in their craft. This role would play a crucial role in shaping and implementing engineering best practices and ensuring the successful delivery of complex software projects. With clients, we develop trust and influence - we are unintimidated and unintimidating. With colleagues, we set the standard for how we deliver success for clients.

What would you be doing?

• Build AI-enabled applications leveraging LangChain and LLMs to deliver meaningful, production-ready outcomes for clients.
• Deep expertise in LangChain, LangGraph and LangSmith
• Lead teams through end-to-end delivery across the stack, from backend services to modern web UIs.
• Pair program daily with teammates and clients to share knowledge, improve code quality, and grow together.
• Practice TDD and continuous refactoring to ensure code is reliable, maintainable, and understandable.
• Guide architecture decisions to support scalability, observability, and performance.
• Collaborate closely with designers, product managers, and stakeholders to continuously deliver valuable software.
• Coach developers on the team through pairing, mentoring, and modeling healthy engineering culture.
• Influence technical direction beyond the team, working across client orgs and Focused’s internal practices to share lessons, shape approaches, and raise the collective bar.
• Stay curious through experimenting with new patterns in the GenAI space, share what works (and what doesn’t), and help evolve how we build AI-powered software.

We are excited about you, because you:

• You’re a hands-on, full stack engineer with a strong track record of delivering software in collaborative, agile environments.
• You’ve worked with LangChain (or similar agentic frameworks), and understand how to architect AI-native systems responsibly and effectively.
• You have experience leading engineering teams and feel confident mentoring and supporting other developers.
• You believe that code quality matters, and that TDD and pairing help build better systems and stronger teams.
• You’ve worked across multiple languages or frameworks (e.g., Python, Node, Java, React, Next.js) and are pragmatic about tool selection.
• You’re excited about what’s happening in the AI space but stay focused on delivering value.
• You have experience navigating complex organizations, building bridges across functions, and helping teams adopt modern development practices.
• You’re as comfortable in the code as you are in a client meeting and can translate technical risks and wins into language anyone can understand.
• You love to share what you’re learning and make the team around you better.

If you had worked at Focused over the last 3 months you may have:

• Paired with a teammate to build a document Q&A system using LangChain and OpenAI APIs
• Helped design an architecture that integrates LLM agents into a legacy enterprise workflow
• Refactored a flaky test suite to support continuous delivery with confidence
• Mentored a junior dev through their first pairing and TDD session
• Built and deployed a full stack GenAI MVP with a React frontend and FastAPI backend
• Facilitated an architecture spike to evaluate vector database options for semantic search
• Contributed a new section to our internal AI playbook
• Helped write this job req

What to know before you apply: 

• This role will require being in the Chicago office three days per week and up to 20% travel within the United States.
• Focused is unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of the employment Visa process at this time.
• The Chicago base salary range for this role is $175,000 - $250,000.