AI Engineer

The Phoenix Group; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

The Phoenix Group Advisors is seeking a Senior Software Engineer focused on AI and LLMs to design, build, and integrate AI-powered solutions across enterprise systems in New York. You will work on production AI applications, agents, and LLM-powered workflows, with strong emphasis on Python, MCP, and OpenAI APIs.

You will collaborate with stakeholders, work across existing apps and new AI initiatives, and evaluate models, tools, and infrastructure to ensure secure, scalable solutions.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software engineering, application development, or systems architecture.
• Strong Python development experience.
• Experience with C#/.NET, ASP.NET, or enterprise app stacks.
• Hands-on experience building production AI/LLM applications.
• Experience building AI agents or autonomous AI systems.
• Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol).
• Experience with OpenAI APIs and self-hosted LLMs.
• Experience with self-hosted LLMs using Ollama/vLLM/Hugging Face.
• Experience integrating AI into enterprise software.
• Understanding of RAG, embeddings, vector/semantic search, tool calling, and prompt engineering.
• Strong knowledge of APIs, databases, security, and production practices.
• Experience with Azure and/or AWS.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deploy production-grade AI and LLM-powered applications using Python.
• Architect AI solutions integrated with existing enterprise apps, APIs, databases, and business systems.
• Build AI agents, agentic workflows, and autonomous processes for complex tasks.
• Develop MCP servers, tools, and integrations enabling secure interactions with enterprise apps.
• Build solutions using OpenAI APIs and self-hosted LLMs.
• Work with local model inference technologies such as Ollama, vLLM, or similar.
• Develop RIS/TIyam evaluation, testing, and optimization for AI workflows.
• Establish best practices around agent development, MCP, AI tooling, and integration.
• Collaborate with technical and business stakeholders to translate requirements into scalable AI solutions.
• Evaluate new AI models, frameworks, tools, and infrastructure.

Skills

Python

C#/.NET

AI/LLM engineering

MCP

OpenAI APIs

Azure/AWS

Production AI

APIs

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Tools

Ollama

vLLM

Hugging Face

LM Studio

Docker

Azure DevOps

Job description

We are seeking a Senior Software Engineer – AI & LLMs to design, build, and integrate AI-powered solutions within a sophisticated enterprise technology environment.

The ideal candidate is a strong software engineer with experience building and architecting enterprise applications who has expanded into AI/LLM engineering. This role requires strong Python skills and hands‑on experience building production AI applications, agents, and LLM-powered workflows. Experience with C#/.NET and Microsoft-based enterprise applications is strongly preferred.

You will work across existing enterprise applications and new AI initiatives, integrating both externally hosted models and internally hosted LLMs into business‑critical systems.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deploy production‑grade AI and LLM‑powered applications using Python.
• Architect AI solutions that integrate with existing enterprise applications, APIs, databases, and business systems.
• Build AI agents, agentic workflows, and autonomous processes to automate complex business tasks.
• Design and develop custom MCP servers, tools, and integrations that allow AI systems to securely interact with enterprise applications.
• Build solutions utilizing OpenAI APIs as well as internally/self‑hosted language models.
• Work with local model inference technologies such as Ollama, vLLM, Hugging Face, LM Studio, or similar platforms.
• Develop solutions utilizing RAG, embeddings, semantic/vector search, tool calling, prompt engineering, and LLM orchestration.
• Evaluate and optimize models and AI workflows for performance, reliability, security, and scalability.
• Develop evaluation and testing strategies for production AI applications.
• Establish best practices around agent development, MCP, AI tooling, model integration, and AI‑assisted software development.
• Collaborate directly with technical and business stakeholders to translate complex requirements into scalable AI solutions.
• Evaluate emerging AI models, frameworks, developer tools, and infrastructure.
• Participate in architecture discussions, code reviews, troubleshooting, and knowledge sharing.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software engineering, application development, or systems architecture experience.
• Strong hands‑on development experience with Python.
• Experience with C#/.NET, ASP.NET, or another enterprise application development stack strongly preferred.
• Hands‑on experience building production AI/LLM applications, rather than solely prototypes or proof‑of‑concept projects.
• Experience building AI agents, agentic workflows, or autonomous AI systems.
• Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol), including MCP servers, tools, or integrations.
• Experience working with OpenAI APIs and/or other leading LLM APIs.
• Experience with self‑hosted or locally deployed LLMs using technologies such as Ollama, vLLM, Hugging Face, LiteLLM, or similar.
• Experience integrating AI into existing enterprise software and business applications.
• Understanding of RAG, embeddings, vector/semantic search, tool calling, prompt engineering, and AI evaluation.
• Strong knowledge of software architecture, APIs, databases, authentication, security, testing, and production development practices.
• Experience with Azure and/or AWS.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate with both technical and business stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional experience with C#/.NET, ASP.NET MVC/Core, SQL Server, and T‑SQL.
• Experience modernizing legacy applications or adding AI capabilities to existing enterprise software.
• Experience with AI development tools such as Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, or similar technologies.
• Experience creating reusable AI Skills, plugins, tools, or internal AI platforms.
• Experience with Microsoft Entra ID, OAuth, authentication/authorization, and secure service‑to‑service integrations.
• Experience with Docker, CI/CD, Azure DevOps, and containerized workloads.
• Experience with enterprise platforms such as iManage, Salesforce, SharePoint, Aderant, or Workday.
• Experience within the legal industry, professional services, or another complex enterprise environment.

The Phoenix Group Advisors is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status. We strive to attract talented individuals from all backgrounds and provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment.