AI Engineer

Fanatics Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Ownership of projects

Mentorship with senior leaders

Competitive compensation

401(k) match

Generous PTO

Job summary

Fanatics Inc. in New York City is seeking an AI Engineer to shape and execute the company’s AI strategy. You’ll own end‑to‑end AI projects, design agentic workflows, and partner with business leaders to identify high‑impact automation opportunities.

The role requires hands‑on experience with frontier LLMs, Python, and modern AI stacks, plus strong communication and strategic thinking. This NYC office position emphasizes collaboration and delivering measurable business impact.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS/AI/ML or a closely related field.
• Hands-on experience building with frontier LLMs and agentic workflows.
• Familiarity with LLM APIs, agent frameworks, prompt engineering, RAG, and evaluation methods.
• Proficiency in Python and willingness to learn new tools as needed.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and independent work skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; strategic mindset.

Responsibilities

• Identify, prioritize, and deliver AI automation opportunities across Fanatics.
• Contribute to AI strategy: tools to invest in, workflows to prioritize, measure impact.
• Take ideas from concept to production: scope, design, build, eval, and adopt.
• Shape AI governance, security coordination, and adoption metrics.
• Ask the right questions and drive ROI through automation.
• Bring your own ideas and balance creativity with execution.

Skills

Frontier LLMs

Agent workflows

Python

AI strategy

Problem solving

Communication

Strategic mindset

Independent work

Sports/fandom interest

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/AI/ML or related field

Tools

Claude Agent SDK

OpenAI Agent SDK

LangGraph

CrewAI

Job description

Fanatics is building a leading global digital sports platform. We ignite the passions of global sports fans and maximize the presence and reach for our hundreds of sports partners globally by offering products and services across Fanatics Commerce, Fanatics Collectibles, and Fanatics Betting & Gaming, allowing sports fans to Buy, Collect, and Bet. Through the Fanatics platform, sports fans can buy licensed fan gear, jerseys, lifestyle and streetwear products, headwear, and hardgoods; collect physical and digital trading cards, sports memorabilia, and other digital assets; and bet as the company builds its Sportsbook and iGaming platform. Fanatics has an established database of over 100 million global sports fans; a global partner network with approximately 900 sports properties, including major national and international professional sports leagues, players associations, teams, colleges, college conferences and retail partners, 2,500 athletes and celebrities, and 200 exclusive athletes; and over 2,000 retail locations, including its Lids retail stores. Our more than 22,000 employees are committed to relentlessly enhancing the fan experience and delighting sports fans globally.

The Role

Are you someone who builds AI agents and thinks about how to automate the world? Fanatics wants you.

We're looking for a full-time AI Engineer to help shape and execute Fanatics' AI strategy across the company. You'll work directly with business leaders to identify high-impact automation opportunities, design and ship agentic workflows, and help set the bar for how AI gets deployed at Fanatics.

This is not an "ideate and hand off" role. You'll own problems end-to-end: define them, design the solution, build the agent or workflow, prove it works, and partner with stakeholders to scale it. If you're technical enough to build, strategic enough to prioritize, and entrepreneurial enough to spot the right opportunities, this is your role.

What You'll Do

• Partner with business stakeholders across Fanatics to identify, prioritize, and deliver on AI automation opportunities that meaningfully move the business.
• Contribute directly to Fanatics' AI strategy: which tools to invest in, which workflows to prioritize, and how to measure impact across functions.
• Take ideas from concept to production: scope the problem, design the solution, build the prototype, run evals, and drive adoption.
• Help shape AI governance and best practices, including tool evaluation, security and InfoSec coordination, and tracking adoption metrics across the enterprise.
• Ask the hard questions: Is this the right problem to automate? What does "good" look like? How do we measure ROI?
• Bring your own ideas. This role rewards creativity and judgment as much as execution.

What We're Looking For

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, AI/ML, Software Engineering, or a closely related field preferred.
• Hands‑on experience building with frontier LLMs, including designing and shipping custom agents or agentic workflows that solve real business problems.
• Familiarity with the modern AI stack: LLM APIs, MCP, agent frameworks (Claude Agent SDK, OpenAI Agents SDK, LangGraph, CrewAI, or similar), prompt engineering, RAG, and evaluation methods.
• Comfort working in code (Python preferred) and a willingness to learn whatever the right tool for the job turns out to be.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to operate independently in ambiguous environments.
• Excellent written and verbal communication. Explaining your AI work clearly is just as important as building it.
• Strategic mindset paired with a "get it done" attitude.
• Bonus points if you're a fan of sports, collectibles, or fandom culture (because we're a little obsessed).

Why You'll Love It Here

• Real ownership of real projects, with visibility across the entire Fanatics enterprise (Commerce, Collectibles, Betting & Gaming, Corporate).
• A front‑row seat, and a real voice, in how a global sports and collectibles company adopts AI.
• Mentorship and collaboration with senior leaders across the business.
• Competitive salary and comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• 401(k) plan with company match.
• Generous paid time off, paid holidays, and parental leave.
• Wellness benefits and a learning & development stipend.
• NYC office with daily in‑person collaboration.
• Employee discount on Fanatics products and (yes) some sweet Fanatics swag.

Final Word

If you're ready to build agents, drive strategy, and ship AI that actually moves a global sports and collectibles business, let's talk. This is where your ideas get built.

The salary range represents base pay only and does not include short‑term or long‑term incentive compensation. When determining base pay as part of a final compensation package, we consider several factors such as location, experience, qualifications, and training. For information about our benefits, please visit https://benefitsatfanatics.com/

As set forth in Fanatics Inc.’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.