AI Engineer

Direct Supply; Round Lake (IL); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous benefit package available

Job summary

Direct Supply in Illinois is seeking an AI Engineer to design, ship, and operate AI systems in production across the full product lifecycle. This role involves direct interaction with customers and end-to-end ownership from discovery to deployment, blending hands-on engineering with product-focused outcomes.

Responsibilities include designing and operating AI systems used by customers, translating problems into prototypes, and owning the complete lifecycle from discovery to monitoring.

Qualifications

• Solid foundations in applied AI and software engineering.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate AI systems deployed in production environments that customers interact with.
• Translate unclear business and customer problems into prototypes and technical specifications.
• Assess AI capabilities and apply them where they deliver clear value.
• Own the complete application lifecycle from product discovery and experimentation to evaluation, deployment, and monitoring.
• Own system design decisions, tradeoffs, and long-term scalability and maintainability considerations.
• Develop codebases that are readable by teammates and other developers; advance tooling across the organization.
• Collaborate with product managers to enhance product vision, including AI-native solutions.

Skills

Applied AI fundamentals

Software engineering

Cloud platforms

AI development tools

Customer-focused outcomes

Team collaboration

Education

Degree in CS/Engineering/Data Science

Tools

Python

C#

TypeScript

PostgreSQL

Docker

Terraform

AWS

Anthropic

OpenAI

Job description

Direct Supply in Illinois is seeking an AI Engineer to design, ship, and operate AI systems in production across the full product lifecycle. This role involves direct interaction with customers and end-to-end ownership from discovery to deployment, blending hands‑on engineering with product-focused outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate AI systems deployed in production environments that customers interact with
• Translate unclear business and customer problems into prototypes and technical specifications
• Assess AI capabilities and apply them where they deliver clear value
• Own the complete application lifecycle from product discovery and experimentation to evaluation, deployment, and monitoring
• Own system design decisions, tradeoffs, and long‑term scalability and maintainability considerations
• Develop codebases that are readable by teammates and other developers; advance tooling across the organization
• Collaborate with product managers to enhance product vision, including AI‑native solutions

Requirements

• Solid foundations in applied AI and software engineering
• Autonomous builders who can operate across tech, product, and design thinking
• Bias toward shipping quickly, iterating, and incorporating customer feedback over polish
• High ownership and initiative – measured by outcomes rather than deliverables
• Curiosity to improve systems, products, and personal craft
• 2+ years of experience in software engineering or applied AI
• Experience using AI development tools within full‑stack applications
• Experience designing AI‑based solutions that integrate with real workflows
• Working knowledge of cloud platforms and frontier AI platforms

Technologies

• Python
• C#
• TypeScript
• PostgreSQL
• Anthropic
• OpenAI
• Docker
• Terraform
• AWS

Benefits

• Generous benefit package available

Nice to have

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field
• Experience operating AI systems in production, with attention to evaluation, cost, and performance tradeoffs
• Background in high‑ambiguity environments with proximity to customers (for example, early‑stage startups, forward‑deployed engineering, internal product teams)
• Experience in large‑scale Python, C#, and TypeScript codebases
• Experience integrating AI solutions into existing, established products
• Experience working with healthcare, regulated, or sensitive data