AI Engineer - Production AI & Data Systems

Eleven Recruiting; El Segundo (CA); On-site; USD 124,000 - 165,000; Full time

Job summary

Eleven Recruiting is partnering with a leading investment firm in El Segundo, CA to hire an AI Engineer who will design and build production-grade services that bring AI capabilities into internal systems. This is a hands-on role, not a research position, and you will work closely with the Data Engineering team to ensure data is usable and trustworthy.

The role involves building backend infrastructure, integrating AI tools, and implementing APIs and tool-use patterns to act on data reliably and

Qualifications

• Backend production experience with Python.
• Hands-on with LLMs or AI tooling and API integrations.
• Experience with APIs, databases, and enterprise systems.

Responsibilities

• Design and build production-grade AI services and integrations.
• Build backend infra connecting AI tools to internal systems and data sources.
• Implement APIs and tooling for reliable AI data actions.
• Apply clean code, testing, and observability practices across AI work.
• Partner with engineering to ensure data is usable and trustworthy.

Skills

Python production experience

LLMs & AI tools

APIs & data pipelines

Communication with stakeholders

Tools

Snowflake

Job description

We are a specialized technology staffing agency supporting professional and financial services companies. Why do we stand out in technology staffing? We listen and act as advisors for our candidates on how they can best add value, find interesting projects, and pave a path for career advancement. We advocate for the best pay, diversity in tech, and the best job fit for every candidate we place.

Our client, a leading investment firm, is seeking an AI Engineer to join their team in El Segundo, CA!

The role is responsible for designing and building production-grade services that bring AI capabilities into the firm's systems, working closely with the Data Engineering team to ensure underlying data is usable and trustworthy. This is a hands-on engineering role, not a research position.

Responsibilities

• Design and build production-grade services and integrations that bring AI capabilities into internal systems.
• Build and maintain backend infrastructure connecting AI tools and models to internal systems and data sources.
• Implement integrations, APIs, and tool-use patterns that allow AI systems to act on data reliably and safely.
• Apply sound software engineering practices — clean code, testing, observability — across all work, AI-related or not.
• Partner with the engineering teams to ensure data underlying AI initiatives is usable and trustworthy.
• Identify practical, feasible opportunities to apply AI to existing systems and workflows, beyond proof-of-concept work.

Qualifications

• Backend software engineering background — production service experience required — with a subsequent transition into applied AI engineering work. This is the primary profile sought.
• Strong coding fundamentals in Python and/or similar languages, with production experience rather than notebook or prototype work only.
• Hands-on experience building with LLMs or AI tools, including API integrations, tool-use or function calling, or AI-powered features.
• Experience working with APIs, databases, and enterprise systems generally; direct data pipeline experience is a plus but not required.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain technical tradeoffs clearly to non-technical business stakeholders.
• Preferred: experience with Snowflake or other data platforms, semantic layers or metadata frameworks, or Model Context Protocol (MCP) or similar AI tool-integration patterns.

Pay Rate: $90.00 - $120.00/hr

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