AI Operations Lead

Apt; Birmingham (AL); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Apt in Birmingham, Alabama is seeking an AI Operations & Automation Specialist to improve business operations through AI, automation, data integration, and process improvement. This is a hands-on operations role, not a traditional software engineering position; you do not need professional coding experience.

You will connect systems, automate repetitive work, and improve reporting to empower operators and leadership onsite.

Qualifications

• 3–6 years in operations, analytics, project management, property management, accounting operations, or a similar field.
• Advanced Excel or Google Sheets skills.
• Proven experience using AI to build or automate something real.
• Hands-on experience with Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or similar tools.
• Strong SQL/API fundamentals or the ability to learn them quickly.
• Strong business-process understanding and critical thinking.
• High agency and the ability to work without a defined task list.
• Comfortable challenging ideas, receiving feedback, and rebuilding when needed.
• Curious, resilient, detail-oriented, and motivated by solving difficult problems.

Responsibilities

• Learn operations workflows across leasing, accounting, and construction teams.
• Identify painful manual processes and recurring reports.
• Automate top reporting processes and deliver a useful tool within a month.
• Establish read access to core business systems through APIs.
• Work with vendors to obtain required API access and registrations.
• Build internal tools that bring operational, project, and financial data together.
• Train employees on the tools you build.
• Develop carefully controlled processes for writing data back into core systems.
• Build validated automation that eliminates duplicate data entry while protecting critical financial and operational information.
• Move quickly while following safeguards for responsible AI.

Skills

Advanced Excel

Google Sheets

AI automation

SQL / API basics

Critical thinking

Self starter

Tools

Claude

ChatGPT

Claude Code

Cursor

Codex

Job description

We are seeking an AI Operations & Automation Specialist to help improve business operations through AI, automation, data integration, and process improvement.

This is a hands-on operations role, not a traditional software engineering position. You do not need professional coding experience. We are looking for someone who naturally sees inefficient processes and figures out how to build something better using tools such as Excel, AI, Claude Code, Cursor, or Codex.

The organization’s information currently sits across multiple systems, spreadsheets, and manual processes. Your role will be to connect those systems, automate repetitive work, improve reporting, and make information easier to access and use.

You will work directly with operators and leadership in an onsite Birmingham, Alabama environment.

What You’ll Do:

First 90 Days:

• Learn how operations, leasing, accounting, and construction teams actually work.
• Identify the most painful manual processes and recurring reports.
• Automate the top three reporting processes.
• Deliver a useful tool within your first month.

Months 3–9:

• Establish read access to core business systems through APIs.
• Work with vendors to obtain required API access and registrations.
• Build internal tools that bring operational, project, and financial data together.
• Train employees on the tools you build.
• Develop carefully controlled processes for writing data back into core systems.
• Build validated automation that eliminates duplicate data entry while protecting critical financial and operational information.

What We’re Looking For

Required:

• 3–6 years in operations, analytics, project management, property management, accounting operations, or a similar field.
• Advanced Excel or Google Sheets skills.
• Proven experience using AI to build or automate something real.
• Hands-on experience with Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or similar tools.
• Strong SQL/API fundamentals or the ability to learn them quickly.
• Strong business-process understanding and critical thinking.
• High agency and the ability to work without a defined task list.
• Comfortable challenging ideas, receiving feedback, and rebuilding when needed.
• Curious, resilient, detail-oriented, and motivated by solving difficult problems.

Nice to Have:

• Multifamily, property management, construction, or real estate experience.
• Experience with Procore, Entrata, RealPage, Yardi, or similar platforms.
• n8n, Zapier, Make, BI/dashboarding, or coding experience.

Not Required:

• Prior professional coding experience.

Responsible AI & Security:

You’ll be expected to move quickly while following clear safeguards:

• Read-only integrations before write access.
• No production credentials in code or shared logins.
• Financial-system changes require review.
• Use sandbox/test environments before production.
• Document what you build so others can maintain it.

Who This Role Is For:

This role is ideal for someone who has already been using AI to automate their own work and wants to make that their full-time focus.

You should enjoy working directly with operators, solving real problems, learning new tools, and building useful solutions rather than simply creating strategy or presentations.