Applied AI Engineer: From MVPs to Production

Leatherman Tool Group; Portland (OR); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Leatherman Tool Group in Portland, OR seeks an Applied AI Developer to turn AI ideas into dependable software used across the business. You will build, test, and deploy AI workflows and stand up rapid MVPs within sprints to validate ideas.

You will work hands-on with functional teams to ensure production quality and scalable, observable tools. A strong full-stack and cloud background is preferred.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field.
• Minimum of three years of professional software engineering experience, with hands-on exposure to AI/ML or applied AI development.
• Working experience with LLM-based applications, agent patterns, retrieval-augmented generation, or AI-integrated workflows.
• Comfortable with cloud platforms, Microsoft Azure preferred, as well as MCP, APIs, and integration architectures.
• Solid full-stack development skills with the ability to ship production-grade software.
• Self-directed and capable of progressing work with light technical supervision.
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills, including experience working with business sponsors.
• Experience in manufacturing, consumer products, or enterprise software is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Build, test, and deploy the AI workflows that come out of the company’s transformation pipeline.
• Stand up rapid MVPs and prototype applications to test new ideas inside a single sprint.
• Take high-profile vibecoded applications that emerge from across the organization and bring them to production quality.
• Turn business needs into working software using Leatherman’s AI platform, MCP integrations, and standard tooling.
• Iterate quickly: ship early, gather user feedback, and refine in production.
• Keep AI workflows running well in production: monitor performance, watch for problems, and respond when something goes wrong.
• Apply the governance standards set by the AI Governance Lead; keep code, documentation, and testing to the team’s quality bar.
• Integrate AI workflows with Leatherman’s enterprise systems via MCP and APIM.
• Use reusable components and patterns from the platform library, and contribute new ones as the work surfaces them.
• Run SaaS build-feasibility reviews—evaluate whether incoming SaaS contracts could be built internally on the AI platform or with AI coding tools.
• Document findings, effort estimates, and how well the work fits the platform for each review.
• Partner with the AI Platform Lead on the final recommendation to leadership.
• Stay current on the AI vendor landscape; flag tools worth evaluating and partners worth exploring.
• Support broader AI Lab and vibecoding community efforts as needed.
• Keep informed and ahead of AI development practices and emerging technologies.
• Provide backup technical support to the AI Platform Lead as needed.

Skills

AI/ML experience

LLM-based applications

Cloud platforms

APIs & integration

Full-stack development

Strong communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, IT, or related field

Tools

Azure

MCP

APIs

Job description

Leatherman Tool Group in Portland, OR seeks an Applied AI Developer to turn AI ideas into dependable software used across the business. You will build, test, and deploy AI workflows and stand up rapid MVPs within sprints to validate ideas.

You will work hands-on with functional teams to ensure production quality and scalable, observable tools. A strong full-stack and cloud background is preferred.