Entry Level AI Software Engineer

International Business Machines Corporation; Durham (NC); Hybrid; USD 101,000 - 151,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM Software in Durham, North Carolina is seeking an Entry Level AI Software Engineer to help design, build, and test AI-powered features. You’ll work with experienced engineers to integrate LLMs, APIs, and enterprise data, turning research into reliable software.

The role emphasizes hands-on prototype work, debugging, and clear communication as you translate problems into concrete requirements, testable criteria, and demonstrations of impact.

Qualifications

• Strong software fundamentals across data structures, algorithms, design and testing.
• Proficiency in Python and building apps/services that integrate APIs.
• Hands-on experience building an application or prototype with LLMs.
• Systematic debugging mindset to investigate failures and reason about interactions between code, data, and models.
• Ability to translate problems into clear requirements, prompts, and testable acceptance criteria; evaluate AI-generated outputs.
• Familiarity with Git, clear technical communication, and collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and test AI-powered features addressing real developer and client needs, with guidance from experienced engineers.
• Integrate LLMs, APIs, and enterprise data into applications, exploring tool calls and retrieval where appropriate.
• Write specifications and prompts, use AI development tools thoughtfully, and review and test produced code.
• Evaluate AI behavior with realistic test cases, measure quality and performance.
• Debug across model interactions, application code, APIs, and underlying systems to identify root causes and build reliable solutions.
• Collaborate via Git, code reviews, and technical discussions; document work and iterate on feedback.

Skills

Software fundamentals

Python proficiency

LLMs experience

Git

APIs integration

Education

High School Diploma/GED

Bachelor's Degree preferred

Job description

## Entry Level AI Software EngineerDURHAM, North Carolina, United StatesEntry Level* Email* X* LinkedInApply nowIntroductionAt IBM Software, we transform client challenges into solutions. Building the world's leading AI-powered, cloud-native products that shape the future of business and society. Our legacy of innovation creates endless opportunities for IBMers to learn, grow, and make an impact on a global scale. Working in Software means joining a team fueled by curiosity and collaboration. You'll work with diverse technologies, partners, and industries to design, develop, and deliver solutions that power digital transformation. With a culture that values innovation, growth, and continuous learning, IBM Software places you at the heart of IBM's product and technology landscape. Here, you'l have the tools and opportunities to advance your career while creating software that changes the world.Your role and responsibilitiesBuild AI for the systems the world relies on. At IBM Z, our technology supports the transactions and data behind banking, payments, and global commerce. We are bringing AI into that foundation to help developers build faster, simplify complex operations, and solve problems where reliability, security, and performance matter.As an Entry Level AI Software Engineer, you will work alongside experienced engineers to turn advances in large language models into useful software. Depending on your team, you could build an agent that helps diagnose system issues, connect AI to enterprise data and tools, or create a simpler way for developers to work with complex systems. Bring your ideas, experiment, and help take a feature from prototype through testing and refinement.**What You’ll Do:*** Design, build, and test AI-powered features that address real developer and client needs, with guidance from experienced engineers.* Integrate LLMs, APIs, and enterprise data into applications, exploring agent workflows, tool calling, and retrieval where they fit the problem.* Write clear specifications and effective prompts, use AI development tools thoughtfully, and review and test the code they produce.* Evaluate AI behavior with realistic test cases, measure quality and performance, and improve how applications handle incorrect outputs and failures.* Debug across model interactions, application code, APIs, and underlying systems to understand root causes and build reliable solutions.* Collaborate through Git, code reviews, and technical discussions; document your work and iterate on feedback.**Location Flexibility: By applying to this requisition, you acknowledge and agree to be considered for any of the listed locations associated with this position and are willing to work at the location where you are ultimately assigned.**Required educationHigh School Diploma/GEDPreferred educationBachelor's DegreeRequired technical and professional expertise* Strong software engineering fundamentals, including data structures, algorithms, software design, and testing.* Proficiency in Python and experience building applications or services that integrate APIs.* Hands-on experience building an application or working prototype with LLMs. You can explain what you built, how you integrated the model, and how you tested its behavior. Experience may come from personal, academic, open-source, or internship projects.* A systematic debugging mindset: you can investigate failures, test assumptions, and reason about how application code, data, models, and underlying systems interact.* Ability to translate a problem into clear requirements, prompts, and testable acceptance criteria, and critically evaluate AI-generated code and responses.* Familiarity with Git, clear technical communication, and the ability to learn quickly and collaborate on a team.Preferred technical and professional experience* Experience in one or more of the following areas is a plus. You do not need experience with every technology listed.* AI agents and tool or function calling; retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), embeddings, vector databases, or Model Context Protocol (MCP).* Independent AI projects, open-source contributions, or experiments beyond assigned coursework that demonstrate initiative and thoughtful engineering decisions.* Additional programming experience in JavaScript/TypeScript or Go, and familiarity with distributed systems or microservices.* Operating system concepts such as concurrency, multithreading, and memory management; relational databases and SQL.* Cloud and container technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, or OpenShift; observability, search, or real-time data processing tools such as OpenSearch or Kafka.* AI evaluation, anomaly detection, or experience measuring and improving model accuracy, latency, and reliability.We are especially interested in what you have built and learned. Where available, include a project link, repository, demo, or a brief description of your contribution and the technical challenges you worked through.### ABOUT BUSINESS UNITIBM Software infuses core business operations with intelligence—from machine learning to generative AI—to help make organizations more responsive, productive, and resilient. IBM Software helps clients put AI into action now to create real value with trust, speed, and confidence across digital labor, IT automation, application modernization, security, and sustainability. Critical to this is the ability to make use of all data, because AI is only as good as the data that fuels it. In most organizations data is spread across multiple clouds, on premises, in private datacenters, and at the edge. IBM’s AI and data platform scales and accelerates the impact of AI with trusted data, and provides leading capabilities to train, tune and deploy AI across business. IBM’s hybrid cloud platform is one of the most comprehensive and consistent approach to development, security, and operations across hybrid environments—a flexible foundation for leveraging data, wherever it resides, to extend AI deep into a business.### YOUR LIFE @ IBMIn a world where technology never stands still, we understand that, dedication to our clients success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better.Being an IBMer means you’ll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career, you’ll be encouraged to be courageous and experiment everyday, all whilst having continuous trust and support in an environment where everyone can thrive whatever their personal or professional background.Our IBMers are growth minded, always staying curious, open to feedback and learning new information and skills to constantly transform themselves and our company. They are trusted to provide on-going feedback to help other IBMers grow, as well as collaborate with colleagues keeping in mind a team focused approach to include different perspectives to drive exceptional outcomes for our customers. The courage our IBMers have to make critical decisions everyday is essential to IBM becoming the catalyst for progress, always embracing challenges with resources they have to hand, a can-do attitude and always striving for an outcome focused approach within everything that they do.Are you ready to be an IBMer?### ABOUT IBMIBM’s greatest invention is the IBMer. We believe that through the application of intelligence, reason and science, we can improve business, society and the human condition, bringing the power of an open hybrid cloud and AI strategy to life for our clients and partners around the world.Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are not only one of the largest corporate organizations in the world, we’re also one of the biggest technology and consulting employers, with many of the Fortune 500 companies relying on the IBM Cloud to run their business.At IBM, we pride ourselves on being an early adopter of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and blockchain. Now it’s time for you to join us on our journey to being a responsible technology innovator and a force for good in the world.IBM is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, or other characteristics protected by the applicable law. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.### OTHER RELEVANT JOB DETAILSIBM offers a competitive and comprehensive benefits program. Eligible employees may have access to:- Healthcare benefits including medical & prescription drug coverage, dental, vision, and mental health & well being- Financial programs such as 401(k), cash balance pension plan, the IBM Employee Stock Purchase Plan, financial counseling, life insurance, short & long- term disability coverage, and opportunities for performance based salary incentive programs- Generous paid time off including 12 holidays, minimum 56 hours sick time, 120 hours vacation, 12 weeks parental bonding leave in accordance with IBM Policy, and other Paid Care Leave programs. IBM also offers paid family leave benefits to eligible employees where required by applicable law- Training and educational resources on our personalized, AI-driven learning platform where IBMers can grow skills and obtain industry-recognized certifications to achieve their career goals- Diverse and inclusive employee resource groups, giving & volunteer opportunities, and discounts on retail products, services & experiencesWe consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable law.This position was posted on the date cited in the key job details section and is anticipated to remain posted for 21 days from this date or less if not needed to fill the role.IBM will not be providing visa sponsorship for this position now or in the future. Therefore, in order to be considered for this position, you must have the ability to work without a need for current or future visa sponsorship.The compensation range and benefits for this position are based on a full-time schedule for a full calendar year. The salary will vary depending on your job-related skills, experience and location. Pay increment and frequency of pay will be in accordance with employment classification and applicable laws. For part time roles, your compensation and benefits will be adjusted to reflect your hours. Benefits may be pro-rated for those who start working during the calendar year.Job TitleEntry Level AI Software EngineerDate posted21-Oct-2026Job ID137790City / Township / VillageDURHAMState / ProvinceNorth CarolinaCountryUnited StatesWork arrangementHybridArea of workSoftware EngineeringEmployment typeRegularContract typeRegularProjected Minimum Salary per year100,800.00Projected Maximum Salary per year151,200.00Position typeEntry LevelTravel requiredSome travel may be required based on business demandCompany(0147) International Business Machines CorporationShiftGeneral (daytime)Is this role a commissionable/sales incentive based position?No