Founding AI Engineer - Build Automations for Portfolios

k1im; Manhattan Beach (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

K1 Investment Management is seeking an AI Engineer to join its founding AI team in Manhattan Beach, CA. You will ship real automations, build tools, and drive impact across a 275+ portfolio, reporting directly to a Founding Partner with no middle management.

This in-office role requires ownership from day one and a hands-on approach to enterprise AI within private equity. You will prototype AI tools, evaluate models, and deliver dashboards and data pipelines to empower investment professionals

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Business + CS, or a related field.
• At least one internship/role or substantive project experience in AI/ML, software engineering, or data science.
• Proficiency with Claude (Anthropic) as a daily working tool — prompt engineering, multi-step workflows, and integration into real tasks.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft 365 (Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Teams); familiarity with Power Automate or Copilot Studio is a plus.
• Proficiency in Python and/or JavaScript — you don't need to be a systems engineer, but you need to ship working code.
• Bias toward action, comfort with ambiguity, and a genuine obsession with where AI is headed.
• Ability to work in-office in Manhattan Beach 5 days per week.

Responsibilities

• Designing, building, and deploying AI-powered automations using Claude, Microsoft 365 (Power Automate, Copilot, SharePoint), and custom integrations to eliminate manual processes across the firm and portfolio companies.
• Rapid prototyping AI tools and agents — from competitive intelligence scrapers to board-report generators — and iterating quickly based on real user feedback.
• Evaluating emerging AI models, tools, and frameworks and synthesizing findings into actionable recommendations for the investment team.
• Building internal dashboards, data pipelines, and agentic workflows that give K1's investment professionals an unfair advantage.
• Performing other duties as assigned.

Skills

Claude

Python

JavaScript

Microsoft 365

Power Automate

Copilot Studio

AI/ML experience

Prompt engineering

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Business + CS, or a related field

Tools

Claude (Anthropic)

Microsoft 365

Power Automate

Copilot Studio

SharePoint

Job description

K1 Investment Management is seeking an AI Engineer to join its founding AI team in Manhattan Beach, CA. You will ship real automations, build tools, and drive impact across a 275+ portfolio, reporting directly to a Founding Partner with no middle management.

This in-office role requires ownership from day one and a hands-on approach to enterprise AI within private equity. You will prototype AI tools, evaluate models, and deliver dashboards and data pipelines to empower investment professionals