Lead AI Engineer

Chronic Capital; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity participation

Health insurance

Job summary

Chronic Capital, a Boston-based investment bank, seeks its founding technical hire to own architecture and hands-on build of internal AI systems. You’ll work directly with the Managing Director, setting technical direction from day one with a live deal flow to build against.

You’ll own the platform, collaborating across teams, with equity participation and a blank-slate build approach in a fast-moving financial services environment.

Qualifications

• Proven track record shipping production AI applications.
• Strong Python and modern software engineering practices.
• Hands-on experience with LLM APIs, tool calling, and agent orchestration.
• Experience with RAG, embeddings, vector databases, and semantic search.
• API design, backend infrastructure, databases, and data pipelines.
• Integrating enterprise applications via APIs and third-party connectors.
• Cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Authentication, authorization, encryption, and enterprise security.
• Ability to own architectural decisions end-to-end.

Responsibilities

• Design and build production AI systems from architecture through deployment and iteration.
• Create agentic workflows with human review where needed.
• Integrate internal apps and third-party data sources via APIs and connectors.
• Build retrieval and search across structured and unstructured firm data.
• Deliver internal tools used by non-technical users daily.
• Implement security, access controls, audit logging, and governance for a regulated firm.
• Own model, infrastructure, and build-vs-buy decisions and roadmap.

Skills

Python

LLM APIs

Agent orchestration

RAG architectures

Embeddings

Vector databases

Semantic search

API design

Backend infrastructure

Data pipelines

Cloud infrastructure

Security

Authentication / encryption

Independent architectural ownership

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

Job description

We’re a Boston investment bank raising debt and equity for lower-middle-market companies. It’s a segment where deals are complex, information is scattered and most firms still run on spreadsheets and email.

Private credit, private equity, and family office capital is moving down market in search of yield and less competition. Technology is how we intend to capture that shift. We’ve made a real investment in proprietary systems at the core of how we work, and we’re hiring the engineer who will build them.

You’ll report directly to the founder, and you’ll start with a blank slate, a real budget and live deal flow to build against. There’s no legacy system to work around and no committee to get through. Your work runs in production on day one, used by people closing real transactions, rather than sitting in a demo environment waiting for adoption.

If you want to build the platform behind a firm scaling nationally and enjoy equity participation in the firm's growth, this is that opportunity.

The Role

You will be the firm's founding technical hire, owning both the architecture and the hands-on build of internal AI systems used across the business. You will work directly with the Managing Director and set the technical direction from day one. Specific scope and roadmap are shared with finalists under NDA.

What You'll Do

• Design and build production AI systems from architecture through deployment and ongoing iteration
• Build agentic workflows that complete multistep tasks, with human review and approval where it matters
• Integrate internal applications and third-party data sources through APIs, connectors, and data pipelines
• Build retrieval and search across structured and unstructured firm data
• Ship internal tools that non-technical users rely on daily
• Implement security, access controls, audit logging, and governance appropriate for a regulated financial firm
• Own model, infrastructure, and build-vs-buy decisions, and the technical roadmap

Required Qualifications

• Track record shipping production AI applications, not prototypes or demos
• Strong Python and modern software engineering practices
• Hands-on experience with LLM APIs tool calling, and agent orchestration
• RAG architectures, embeddings, vector databases, and semantic search
• API design, backend infrastructure, databases, and data pipelines
• Integrating enterprise applications through APIs and third-party connectors
• Cloud infrastructure (AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• Authentication, authorization, encryption, and enterprise security
• Ability to operate independently and own architectural decisions end to end

Preferred Experience

• Building for financial services or other data-intensive, regulated industries
• Document intelligence and research-heavy workflows
• Familiarity with SEC/FINRA recordkeeping, supervision, and confidentiality requirements
• Founding or early-stage engineering experience

Who This Isn't For

Candidates whose primary expertise is prompt engineering, AI consulting, or managing outsourced development teams. This is a hands-on build role.

Why Join

• Founding role with direct ownership of architecture and roadmap
• Direct line to firm leadership and fast decisions
• Zero-to-one build in a domain where strong engineering is rare
• Competitive compensation (base, bonus, equity participation, benefits)