AI Software Engineer

Embelo; Cape Town; Hybrid; ZAR 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Mentorship program

Job summary

Embelo is seeking an AI Engineer to join a hybrid-capable delivery team in Cape Town. You will design and build practical AI agent systems, integrate APIs and automate workflows across client environments, with production-ready Python services and strong reliability practices.

You will work closely with clients and senior engineers to translate business processes into scalable automation, using tools like Claude, OpenAI and Gemini, in a fast-moving, collaborative setting.

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building AI agents and agentic workflows.
• Experience integrating APIs and third‑party systems.
• Familiarity with AI platforms such as Claude, OpenAI, Gemini.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and operate AI agents and agentic automation workflows.
• Integrate APIs, webhooks and event-driven components across systems.
• Develop Python-based services and automation components for production use.
• Collaborate with client teams to turn requirements into working solutions.
• Document agent behavior, rules and dependencies for reliability.
• Ensure robust monitoring, error handling and escalation paths.

Skills

AI agents

Agentic automation

APIs integration

Python services

Cloud/data platforms

AI platforms (Claude/OpenAI/Gemini)

Tools

Claude

OpenAI

Gemini

Job description

At Embelo, we're dedicated to helping founders of consulting businesses start and scale efficiently. Backed by our UK-based investors and clients, we deliver exceptional client services to a growing group of UK businesses, combining technical expertise, South African spirit, and the latest in AI-powered services. One of those is Inference Group, a fast-growing data and AI consultancy on a mission to help businesses unlock their true potential and drive sustainable growth.

About Us

At Embelo, we’re dedicated to helping founders of consulting businesses start and scale efficiently. Backed by our UK-based investors and clients, we deliver exceptional client services to a growing group of UK businesses, combining technical expertise, South African spirit and the latest in AI-powered services.

One of those businesses is Inference Group, a fast-growing data and AI consultancy on a mission to help organisations unlock the value of their data, AI and technology to drive sustainable growth.

Role Overview

We’re looking for a hands‑on AI Engineer to join a greenfield data and AI transformation programme for one of our clients.

You’ll work as part of a small, senior delivery team designing and building intelligent automation that connects systems, data and business workflows. The work combines agentic AI, software engineering, API integration and workflow automation, with a strong focus on building solutions that operate reliably in real‑world environments.

This isn’t primarily a traditional machine learning or model‑training role. We’re looking for someone who enjoys building practical systems: creating agents that can interact with applications, integrating APIs and event platforms, automating manual workflows, and designing the controls required to make those automations dependable in production.

You’ll be involved from the early stages of the programme, working directly with client teams to understand how processes operate today and rapidly turning those requirements into working technology.

The environment is fast‑moving and highly collaborative, with AI‑assisted engineering used throughout the delivery lifecycle.

Location: This is a hybrid role based in Cape Town, with a minimum of three days per week in our office. Candidates looking to relocate to Cape Town are welcome to apply, although relocation costs would need to be covered personally.

Key Responsibilities Include

• Design, build and operate AI agents and agentic automation workflows that perform real business tasks.
• Build automation that can interact with systems both through APIs and through user interfaces where APIs are unavailable.
• Develop reliable Python‑based services and automation components.
• Build and integrate APIs, webhooks and event‑driven workflows across multiple systems.
• Design services that manage redirects, sessions, identifiers and system‑to‑system data flows.
• Integrate with customer data, event and identity platforms such as Segment, Amplitude or similar technologies.
• Implement secure credential and secrets management for automated services and agent workflows.
• Design appropriate exception handling, retry logic, monitoring and escalation paths for automated processes.
• Build safeguards and human‑in‑the‑loop controls where full automation is not appropriate.
• Test agent behaviour against real‑world workflows and continuously improve reliability.
• Work closely with data engineers and other technical specialists to ensure automated workflows integrate cleanly with wider data platforms.
• Collaborate directly with client stakeholders to understand processes, validate requirements and demonstrate working solutions.
• Clearly document agent behaviour, business rules, dependencies and failure scenarios.
• Explain technical limitations, reliability considerations and automation risks to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Take solutions from initial prototype through to robust, production‑ready implementation.

What You Bring

We’re looking for someone who combines strong software engineering fundamentals with practical experience building modern automation or agentic systems.

You’ll ideally bring experience in some or all of the following:

• Hands‑on experience building AI agents, agentic workflows or intelligent automation.
• Experience integrating APIs, webhooks and third‑party systems.
• Experience working with modern AI platforms such as Claude, OpenAI, Gemini or similar.
• Understanding of reliable production automation, including logging, exception handling, retries and human‑in‑the‑loop controls.
• Good software engineering practices including testing, version control and deployment.
• Confidence working directly with clients and translating business processes into practical technical solutions.
• Experience with Segment, Amplitude, Playwright, Selenium, LangGraph or similar technologies would be useful, as would exposure to digital marketing, affiliate platforms, iGaming or other high‑volume transactional environments - but none are essential.

Working With Clients

This is a hands‑on consulting role, so we’re looking for someone comfortable working directly alongside client teams rather than receiving requirements from a distance.

You should be comfortable:

• Working collaboratively with client technical and operational teams.
• Pairing with users to understand how existing processes actually work.
• Testing solutions against real business workflows rather than idealised scenarios.
• Demonstrating working technology frequently and incorporating feedback quickly.
• Explaining where automation is reliable and where controls or human intervention may still be required.
• Challenging requirements constructively when there is a simpler or more robust technical solution.

The Kind of Person Who Will Thrive Here.

• Like building things that actually run in production, rather than stopping at proof of concept.
• Enjoy combining AI with traditional software engineering and automation.
• Get interested when a system doesn’t have an API rather than immediately writing it off.
• Like figuring out how different systems, users and data flows connect.
• Are comfortable experimenting quickly but care deeply about reliability once something goes live. li>Can move between understanding a business workflow and writing the code that automates it.
• Enjoy solving problems where the technical specification is still evolving.
• Think carefully about edge cases, failure scenarios and what happens when an agent gets something wrong.
• Can explain complex technical decisions in straightforward language.
• Enjoy working closely with clients and a small multidisciplinary engineering team.

Working With Us

At Inference Group, we’re a young and fast‑growing consultancy built by people who are naturally curious and passionate about lifelong learning. If you’re driven and want to help shape the early stages of a dynamic business, we’d love to have you on board.

You’ll be part of a team exploring the opportunities created by data and AI, working on difficult real‑world problems and building solutions that make a measurable difference for our clients.

We’re committed to hiring future leaders who will help shape our next chapter, and we’ll invest in your growth through access to the latest technology, hands‑on experience, mentorship and ongoing training and certifications.

We Geek Out Loud:

we excel in our data and AI domain, using our expertise to deliver solutions that realise value. We share our wisdom and experience proudly, no egos, just pure tech passion.

We Act Boldly, and Collaborate Openly:

we explore uncharted territories, working on the new to deliver operational solutions at scale. We don’t tread over old ground. We collaborate openly with full transparency, learning from each other as a community.

We are the Connectors:

we bridge the gaps between business value, data engineering, data science and deployment. Working seamlessly as one unified team internally and externally to deliver working solutions for our clients.

We Empower our Customers:

we equip our clients with the skills and knowledge to fully leverage, scale and deploy data and AI solutions. We prioritise delivering operational success over prototypes and proof of concepts to provide long term value. We build trust.

We Love our Work:

we are proud of the work we do and take ownership of it. We work on the things we love and care about, we work with passion with people we respect.

We are Data Jedis:

we work on hard problems and aim to deliver working solutions at scale. We don’t have time for politics, backbiting, gossiping, game playing or selfish behaviour. We work as one team with a mission to deliver and we will only achieve that together.