Intermediate AI LLM Engineer

e-Merge IT Recruitment; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 720,000 - 880,000; Full time

Job summary

e-Merge IT Recruitment in Sandton is seeking an Intermediate AI Engineer to join a specialist technology environment focused on building and improving AI-driven conversational systems. You will work hands-on with LLMs, voice agents, automated testing, AI coding tools, and modern software development practices.

The role emphasizes prompt engineering, tool integration, and QA workflows within a collaborative team.

Qualifications

• 4 to 6 years software engineering (or equivalent applied experience).
• Solid Python; comfortable with APIs, SQL, and modern git/CI workflows.
• Hands-on LLM application work (prompting, tool use, agents - production preferred).
• Willingness to learn Azure Functions, messaging, blob storage, and SQL in a production environment.

Responsibilities

• Implement prompt changes, tool handlers, and function/webhook logic for voice agents.
• Build or improve automated QA workers and analysis jobs (queues, artifacts, scoring ingest).
• Write and maintain unit/contract tests and scenario-based eval cases.
• Translate scorecard / conversation requirements into schemas and fixtures.
• Support post-call analytics tasks such as scoring result ingestion, data mapping, and output validation.
• Diagnose and fix production issues with logging/observability support.
• Support early email/WhatsApp bot flows under senior/lead direction.
• Use AI coding tools to accelerate learning and delivery.

Skills

Software engineering

Python

APIs

SQL

CI/CD

LLM applications

Tools

Cursor

Claude

Azure Functions

OpenAI SDKs

JSON schemas

Job description

Ready to take your AI engineering career to the next level?

Join a specialist technology environment at the forefront of building and improving AI-driven conversational systems.
This role offers hands‑on exposure to exciting technologies, including LLMs, voice agents, automated testing, AI coding tools, and modern software development practices.
It’s a fantastic opportunity for an Intermediate AI Engineer looking to sharpen their technical expertise, work with emerging AI technologies, and continue growing within a collaborative, forward‑thinking team.

Must-have skills and experience:

• 4 to 6 years software engineering (or equivalent applied experience)
• Solid Python; comfortable with APIs, SQL, and modern git/CI workflows
• Hands‑on LLM application work (prompting, tool use, agents - production preferred)
• Willingness to learn Azure Functions, messaging, blob storage, and SQL in a production environment

Strong advantages:

• Experience with Cursor, Claude, or similar AI coding assistants
• Azure functions or similar serverless
• OpenAI SDKs / structured JSON responses
• Basic speech/audio exposure
• Strong testing and code quality habits
• Interest in conversational UX across voice and text

Responsibilities:

• Implement prompt changes, tool handlers, and function/webhook logic for voice agents
• Build or improve automated QA workers and analysis jobs (queues, artifacts, scoring ingest)
• Write and maintain unit/contract tests and scenario‑based eval cases
• Translate scorecard / conversation requirements (with Analyst/Tester) into schemas and fixtures
• Support post‑call analytics tasks such as scoring result ingestion, data mapping, and output validation
• Diagnose and fix production issues with logging/observability support
• Support early email/WhatsApp bot flows under senior/lead direction
• Use AI coding tools (e.g. Cursor, Claude) to accelerate learning and delivery

Reference number for this position is GZ61524 which is a permanent position based in Sandton offering a salary of R800k per annum, negotiable based on experience and ability.