Intermediate AI LLM Engineer - Sandton - R800k PA

E-Merge; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 680,000 - 920,000; Full time

Job summary

E-Merge in Sandton is seeking an Intermediate AI Engineer to join a specialist tech team focused on AI-driven conversational systems. You will work hands-on with LLMs, voice agents, testing, and modern software development practices to raise the bar in production AI tooling.

Collaborate with analysts and testers, implement prompt changes, ensure quality through unit and contract tests, and contribute to post-call analytics and data integration.

Qualifications

• 4 to 6 years software engineering experience.
• Solid Python, APIs, SQL, and modern CI workflows.
• Hands-on LLM application work (prompting, tool use, agents).
• Willingness to learn Azure Functions, messaging, blob storage, and SQL in production.

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 and data mapping.
• Diagnose and fix production issues with logging/observability support.

Skills

Python

APIs

SQL

CI/CD

LLM prompts

Azure Functions

Voice agents

Tools

Cursor

Claude

Azure Functions

OpenAI SDKs

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 & 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.