Junior AI Automation Engineer

First Point Group; South Africa; On-site; ZAR 300,000 - 420,000; Full time

Job summary

First Point Group is seeking a Junior Automation Engineer to join an innovative AI and automation environment. You will work on AI-powered automation solutions across multiple business areas, partnering with experienced engineers and business teams to turn opportunities into working systems.

Ideal candidates have a foundation in Python, AI/LLM frameworks, and API-based integration, with around two years of experience and a Bachelor's degree.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a related field (Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems) or equivalent.
• Approximately 2 years of hands-on software/AI project experience (internships, academic projects, or relevant roles).
• Practical exposure to Python and at least one AI/LLM framework or API.

Responsibilities

• Build, test and deploy AI agents and automated workflows into production.
• Work with Large Language Models (LLMs), RAG and agent-based workflows to solve business problems.
• Contribute to the development of an internal AI platform including model gateways, agent runtimes, and integrations.
• Integrate AI solutions with ERP, CRM, ticketing platforms, databases and other sources via APIs.
• Collaborate with Sales, Finance, HR, Tech Support, Production and Marketing to automate processes.
• Monitor and improve performance, reliability and cost of deployed AI solutions.
• Develop evaluation and regression tests to ensure ongoing performance of automations.
• Gain exposure to containers, CI pipelines, monitoring tools and AI infrastructure.

Skills

Python

AI & LLM

APIs

Relational Databases

Docker & Containers

RAG

CI pipelines

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

LiteLLM

Qdrant

pgvector

Langfuse

Docker

vLLM

Job description

Are you an early-career software engineer who wants to work at the intersection of AI, automation and real-world business problems?

We're looking for a Junior Automation Engineer to join an innovative engineering environment where you'll get hands-on exposure to building and deploying AI-powered automation solutions used across multiple areas of a business.

This isn't a role where you'll simply be maintaining existing software. You'll work alongside experienced engineers and different business teams to understand how processes currently work, identify where AI and automation can make them better, and help turn those opportunities into working solutions.

You'll have the opportunity to:

• Build, test and deploy AI agents and automated workflows into production.
• Work with Large Language Models (LLMs), RAG and agent-based workflows to solve practical business problems.
• Contribute to the development of an internal AI platform, including model gateways, agent runtimes, retrieval services and integrations.
• Integrate AI solutions with systems such as ERP, CRM, ticketing platforms, databases and knowledge sources through APIs and shared integration layers.
• Work directly with departments including Sales, Finance, HR, Technical Support, Production and Marketing to understand and automate processes.
• Help monitor and improve the performance, reliability and cost of deployed AI solutions.
• Build evaluation and regression tests to ensure automations continue to perform correctly as they evolve.
• Gain exposure to containers, CI pipelines, monitoring tools and AI infrastructure.
• Work alongside experienced software, firmware, systems, infrastructure and network engineers.

We're particularly interested in candidates with a foundation in:

• Python
• Prompting & Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
• AI Agents & Automation Workflows
• APIs & Systems Integration
• Relational Databases
• Docker & Containers

Exposure to technologies such as LiteLLM, Qdrant, pgvector, Langfuse, Docker or vLLM would be highly relevant, although equivalent technologies will also be considered.

What we're looking for

You'll ideally have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Electronic Engineering or a related discipline.

This is an early-career opportunity, so we're looking at candidates with approximately 2 years' experience. Strong academic projects, internships and personal development projects will also be considered.

Most importantly, you should be able to demonstrate practical exposure to Python and at least one AI/LLM framework or API, whether through university, personal projects, internships or professional experience.

Who would thrive in this role?

Someone who is naturally curious, enjoys understanding how and why things work, and wants to develop both their software engineering skills and understanding of AI in business.

You'll be joining an environment where you'll have the opportunity to learn from experienced engineers while contributing to AI and automation solutions that are actually deployed and used.

If you've been experimenting with LLMs, AI agents, RAG, automation or Python projects and want the opportunity to turn that knowledge into real-world engineering experience, I'd be keen to hear from you.