AI Engineer

Responsibilities

Deploy and build production AI solutions such as agents and automations within real, profitable businesses. Collaborate directly with CEOs and operators to solve ambiguous problems and create repeatable playbooks.

Requirements

Proven experience shipping software using LLMs and AI APIs with proficiency in Python and TypeScript or SQL. Strong systems thinking skills and the ability to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Skills

• Python
• TypeScript
• SQL
• LLMs
• AI APIs
• OpenAI
• Anthropic
• Systems Thinking
• Automation
• Integrations
• Software Engineering
• Problem Solving
• Communication

About this role

AI Engineer
One application -> a network of AI-transformation teams
MeritFirst is a curated talent network for high-growth and investor-backed companies - 8VC and Slow Ventures portfolio companies and many others. A growing set of our partners - AI-transformation funds, family offices, and operator-led investment teams - forward-deploy engineers into the real businesses they own and back.
Most engineers get filtered out by keyword screens before a human ever reads their application. We flip that: apply through MeritFirst, take a 20-minute work sample, and your actual ability goes straight to the hiring principal.
What you'd be doing
Deploy into real, profitable businesses - healthcare, professional services, multi-site operators, manufacturers - often in a sector you don't know yet
Decompose an ambiguous problem: talk to the head of engineering and the person running the machine, pull the right threads, decide what to build
Build production AI that moves the P&L - agents, automation, integrations - not pilots or slide decks
Work shoulder-to-shoulder with CEOs, COOs, and operators
Turn each engagement into a repeatable playbook the next deployment can reuse
Who we're looking for
You've shipped real software with LLMs and AI APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, or comparable); strong in Python plus TypeScript, SQL, or scripting
You thrive in ambiguity and minimal context - you're done building demos and want work that matters
Systems thinker who maps a workflow end to end and sees where AI creates leverage
You communicate as well with a non-technical operator as with an engineer
Bonus: multi-site operations, professional services, or PE-backed / operator-adjacent experience
Want to skip the line?
Take our 20-minute assessment - a real work sample that puts your problem-solving in front of a hiring principal faster than any resume.
Take it now and skip the line: AI Engineer Screener
Otherwise, we review applications in the order they arrive.

About MeritFirst

Technology, Information and Internet · 2-10 employees · headquartered in Austin, Texas