Associate AI Engineer

Please note: We are unable to sponsor H1-B's or TN's now or in the future. About the Role This is an early-career role designed for a new or recent graduate who is excited to build a career in applied AI. You'll join our Data & Analytics team and work alongside experienced engineers and external delivery partners to help design, build, and support AI-powered solutions — including chat assistants, workflow automation, and integrations with our business systems. You won't be expected to know everything on day one. We'll invest in your growth through mentorship, hands-on projects, code reviews, and structured onboarding. What matters most is a solid foundation in programming and AI concepts, genuine curiosity, and the drive to learn quickly. If you've built things in school, an internship, a bootcamp, or on your own — and you're eager to do it in a production environment with people who will help you level up — we'd like to hear from you. What You'll Do You'll start with well-scoped tasks and grow toward more independent work as you develop. Day to day, you will: Help translate product requirements and user stories into AI/ML solutions, with guidance from senior engineers and the Product ManagerContribute to building and testing AI chat assistants and automation tools for internal teams, in collaboration with senior engineers and external partnersAssist in integrating AI solutions with existing databases, APIs, and business applicationsHelp build, train, and evaluate machine-learning and LLM-based features, learning our production, quality, and security standards as you goContribute to agentic and retrieval-augmented (RAG) workflows using frameworks such as LangChain or similar — beginning with guided tasks and building toward independenceSupport and help maintain existing AI agents, tools, and automations, including troubleshooting with support from the teamWrite clean, well-documented code and take part in code reviews to build strong engineering habitsHelp support and promote our internal AI chat platform (WPChat) across the organizationDocument what you build, and stay current with AI/ML developments — sharing what you learn with the teamCollaborate across IT, data, and business teams, and partner with external vendors on deliveryHow You'll Grow — What You'll Learn Here These are skills you'll develop on the job with mentorship — not prerequisites. Over roughly your first 6–18 months, you can expect to gain hands-on, production experience with: Agent orchestration frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph, or AutoGen) and patterns such as ReAct and plan-and-execute, including memory and human-in-the-loop flowsRetrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and NLP tooling — e.g., LlamaIndex, Haystack, PyTorch, scikit-learnDeploying AI solutions on cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and platform tools such as Vertex AI, Amazon Bedrock, or Azure AI FoundryWorking with AI gateways (e.g., Portkey, Kong) and MCP servers that connect to enterprise systems (Oracle, Workday, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Jira)Building and integrating RPA workflows and connecting them to LLM decision layersMLOps practices for deploying and monitoring models, and building conversational AI across channels (web chat, and potentially voice, SMS, and email)What We're Looking For The essentials — this is what we actually require: A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field — or an equivalent combination of education and practical experience (including bootcamps or a strong self-taught portfolio). Recent and upcoming graduates are welcome.Foundational programming ability in Python, demonstrated through coursework, internships, academic or personal projects, bootcamp work, or open-source contributionsA working understanding of core AI/ML and large language model (LLM) concepts — how they work and where they're used — from classes, projects, or self-studyHands-on exposure to at least one area relevant to the role: building something with an LLM or an AI framework (e.g., LangChain), a machine-learning project, an API integration, or a chatbot. A class, capstone, or personal project counts.Comfort with engineering fundamentals: version control (Git), reading documentation, and debuggingStrong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and a genuine eagerness to learnClear communication and a collaborative, team-oriented mindsetNice to Have (Bonus, Not Required) Any of these will strengthen your application, but none are expected of an early-career candidate: Any hands-on exposure to LLM agent frameworks (LangChain, AutoGen, LangGraph, CrewAI, Flowise) or RAG tools (LlamaIndex, Haystack)Any experience with a cloud platform (AWS, Azure, GCP) or an AI platform tool (Vertex AI, Bedrock, Azure AI Foundry)Exposure to LibreChat, MLOps tooling, AI gateways (Portkey, Kong), or MCP serversCoursework or projects in NLP, chatbots, or conversational AI (including voice, SMS, email, or web chat)Any internship or project experience, including in web, eCommerce, or general software developmentFamiliarity with data privacy and security basicsInterest in or exposure to the wholesale distribution, manufacturing, CPG, or eCommerce industriesWork Arrangement This is a full-time, on-site position at our Oak Brook, IL office. We've made it on-site on purpose: early in your career, working shoulder-to-shoulder with experienced engineers is one of the fastest ways to learn, get real-time feedback, and grow into a strong AI engineer. You'll be part of a team that's invested in your development. Posted Salary Range USD $83,000.00 - USD $111,000.00 /Yr.