AI Developer / Associate AI Engineer (Generative AI Focus)

PRA Group (Nasdaq: PRAA)•Charlotte, NC

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

Support the design, development, and deployment of AI-powered solutions with a primary focus on Generative AI and large language model (LLM)-based applications. Contribute to production-grade features, APIs, and data/AI workflows under the guidance of senior engineers and architects, applying sound software engineering practices while building capability across LLM integration, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), cloud platforms, and foundational MLOps activities.

Requirements

2–3 years experience in Software Developer / Software Engineer (Python)
2–3 years experience in Data Engineer or AI/ML Engineer (hands-on pipelines and deployments)
1–2 years experience in Generative AI / LLM Application Development (agents, RAG, LLM APIs)
Minimum 2+ years of professional, hands-on experience in software development, data engineering, or AI/ML-related roles, including production exposure to Python services, RESTful APIs, and integrating LLM/AI APIs into applications.
Python (Intermediate–Advanced): production code, testing, packaging, and documentation
RESTful APIs (Intermediate): build/consume services (FastAPI or equivalent), authentication patterns, error handling
LLM/AI API integration (Intermediate): Azure OpenAI Service/OpenAI/Anthropic or similar; prompt iteration and basic evaluation
Machine learning fundamentals (Intermediate): training vs. inference, model concepts, and evaluation basics
Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) (Beginner–Intermediate): embeddings, chunking, retrieval, and grounding concepts
Git (Intermediate): branching, pull requests, code review workflows
Cloud fundamentals (Beginner–Intermediate): Azure/AWS/GCP services, identity and access management (IAM) concepts, and deployments
Bachelors in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, Mathematics, or related field (Required)

Nice To Haves

Containerization / CI/CD (Beginner): Docker concepts and pipeline exposure
Master’s degree with 2+ year’s experience or a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, Machine Learning, Mathematics, or related field with 5+ years of experience in a related area (Preferred)

Responsibilities

Design, develop, and maintain Generative AI and AI features using Python and established engineering standards (testing, documentation, code quality).
Integrate and operationalize large language model (LLM) APIs (e.g., Azure OpenAI Service, OpenAI, Anthropic, or similar) within enterprise applications.
Develop and test AI agents, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines, prompt-driven workflows, and evaluation approaches.
Build, consume, and support RESTful APIs (e.g., FastAPI or equivalent frameworks) for AI-powered services.
Collaborate with data scientists, platform engineers, and senior AI engineers on model deployment, evaluation, and monitoring needs.
Support AI lifecycle and MLOps activities, including logging, versioning, and basic observability.
Participate in code reviews, design discussions, and agile ceremonies; continuously learn and apply emerging Generative AI techniques under mentorship.