AI Engineer, Forward Deployed (Claude)

Collectiv • Chicago, IL

1d • Remote

About The Position

The AI Engineer is a hands-on individual contributor who works directly with Client teams to design, build, and ship production AI solutions on Anthropic’s Claude platform. The engineer writes code, builds agents and integrations, connects Claude to Client data, and delivers solutions to end users. They work within a Collectiv delivery team alongside a project lead, architects, and data engineers, partnering with Client business and IT stakeholders to turn business problems into production-ready Claude solutions on the Microsoft data stack and other platforms.

The role includes developing Claude agents, assistants, knowledge search experiences, and agentic workflows; deploying MCP servers and integrating Claude with enterprise systems; and configuring Claude for Enterprise. It also involves building retrieval-augmented generation pipelines, collaborating on data-platform integrations, and preparing solutions for production through evaluation, monitoring, security, governance, and CI/CD practices. The engineer gathers requirements, demonstrates progress, trains Client users and engineers, supports adoption after go-live, and contributes reusable patterns and documentation to Collectiv’s AI practice.

This specific engagement requires US citizenship under the client’s contract terms and physical presence in the United States for the engagement’s duration. Collectiv notes that these are project-specific conditions, not company-wide hiring policies. Collectiv describes itself as a boutique consulting and strategy firm specializing in Analytics, Planning, and AI with Power BI and the Microsoft data stack. The role is fully remote, with quarterly in-person team Experiences.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• At least 4 years of experience in software engineering, data engineering, or analytics engineering.
• At least 1 year of hands-on experience building and deploying generative AI or LLM-powered solutions in production or Client environments.
• Hands-on experience with the Claude API, including tool use.
• Experience building or deploying MCP servers.
• Hands-on experience with Claude Code or the Claude Agent SDK.
• Strong Python or TypeScript skills.
• Experience building RAG solutions, including vector search and document ingestion.
• Experience working in at least one major cloud; Azure is preferred, with AWS or Google Cloud also valued.
• Ability to work independently in a Client-facing consulting role.
• US citizenship is required for this specific client engagement under the client’s contract terms.
• Must be physically located in the United States for the duration of the engagement.

Nice To Haves

• Experience deploying Claude through Microsoft Foundry, Amazon Bedrock, or Google Vertex AI.
• Experience rolling out Claude for Enterprise or Claude for Work to business users.
• Experience with Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, or Power BI.
• Experience with LLMOps practices, including evaluation frameworks, prompt management, and model monitoring.
• Familiarity with security, privacy, and compliance considerations for AI in regulated industries.
• Consulting experience across multiple Clients or industries.
• Anthropic training or certifications, or relevant Azure certifications.

Responsibilities

• Build agents, assistants, and knowledge search experiences using the Claude API and its capabilities, including tool use, extended thinking, structured outputs, prompt caching, and batch processing.
• Build agentic workflows with the Claude Agent SDK, including multi-step orchestration, subagents, and human-in-the-loop controls.
• Build and deploy MCP servers connecting Claude to Client systems such as Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, SharePoint, CRM, and ERP platforms.
• Deploy Claude through the Anthropic API, Microsoft Foundry, Amazon Bedrock, or Google Vertex AI based on Client requirements.
• Write and iterate on system prompts, tool definitions, and Agent Skills based on test results and user feedback.
• Configure and roll out Claude for Enterprise, including connectors, Projects, Skills, and admin controls.
• Use Claude Code to accelerate delivery and help Client engineering teams adopt it with appropriate workflows, permissions, and guardrails.
• Build reusable Skills, plugins, and prompt libraries that encode Client processes and standards.
• Build end-to-end RAG pipelines, including ingestion, chunking, embedding, vector and hybrid search, and grounding.
• Partner with Collectiv data engineers to connect Claude solutions to Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, and other enterprise data platforms.
• Integrate Claude solutions with enterprise systems through APIs, Azure Functions, and event-driven architectures.
• Build evaluation sets and test harnesses that measure answer quality, groundedness, hallucination rate, safety, latency, and cost.
• Implement logging, monitoring, tracing, and cost controls for deployed agents.
• Apply security, identity, and data governance controls appropriate to each Client environment.
• Use version control, CI/CD, and code review standards for AI solution code and configuration.
• Work directly with Client stakeholders to gather requirements, run working sessions, demonstrate progress, and manage expectations.
• Translate business problems into scoped, buildable AI use cases with clear success metrics.
• Train Client users and engineers on delivered solutions and support adoption after go-live.
• Contribute reusable patterns, accelerators, and documentation to Collectiv’s AI practice.

Benefits

• Unlimited time off.
• 100% covered health insurance, including medical, dental, and vision plans for the employee and family.
• Competitive 401(k) with a 4% match.
• Educational assistance.
• Tech stipend.
• Discounts on various goods and services.
• Professional development opportunities.
• Competitive compensation.
• Fully remote work environment with quarterly in-person team Experiences.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level