AI Innovation Engineer

829 Studios•Boston, MA

3d•Remote

About The Position

As AI Innovation Engineer at 829, you'll work across the organization — partnering with VPs, directors, sales leadership, and subject matter experts — to drive operational excellence through AI-native tools and workflows. Your work directly impacts the team's ability to deliver cutting-edge services to clients, building technology with real impact internally and externally. This is not a traditional AI strategy role. You'll write Python, build agentic workflows, ship MCP integrations, and use coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) as daily workflow. We're hiring a builder/coach who ships production AI work and earns adoption from subject matter experts. We are not hiring a strategist who delegates implementation, an AI evangelist without an operating record, or a researcher whose work doesn't practically reach the operating teams that need it. This is a foundational role reporting directly to the President/COO. You'll have autonomy on execution, ownership of 829's AI stack and skill library, and workflow architecture. You must be comfortable being scrappy, resourceful, and hands-on, while also operating cross-functionally to influence the broader organization.

Requirements

5+ years of professional experience with at least 2 years of exposure in the marketing / agency space.
Engineering foundation strong enough to evaluate tools, build agentic workflows, ship MCP integrations, and use coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) as daily workflow.
Working knowledge of security and performance best practices in traditional software and agentic environments.
Hands-on fluency with Python and at least one of TypeScript, SQL, or relevant scripting environments.
Systems thinking: ability to map a business workflow end-to-end and identify where AI creates leverage
Comfort with ambiguity; you diagnose problems, propose solutions, and move without being told exactly what to build
Demonstrated track record of shipping production AI work that earned adoption — used, not demoed-and-shelved.
Strong written and verbal communication; can explain technical architecture to a non-technical executive and translate strategic intent into a shipped workflow.
Demonstrated success in influence-without-authority scenarios in which your work has driven outcomes.

Nice To Haves

Experience with React/Node and custom front-end applications.
Understanding of common paid, earned and owned media tools and systems.
Familiarity with data-warehouse infrastructure (BigQuery, DBT, DLT & GCP).
Public track record of shipped AI work - open-source contributions, technical writing, or production case studies.

Responsibilities

Architect and build proprietary AI agents and automation workflows. Using company-specific data to drive defensible competitive advantage.
Develop and manage a playbook that includes discovery, pilot, improvement, implementation, adoption and measurement phases to execute work.
Lead pilots across multiple disciplines to test approaches and technology, using results to inform production workflows and gain buy-in.
Develop and maintain integrations between AI tools and core business systems and advertising platforms, including API builds, validation frameworks, and data pipelines.
Collaborate closely with subject matter experts to ensure solutions and workflows deliver value, enable team members to produce their best work, are usable, and access that appropriate data.
Collaborate with senior leaders to ensure that workflows accomplish desired strategic and quality objectives.
Ensure that workflows and systems are consistently improved and adopted through systems and cadences that check outputs, measure progress towards goals, and revisit training and adoption mechanisms.
Own the substrate of 829’s AI Innovation Initiatives.
Build and maintain 829's AI stack — tool inventory, vendor strategy, build-vs-buy posture, integration map, and shared-context architecture.
Develop reusable patterns, agentic workflows, and MCP integrations that provide strategic value and compound across workflows.
Consult on agency decisions to build workflows and tools vs. buy point solutions to achieve objectives.
Guide and advise a technically competent team of marketing professionals to achieve shared objectives.
Run lightweight internal training, Office Hours, and troubleshooting clinics to upskill team members on AI-augmented work.
Advise/consult on revised service-model artifacts: scope-of-work content, pricing implications, policies, and marketing collateral.
Advise and actively contribute to AI policies designed to encourage and enable use, establish SOPs, and mitigate risk to clients, staff, and the business.