AI Engineer

Job Description

Job Description

ABOUT THE ROLE

Citadel Development Services is a fast-growing real estate development and construction firm operating across multiple service lines — Due Diligence, Design, Estimating, Construction, and Finance. We are building an AI-powered operation from the inside out, and we need an internal AI Engineer to make it happen.

This is not a research role. This is a build-and-deploy role. You will be embedded with our teams to identify operational bottlenecks, design AI agent solutions, and ship working automations that save time, eliminate errors, and help us scale. 

You will work directly with leadership and department heads to develop agents across platforms such as OpenAI (custom GPTs), Claude, Make.com, Zapier, and similar no-code/low-code AI orchestration tools — translating our strategy into real, measurable automation wins.

THE MISSION — WHY THIS ROLE EXISTS

CDS's 2026 strategy explicitly calls out AI as a core lever across multiple departments:

• PH1/PH2: Implement AI to analyze municipalities, review reports, flag areas of concern, and organize permitting information.
• Estimating: Use AI to improve accuracy, minimize scope gaps, and eliminate errors in bids
• HR / Recruiting: Build an AI workflow to screen and qualify candidates at scale using a scoring system
• Finance: Automate vendor/supplier AP tracking and cash flow modeling
• Business Development: Support outreach workflows, portfolio updates, and client onboarding processes

You will be the person who builds, deploys, and maintains all of it.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Agent Design & Deployment

• Design, build, and deploy AI agents tailored to specific departmental workflows across CDS
• Develop and maintain custom GPTs, Claude projects, and similar LLM-based tools using platforms such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere
• Architect multi-step automation workflows using Make.com, Zapier, n8n, or similar orchestration tools
• Build intake forms, triggers, and conditional logic to route information to the right agent at the right time

Cross-Department Implementation

• Collaborate directly with PH1/PH2 (Due Diligence & Permitting) to build AI pipelines for municipality research and report analysis
• Partner with Estimating to develop AI-assisted bid review, scope gap detection, and subcontractor qualification tools
• Work with HR to implement resume screening AI workflows, scoring rubrics, and candidate ranking systems
• Support Finance with automated AP tracking, cash flow dashboards, and expense anomaly detection
• Assist Business Development with outreach sequencing, portfolio maintenance automation, and CRM-connected workflows

Systems Integration

• Connect AI agents to CDS's existing tools — Procore, Smartsheet, Harvest, and others — via APIs and webhooks
• Integrate with Google Workspace (Gmail, Drive, Calendar) and communication platforms (Slack, email) as needed
• Ensure data flows cleanly between systems with appropriate error handling and logging

Documentation & Training

• Document all agents, workflows, and automations clearly so the team can understand and maintain them
• Train department leads and team members on how to use and prompt AI tools effectively
• Build a library of prompt templates and SOPs tailored to CDS workflows

Continuous Improvement

• Monitor agent performance, identify failure points, and iterate rapidly
• Stay current on emerging AI tools, models, and platforms — bring recommendations to leadership
• Measure time saved, errors reduced, and output quality improved across deployed agents

REQUIRED SKILLS & CAPABILITIES

| AI Platforms | OpenAI (GPT-4, custom GPTs, Assistants API), Anthropic Claude, Gemini; ability to build, configure, and deploy agents on each
| Prompt Engineering | Expert-level prompt design for instruction-following, structured output, classification, extraction, summarization, and multi-step reasoning tasks
| Automation Tools | Make.com (Integromat), Zapier, n8n — building multi-step workflows with branching logic, error handling, and data transformation
| APIs & Webhooks | REST API integration, JSON/XML parsing, OAuth, webhook configuration; ability to connect AI agents to third-party platforms without native connectors
| Programming | Python (required): scripting, data processing, API calls, file manipulation. JavaScript a strong plus. Ability to write clean, functional scripts — not production engineering, but reliable automation code.
| Data Handling | Spreadsheet logic (Excel/Google Sheets), basic SQL or structured data querying, JSON/CSV manipulation, data cleaning and transformation
| AI Agent Frameworks | Familiarity with LangChain, CrewAI, AutoGen, or similar multi-agent orchestration frameworks; understanding of RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) architectures
| Tool Integration | Google Workspace (Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets), Slack, Procore, Smartsheet, Harvest, or similar PM/construction platforms
| Vector Databases | Basic understanding of embeddings, vector search (Pinecone, Weaviate, Chroma), and knowledge base retrieval for document-aware AI agents
| Problem Solving | Ability to sit with a department head for 30 minutes, map their workflow, identify where AI creates leverage, and propose a build plan the same day