Applied AI Engineer

Job DescriptionJob DescriptionWhy CCI?  At CCI Systems, Inc., our mission is simple: Making Life Better through devotion to our world-class employees and delivering innovative solutions for our customers. As a 100% employee-owned company for over 70 years, our experts bring integrity, accountability, and innovation to everything we do. Our culture fosters collaboration, growth, and shared success—creating meaningful work while building the networks that connect communities and power the future. We are seekingan Applied AI Engineer who will be responsible for designing, developing, testing, and supporting AI-enabled solutions that improve business processes and deliver measurable value across CCI Systems. Working within the Software Development organization, this role contributes to proofs of concept, prototypes, minimum viable products, and production-ready applications using modern software development practices, cloud services, artificial intelligence, large language models (LLMs), APIs, automation platforms, and emerging technologies. ResponsibilitiesDevelop AI-enabled applications, integrations, services, and automations that support business objectives.Translate business requirements into technical solutions, prototypes, and implementation plans.Build and support proofs of concept and minimum viable products to validate business value, technical feasibility, security, and operational fit.Develop solutions using LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), machine learning, Microsoft Copilot technologies, APIs, workflow automation, and cloud-native services.Create and maintain application components, integrations, reusable code libraries, and supporting documentation.Participate in code reviews, testing activities, troubleshooting, and resolution of technical issues.Follow secure, scalable, testable, and maintainable software development practices.Assist with evaluating solution performance using measures such as accuracy, reliability, latency, adoption, and business outcomes.Support implementation, testing, deployment, monitoring, and maintenance of production solutions.Partner with Information Security, Legal, Data, IT, and business stakeholders to meet responsible AI, security, governance, and compliance requirements.Maintain source control, CI/CD pipelines, technical documentation, and development standards.Evaluate emerging AI technologies, tools, cloud services, and development frameworks.Contribute to technical estimation, delivery planning, dependency tracking, and risk identification.Participate in demonstrations, solution reviews, and documentation activities.Research emerging technologies related to AI, automation, analytics, telecommunications, and digital infrastructure.Ensure confidentiality of company information.Complete specialized training as assigned.Perform other related duties as assigned.QualificationsBachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems required.3+ years of experience developing enterprise applications, cloud-native solutions, integrations, automation platforms, machine learning systems, or AI-enabled products required.Experience with software development using Python and at least one modern programming language such as C#, JavaScript, or TypeScript required.Experience with REST APIs, cloud services, source control, CI/CD pipelines, and software development lifecycle practices required.Hands-on experience with LLMs, prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), AI application development, and model evaluation required.Experience with Microsoft Azure, Azure OpenAI, and modern development environments required.Experience with Microsoft Copilot technologies, Power Platform, Semantic Kernel, LangChain, LangGraph, Azure AI Search, or vector databases preferred.Experience with containerization, Kubernetes, MLOps, model lifecycle management, and AI evaluation platforms preferred.Experience implementing security controls, governance requirements, observability, and responsible AI practices preferred.Experience in telecommunications, engineering services, utilities, GIS, CAD, digital infrastructure, or field operations environments preferred.Microsoft Azure, AI, cloud, or software engineering certifications preferred.Strong analytical, problem-solving, written, and verbal communication skills.Ability to work effectively in cross-functional teams and manage multiple priorities.Shift is Monday-Friday between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CST but must be able to work outside normal business hours when required. #LI-DNI