Software Development Engineer - AI and Automation

Role overview Build applied AI and platform solutions that turn manual, repetitive, and human-driven operational processes into reliable automated and agent-driven systems. The role spans opportunity identification, prototyping, and the engineering work needed to ship secure, observable services. It is a senior, hands-on position for someone comfortable working across both traditional software engineering and non-deterministic AI systems.

Responsibilities - Identify high-friction operational workflows, quantify current-state cost, and design automated or agent-driven replacements that improve efficiency, reduce errors, and increase throughput. - Build AI agents and intelligent workflows using Azure AI Foundry, Copilot Studio, Microsoft Agent Framework, MCP, and related orchestration tooling. - Replatform prototypes and proofs of concept into secure, scalable, observable, and supportable production services. - Design and develop RESTful APIs, tool endpoints, and backend services on Azure App Services, including multi-step tool use and human-in-the-loop patterns. - Build evaluation and quality infrastructure for AI systems, including offline evaluation sets, regression gates, drift detection, and release criteria. - Implement secure authentication and authorization using Entra ID, with workload identity, least-privilege access, and delegated permissions. - Use Azure DevOps for source control, CI/CD, automated testing, release management, and work tracking. - Document workflow architectures, agent behavior, integration contracts, and system designs.

Requirements - Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent professional experience. - 3+ years of professional software development experience with a focus on cloud-based applications. - Strong proficiency in .NET, C#, Python, and SQL for backend development, plus hands-on experience building with LLMs and AI services including prompt engineering. - Demonstrated experience taking at least one AI-powered feature, agent, or automation into production or near-production. - Strong knowledge of Azure App Services, Azure SQL, Logic Apps, Copilot Studio, Azure AI Foundry, Azure AI Search, and Azure DevOps. - Experience with agent frameworks such as Microsoft Agent Framework, Semantic Kernel, LangGraph, or MCP, and with tool design and multi-agent coordination. - Experience with LLM evaluation harnesses, including offline sets, LLM-as-judge approaches, and automated quality gates.

Nice to have - React front-end development experience. - Experience replacing legacy manual processes with automation across complex organizational workflows. - Familiarity with large-scale distributed systems and responsible AI practices.

Benefits and work setup - Remote with EST hours; Charlotte, NC area preferred. - Anticipated compensation range of $105,000 to $115,000 USD annually for Washington State candidates, with starting pay determined by experience and internal equity. - Medical, dental, and vision coverage; FSA; 401(k); paid time off; parental leave; professional growth and development opportunities.