AI Applications Engineer

Edmund Optics is seeking an AI Applications Engineer to build and improve AI-powered business applications that connect AI models with company data, tools, and human review. The role partners with business stakeholders and cross-functional teams to develop, deploy, support, and measure reliable solutions.

What you'll do:

• **Application Development:** Build applications that connect AI models with APIs, business data, and tools, including Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and multi-step agent workflows. Write, debug, test, and maintain application code and integrations, selecting the appropriate AI, analytical, or conventional software approach for each problem
• **Stakeholder Discovery:** Meet with business stakeholders to understand workflows, clarify requirements, and agree on practical measures of success
• **Rapid Prototyping:** Take initiative to identify useful next steps, build small working versions, and improve them through rapid testing and feedback
• **Quality & Reliability:** Evaluate application behavior and AI outputs, including missing information, incorrect answers, tool failures, and cases requiring human review
• **Cross-Functional Partnership:** Collaborate with IT, analytics, cybersecurity, continuous improvement, and business owners to deploy and support reliable applications within company policies and AI governance
• **Ownership & Follow-Through:** Surface blockers with possible next steps, communicate progress, document decisions, and address issues after launch
• **Business Impact:** Measure business results and improve solutions over time. Initial work may include customer documentation workflows and demand forecasting applications
• **Innovation & Emerging Tech:** Stay current on advances in AI models, agent frameworks, tool integrations, and development practices. Test promising capabilities in small prototypes and recommend adoption based on usefulness, reliability, cost, and maintainability

What they're looking for:

• Demonstrated initiative and follow-through: moves work forward without needing every task assigned, and exercises judgment about when to clarify or escalate
• Experience building a working AI application that uses external tools or APIs, with the ability to explain personal contributions, how tool calls are executed, and how results and failures are checked
• Ability to write, explain, debug, and test software in at least one relevant programming language
• Working knowledge of APIs, data structures, databases, and version control
• Working knowledge of agent tool/function calling, structured outputs, retrieval and context management, and agent orchestration, including how MCP clients and servers connect AI applications to tools and data
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to understand business workflows and explain technical choices to non-technical stakeholders
• Demonstrated habit of learning and experimenting with emerging AI capabilities, applying feedback, and explaining what a new approach improves and where it falls short
• US Citizenship or permanent residence required
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field
• Early-career candidates are welcome. Relevant AI application experience may come from employment, internships, research, coursework, or independent projects; no minimum years of professional experience is required
• A brief description of one AI application you built
• Experience with production deployment, monitoring, SQL, or business system integrations

Benefits:

• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance (availability may depend on the country and employment type).
• Life, AD&D, Short and Long-Term Disability Insurance (availability may depend on the country and employment type).
• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) (availability may depend on the country and employment type).
• Tuition Reimbursement (availability may depend on the country and employment type).
• 401(k) Retirement Plan with Company Match up to 3% (availability may depend on the country and employment type).
• Daycare and Gym Reimbursement (availability may depend on the country and employment type).
• Paid Parental Leave and New Mother Benefits (availability may depend on the country and employment type).
• Training and Development Opportunities (availability may depend on the country and employment type).