Artificial Intelligence Engineer — Houston, TX — LinkedIn — 4487926883

looking for a hands-on AI Developer with strong expertise in Python or .NET, cloud platforms, and modern data tooling to join our multidisciplinary Enterprise AI team. This developer will work alongside AI engineers/developers and business analysts to build, ship, and iterate on real production AI solutions.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives in a fast-paced environment where they own work end-to-end: prototyping, building, deploying, and refining.

Technical Environment

Core: Python · .NET · Azure · Databricks (data platform)

AI stack: Azure OpenAI · Azure AI Foundry · Azure AI Search · Microsoft Copilot Studio · Semantic Kernel · Vector Databases · RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) · Semantic Search · Agentic AI · MCP (Model Context Protocol)

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Design, develop, deploy, and maintain AI solutions using Python and/or .NET.

• Build AI agents using Microsoft Copilot Studio or the Semantic Kernel Agent Framework.

• Build and optimize cloud-native applications on Azure.

• Work with large-scale data in Databricks.

• Partner with AI engineers/developers and business analysts to turn ideas and experiments into production systems.

• Apply critical thinking to evaluate model performance, troubleshoot complex issues, and improve system efficiency.

• Communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Prototype quickly, test rigorously, and iterate often.

Requirements: Education and/or Experience, Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience, with relevant job experience commensurate with the selected job level (see below).

• Professional experience building production systems with Python or .NET (proficiency in both is a strong plus).

• Strong working knowledge of cloud services and architecture patterns — Azure preferred (or equivalent experience in AWS or GCP, with willingness to ramp on Azure).

• Hands-on experience building RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) pipelines.

• Hands-on experience building AI agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio, Semantic Kernel Agent Framework, or an equivalent agent framework (e.g., LangGraph, AutoGen, CrewAI).

• Hands-on experience with at least two of the following:

◦ Azure AI Search (or equivalent vector/semantic search platform — Pinecone, Weaviate, pgvector, Elasticsearch with vector, AWS Kendra/OpenSearch)

◦ Vector databases

◦ Semantic search

◦ Agentic AI systems (multi-step reasoning, tool use, orchestration)

• Comfort working with SQL and large-scale data platforms (Databricks experience is a plus, but the syntax is approachable if you know SQL).

• Excellent communication and critical-thinking skills.

• Background in a smaller company or startup environment with significant ownership of technical work.

Required experience is commensurate with the selected job level:

• The Senior Specialist level requires a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience and 5-8 years of relevant job related experience.

• The Lead Specialist level requires a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience and 8+ years of relevant job related experience.

• The Principal Specialist level requires a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience and 10+ years of relevant job related experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Proficiency in both Python and .NET.

• Direct hands-on experience with Microsoft Copilot Studio and/or Semantic Kernel specifically.

• Hands-on experience with Databricks specifically.

• Practical ML experience (model training, evaluation, deployment).

• Familiarity with Azure AI Foundry (or equivalent — AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex AI) and Azure OpenAI (or equivalent managed LLM service) in production.

• Experience with MCP (Model Context Protocol) or similar agent-tooling standards.

• Natural Gas Pipeline or Energy Industry work experience is a plus.