Experienced AI Automation Engineer

Is this you? You've already shipped AI into production and understand the difference between a compelling demo and a system that holds up with real users, data, and edge cases. You've worked through the realities of: RAG pipelines Prompt regressions across model versions Tradeoffs between fine-tuning, prompting, and knowing when an LLM isn't the right tool at all You stay current with this technology because you find it genuinely interesting and want to separate what's actually changed from the hype. You've: Built agentic workflows Integrated multiple model providers Designed systems that balance accuracy, latency, and cost You enjoy mentoring other engineers and have thoughtful opinions about evaluation and observability. You also know production-ready means for non-deterministic systems. We're looking for someone who can step into existing codebases with confidence, maintaining, improving, and evolving AI systems as client needs grow, while helping shape how we build AI products going forward. For this position, we value passion and experimentation equally with formal credentials. This is us: Transform Labs, a 31-year-old Ohio-based software engineering firm, collaborates with a diverse range of customers to develop exceptional tech products. We're seeking a U.S.-based AI enthusiast to join our team and help develop cutting-edge automation solutions. You'll work with Large Language Models (LLMs), multimodal AI tools, and workflow orchestration platforms to create intelligent systems that handle text, voice, images, and video. You will: Build and maintain automated workflows using tools like n8n, Zapier, or Make. Integrate LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) into business processes. Create multimodal AI workflows combining text, voice, images, and video. Develop RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) systems to connect AI to company data. Work with voice-to-text, text-to-speech, and media generation tools. Create and optimize prompts for various AI applications. Design data pipelines and manage vector databases. Collaborate with teams to identify automation opportunities. Your Skills: Strong programming proficiency in Python or JavaScript, with a track record of production systems you've designed, deployed, and maintained. Deep API integration experience, including REST and GraphQL, authentication patterns (OAuth, API keys, JWT), rate limiting, retries, and error handling at scale. Proven workflow and system design skills, with the ability to architect complex multi-step automations, agentic workflows, and event-driven pipelines. Hands-on experience building with LLMs, including prompt engineering, RAG, tool use and function calling, evaluation frameworks, and cost and latency optimization. Data engineering fluency across JSON, CSV, SQL and NoSQL databases, vector stores, and ETL patterns for AI workloads. Familiarity with at least one major AI platform (Anthropic, OpenAI, Azure AI Foundry, AWS Bedrock, or similar) and the tradeoffs between them. Experience with orchestration and automation tools (n8n, LangChain, LlamaIndex, Temporal, or comparable frameworks). Strong debugging and observability instincts, including logging, tracing, and evaluating non-deterministic AI outputs. Self-direction, sound technical judgment, and the ability to mentor less experienced engineers. Bonus points if you've: Built personal projects combining multiple AI tools. Created content using AI (videos, podcasts, images, etc.). Automated personal tasks or workflows. Shared your experiments on social media or GitHub. Participated in AI communities or hackathons. This is a long-term (one year or longer) remote 1099 contract position with a pay rate of $50/hour. Unfortunately, we cannot accept candidates who require sponsorship or live outside the United States. Transform Labs offers: Remote work. Long-term 1099 contract at $50/hour. A collaborative project-driven team environment. While you'll use your own equipment, we will pay for necessary subscriptions. Coding standards and reviews to help you improve. A tight-knit, collaborative, intellectually curious delivery team that will feel like Home. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.