AI Engineer

About this role

AI Engineer

Who we are

Makai Labs builds software that automates entire companies. We work across a diversified portfolio, which means our systems touch a wide range of domains, processes, and operational constraints. Our engineering team is small, senior, and high-output. We move fast, hold high standards, and trust each other to take ownership without being managed.

What we're looking for

Makai Labs is hiring a AI Engineer to help build AI systems for enterprise automation. This is a hands-on builder role where you’ll work closely with our engineering and design teams to prototype, ship, and improve AI-powered products and internal tools. You’ll have the opportunity to own smaller projects end to end while contributing to larger client and platform initiatives.

Responsibilities will include

- Build and improve AI-powered applications and internal tools

- Rapidly prototype, experiment, and iterate across client and internal projects

- Implement workflows that use LLMs, retrieval systems, agents, and structured outputs

- Contribute to shared platform work and reusable tooling

- Turn prototypes into reliable, client-ready systems

- Conduct research, benchmarking, testing, and evaluation of new approaches

- Own smaller projects or sub-projects with guidance from the team

- Take ownership of deliverables and help deliver work that meets client needs

- Write and maintain clear internal documentation

Ideal Experience

- Senior in college, recent graduate, or early-career engineer

- Background in computer science (bonus if you also have business exposure)

- Experience building AI applications through internships, coursework, research, or personal projects

- Experience running AI experiments and iterating quickly

- Strong Python skills

What we value

- Initiative and willingness to learn quickly on the job

- Bias toward action and comfort with fast iteration

- Interest in staying current with AI advancements and applying them in practical systems

- Wants to solve hard problems

Nice To Haves

- Experience with APIs, backend services, or workflow automation

- Familiarity with FastAPI, Flask, or similar backend frameworks

- Familiarity with React and TypeScript

- Familiarity with Docker and local development environments

- Familiarity with testing in Python or TypeScript

- Experience working with retrieval systems, embeddings, or search

- Experience working with OCR, document processing, or PDF workflows

- Experience with fine-tuning, benchmarking, or serving LLMs

- Experience in fast-paced, high-accountability team settings

Core values for Makai employees

- Have a strong work ethic

- Be self-sufficient and self-driven with an ownership mentality, no matter your role

- Be a flexible thinker

- Be congenial and a team player

- Always be of service to each other and our clients, partners, and neighbors

Benefits

- Fully remote role, Eastern time zone

- Opportunities to work in-person with local colleagues

- Generous PTO

- Full health insurance premium reimbursement

- 401(k) matching

- Career growth & development opportunities