AI Systems Engineer

Export Control & Compliance Notice

Because this AI Systems Engineering role directly supports data and systems subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR), candidate eligibility is strictly governed by US federal law. Applicants must qualify as a "U.S. Person" (U.S. Citizen, Lawful Permanent Resident/Green Card Holder, Asylee, or Refugee).

We cannot provide or transfer visa sponsorship for this position. Candidates holding temporary student or work visas (F-1 OPT/CPT, H-1B, TN, etc.) are strictly ineligible for this role due to these federal compliance constraints.

FTE Factory Advisors helps manufacturing and operational organizations unlock higher performance — boosting revenue, reducing costs, and driving compliance through people-first strategies. Our clients are decision-makers at the top of their industries, and they trust us to deliver lasting impact.

We're seeking an AI Systems Engineer to design and build the technical foundation behind our AI-enabled solutions on customer sites. This role sits at the intersection of software engineering, data engineering, and AI architecture. You'll be responsible for turning business objectives into AI solutions that operate in production environments.

You’ll serve as the technical counterpart to FTE's manufacturing and operations experts—bringing structure, rigor, and execution discipline to AI-enabled solutions in real customer environments. You’ll own core architecture decisions, lead hands‑on implementation, and develop reusable patterns as our AI delivery scales across clients and use cases.

• Serve as the technical lead for on‑site AI delivery, owning solutions from concept through production deployment, ensuring they are trusted by stakeholders and designed for reuse across future engagements
• Work on‑site with manufacturing leaders, engineers, and operators to observeprocesses, and translate ambiguous business requirements into clear technical designs
• Own the design and implementation of AI agents and workflows that solve real business problems and provide measurable impact
• Establish prompt, retrieval, and orchestration components for AI systems
• Integrate AI solutions with customer applications, APIs, and structured/unstructured data sources
• Partner with Network & Security teams to design secure data access, identity, and information retrieval architectures
• Implement monitoring, logging, evaluation, and reliability controls to ensure production readiness
• Support internal teams by mentoring, reviewing designs, and raising the overall technical bar

• 2+ Years of software engineering fundamentals with a bias toward clean, maintainable code (Languages such as Python, Java, R, C#, or equivalent)
• Experience with AI agent frameworks, RAG architectures, and orchestration platforms (e.g., Lang Graph, Haystack, or equivalent platforms)
• Understanding of data modeling, data access patterns, and system integration, including hands‑on experience working with enterprise relational databases and APIs (e.g., Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, or equivalent relational systems)
• Proven ability to design for scalability, reliability, security, and long‑term maintainability
• Conceptual understanding of MLOps, monitoring, and operational reliability practices
• Ability to operate without clean APIs or ideal data
• Comfort collaborating and communicating with non‑technical stakeholders and explaining technical information clearly and concisely to stakeholders.
• Strong problem‑solving ability, including diagnosing system‑level issues, working through incomplete or messy data, and making sound architectural tradeoffs under real‑world constraints.
• Self‑directed, pragmatic, and focused on delivering high‑quality working systems—not just ideas.

• Demonstrated ability to design, build, and troubleshoot complex systems including data pipelines, APIs, distributed systems, or platform services in real‑world environments
• Experience working in industrial, operational, or highly regulated environments
• Experience integrating solutions into existing ("brownfield")…