Applied AI Engineer

Position Summary

The Applied Artificial Intelligence Engineer will build and deploy practical AI applications that improve commercial performance - including quoting, pricing, contract review, pipeline management, capacity planning, and forecasting.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

This role is focused on the front end of the business, partnering directly with Sales, Finance, Operations, Quality, and Engineering leadership to turn data into faster, better decisions. This role will build solutions that are embedded in daily workflows and deliver measurable business outcomes.

Work Mix

• 50–60%: Build and maintain AI applications (Databricks-based)

• 40–50%: Work directly with sales, finance and operations

Core Responsibilities

• Partner with Sales, Finance, Operations, Quality, and Engineering to identify high-value AI use cases for analysis, summarization, and action recommendation. Examples include, but not limited to:

• Market and opportunity summaries

• Guided quoting and pricing guardrails, deal books, similar deal insights

• Pipeline and forecast intelligence dashboards, SIOP inputs

• Daily sales TOC dashboard

• Contract Review

• Quality disposition and RCCA

• OCR extraction of records in varying format into centralized database

• Build and deploy AI-enabled applications using Databricks

• Integrate data across CRM, CPQ, ERP, and contract systems

• Embed tools directly into commercial workflows (not standalone dashboards)

• Lead pilots end-to-end (design → test → launch → sustain)

• Train users and drive adoption within real business routines

• Ensure accuracy, governance, and compliance (AS9100 / ITAR / DFARS)

• Align with Corporate and Division IT on AI standards and controls

• Report measurable improvements in revenue, margin, and forecast performance

• Creating evaluations and using observability tools to measure and monitor performance

Success in this role will be measured through business impact, including improvements in quote cycle time, forecast accuracy, pricing effectiveness, commercial productivity, capacity planning, and margin performance.

Required Skills

• Databricks (SQL, Delta Lake, Model Serving, Unity Catalog)

• AI capabilities: LLM APIs, LLM agent development, prompt engineering, RAG workflows

• Strong SQL and Python (or equivalent)

• Familiarity with APIs, Git, and application deployment

• Data exploration and analysis

• ETL/ELT workflows

Experience & Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Physics, or related discipline. Master's degree preferred.

• 3-6 years developing complex applications

• 2+ years of AI/ML experience

• Experience with CRM and/or CPQ systems strongly preferred

• Experience supporting commercial or revenue operations is a plus

• Experience with fine-tuning models for specific tasks

• Experience with vector databases, embeddings, evaluation frameworks, AI observability, and production LLM application architectures.

• Manufacturing analytics

• Quality analytics and root-cause analysis

• ERP systems (Syteline, Infor, SAP, Oracle, Epicor, etc.)

Working Style

• Strong business translator—turns commercial problems into scalable solutions

• Drives adoption—not just delivery

• Focused on building tools that are actively used and that deliver P&L results

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to walk, sit, and talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand and use hands to finger, handle, or feel. The employee is occasionally required to reach with hands and arms; climb or balance; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 35 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

This position is California based in the Los Angeles and/or Orange County area. Approximately 25% travel is required for sales engagement, working sessions, and deployments. Expect higher travel intensity during build/launch phases.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to moving mechanical parts, fumes or airborne particles, extreme heat, risk of electrical shock, and vibration. The noise level in the work environment is typically moderate.

Shultz Steel LLC is an equal opportunity employer. The company's policy and practice is to provide equal employment opportunities and to assure those opportunities, without regard to age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or related medical conditions, gender, race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation including gender identity or gender expression, religion, (including religious dress and religious grooming), mental or physical disability, legally protected medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, reproductive decision making, or any other status protected by applicable local, state or federal anti-discrimination laws.