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About This Role
Job Summary:
The AI Software Engineer designs, develops, and maintains AI-enabled applications with an emphasis on integrating large language models into business workflows. This role partners with business and technology stakeholders to understand requirements, implement well-tested solutions, and support deployed AI services in production. Responsibilities include contributing to codebases, documentation, and operational support processes while following secure engineering practices and established development standards. The position supports experimentation and evaluation of AI tools and frameworks under guidance from senior engineers and helps improve user experiences through automation and AI-assisted capabilities aligned with firm objectives.
Job Duties:
- Develops AI-driven applications and integration points
- Researches and evaluates AI technologies for potential implementation
- Designs and maintains documentation for AI systems and processes
- Collaborates with business units to clarify AI solution requirements
- Coordinates technical efforts related to AI systems issues and optimizations
- Builds and maintains a variety of internally developed and third-party integrated systems documentation
- Implement AI features, including large language model integrations, prompts, and retrieval workflows under guidance
- Proactively monitors and supports existing applications and automations
- Integrates AI functionalities into existing systems to enhance user experience for defined use cases and scoped deliverables
- Supports AI Engineering & IT professionals on responsibilities and provides guidance regarding effective resolution of issues with oversight from team leads
- Escalates critical issues to management and implements strategies for timely resolution based on runbooks and established escalation paths
- Coordinates and organizes efforts and follow-up from items stemming out of team meetings for assigned action items
- Provides Level IV support on specific applications as needed
- Participates in code reviews as a reviewer and author; remediates findings to ensure quality and security in AI applications
- Monitors and supports existing AI applications and automations by reviewing alerts/dashboards and performing routine checks
- Other duties as required
Supervisory Responsibilities:
N/A
*
Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
Education:
- High School diploma or GED, required
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Information Systems, preferred
Experience:
- Two (2) or more years of experience in application development, required
- One (1) or more years of experience with cloud technologies, preferred
- Experience with artificial intelligence / machine learning, preferred
- Experience integrating large language models into IT systems, preferred
- Experience troubleshooting application issues using logs, monitoring tools, and debugging techniques, preferred
- Experience with Microsoft development stack (.Net, C#, Azure), preferred
License/Certifications:
- Microsoft developer certifications, preferred
- AI or machine learning certifications (Microsoft AI-900, AI-102) certifications, preferred
Software:
Development Experience with one or more of the following, required:
- Front-end Development (React, AngularJS, .NET MVC, or similar)
- Backend Development (C#, NodeJS)
- Database Server Experience (SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL or similar)
- SQL Development Experience (Queries, Functions, Stored Procedures)
- NoSQL Experience (Azure Cosmos DB, MongoDB, or similar)
- Cloud Technologies (Azure)
- Business Intelligence (ADF, SSIS, SSAS, SSRS, Power BI, or similar business intelligence technologies)
- Mobile Development Experience (Xamarin, Swift, Objective-C, or similar)
- CI/CD Pipeline experience (i.e., GitHub Actions, Azure Pipelines, Gitlab Runners, etc.)
- Experience with databases/SQL
- Experience with the following products, preferred: + Microsoft Visual Studio / VS Code + Microsoft Azure DevOps or GitHub + Microsoft SQL Server and/or Azure SQL + Microsoft Entity Framework
Language:
- N/A
Other Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:
- Strong verbal and written communication skills
- Excellent interpersonal and customer relationship skills
- Capacity to work in a deadline-driven environment while handling multiple complex projects/tasks simultaneously with a focus on details
- Capable of successfully multi-tasking while working independently or within a group environment
- Ability to rely on extensive experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals
- Capable of working well under pressure while dealing with unexpected problems in a professional manner
- Capacity to communicate and interact with all levels of employees and management
- Ability to interact and build relationships and consensus among people
- Advanced knowledge of concepts, practices and procedures within the software development industry
- Strong information technology architecture and design skills
Capacity to consistently produce clean code and adhere to appropriate documentation standards *
Individual salaries that are offered to a candidate are determined after consideration of numerous factors including but not limited to the candidate’s qualifications, experience, skills, and geography.
National Range: $85,000 - $100,000
Maryland Range: $85,000 - $100,000
NYC/Long Island/Westchester Range: $85,000 - $100,000
At BDO, how we show up matters. We build strong relationships by supporting one another, our clients, and our communities with care, curiosity, and a commitment to helping one another grow and succeed. Here, you’ll find meaningful work, leaders invested in your success, and opportunities to build a career around what matters most to you.
Our purpose is to be the people our clients count on to grow with confidence and achieve what matters most. Our values guide how we bring that purpose to life each day. Together, they shape how we work with one another, serve our clients, and create meaningful impact.
BDO provides assurance, tax, and advisory services to clients across the U.S. and around the world. No matter your role, you’ll be part of a team helping clients navigate complexity and move forward with clarity.
As technology continues to shape how we work, BDO values the ability to apply generative and agentic AI solutions to develop work products, improve workflows and identify potential risks. Across our firm, we emphasize professional judgment in validating AI-generated outputs for accuracy, quality, and compliance.
We are proud to be an ESOP company, offering participants a stake in the firm’s success through beneficial ownership and a unique opportunity to enhance their financial well-being. As a qualified retirement plan, the ESOP is a meaningful addition to our comprehensive compensation and Total Rewards benefits* offerings. It also reinforces an ownership mindset that strengthens our connection to one another, our clients, and the future we’re building together.
Learn more about our benefits: BDO Total Rewards encompass more than traditional benefits. Click here to find out more !
*Benefits may be subject to eligibility requirements.
Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/vets
Click here to find out more !
Salary Context
This $85K-$100K range is in the lower quartile for AI Software Engineer roles in our dataset (median: $194K across 269 roles with salary data).
Role Details
About This Role
AI Software Engineers build the applications and systems that AI models run inside. They own the API layers, data pipelines, frontend integrations, and infrastructure that turn a model into a product users interact with. Every AI company needs engineers who can build the software around the AI.
The challenge is building reliable systems around inherently unreliable components. Models are probabilistic. They'll give different answers to the same question. They hallucinate. They're slow. They're expensive. Your job is to build an application layer that handles all of this gracefully while delivering a product that users trust and enjoy.
Across the 11,520 AI roles we're tracking, AI Software Engineer positions make up 5% of the market. At BDO, this role fits into their broader AI and engineering organization.
AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.
What the Work Looks Like
A typical week includes: building API endpoints that serve model inference with caching and fallback logic, designing the data pipeline that feeds context to a RAG system, implementing streaming responses in the frontend, debugging a race condition in the async inference pipeline, and optimizing database queries for the vector search layer. It's full-stack engineering with AI at the center.
AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.
Skills Required
Full-stack engineering skills with AI integration experience. Python and TypeScript are the most common requirements. You'll need to understand API design, database architecture, and how to build reliable systems around probabilistic outputs. Experience with streaming, async processing, and caching patterns is increasingly important as real-time AI applications proliferate.
Knowledge of vector databases, embedding APIs, and LLM integration patterns (function calling, structured outputs, retry logic) differentiates AI software engineers from general software engineers. Understanding cost optimization (caching strategies, model routing, batched inference) is valuable since inference costs can dominate application economics.
Strong postings describe the product you'll be building, the AI integration patterns you'll work with, and the scale requirements. Look for companies that have existing AI features and need engineers to improve and expand them, not companies that are 'planning to add AI' someday.
Compensation Benchmarks
AI Software Engineer roles pay a median of $220,000 based on 1,688 positions with disclosed compensation. Mid-level AI roles across all categories have a median of $193,200. This role's midpoint ($92K) sits 58% below the category median. Disclosed range: $85K to $100K.
Across all AI roles, the market median is $213,480. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,000. The 90th percentile reaches $318,400. For comparison, the highest-paying categories include AI Safety ($266,050) and AI Engineering Manager ($253,461). By seniority level: Entry: $112,320; Mid: $193,200; Senior: $230,000; Director: $272,250; VP: $235,830.
BDO AI Hiring
BDO has 2 open AI roles right now. They're hiring across AI Software Engineer, AI/ML Engineer. Positions span Grand Rapids, MI, US, Raleigh, NC, US. Compensation range: $100K - $155K.
Location Context
Across all AI roles, 6% (708 positions) offer remote work, while 10,737 require on-site attendance. Top AI hiring metros: New York (3,257 roles, $221,000 median); San Francisco (2,766 roles, $260,550 median); Los Angeles (1,580 roles, $210,000 median).
Career Path
Common paths into AI Software Engineer roles include Software Engineer, Full-Stack Developer, Backend Engineer.
From here, career progression typically leads toward Staff Engineer, AI Architect, Engineering Manager.
If you're a software engineer, you're already 80% there. Learn the AI integration patterns: RAG, streaming inference, function calling, structured outputs. Build a project that demonstrates you can wrap an AI model in a production-quality application with proper error handling, caching, and user experience. That's the portfolio piece that gets you hired.
What to Expect in Interviews
Technical screens look like standard software engineering interviews with an AI twist. Expect system design questions about building reliable applications around probabilistic models: handling streaming responses, implementing retry logic for API failures, and designing caching strategies for LLM outputs. Coding rounds test standard algorithms plus practical integration patterns like async processing and rate limiting.
When evaluating opportunities: Strong postings describe the product you'll be building, the AI integration patterns you'll work with, and the scale requirements. Look for companies that have existing AI features and need engineers to improve and expand them, not companies that are 'planning to add AI' someday.
AI Hiring Overview
The AI job market has 11,520 open positions tracked in our dataset. By seniority: 140 entry-level, 5,630 mid-level, 4,176 senior, and 1,574 leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level). Remote roles make up 6% of the market (708 positions). The remaining 10,737 roles require on-site or hybrid attendance.
The market median for AI roles is $213,480. Top-quartile compensation starts at $264,000. The 90th percentile reaches $318,400. Highest-paying categories: AI Safety ($266,050 median, 70 roles); AI Engineering Manager ($253,461 median, 58 roles); Research Engineer ($252,000 median, 476 roles).
AI Software Engineer roles are among the most numerous in the AI job market. Every company deploying AI needs software engineers who understand AI integration patterns. The demand is broad, spanning startups to enterprises, across every industry adopting AI capabilities.
The AI Job Market Today
The AI job market spans 11,520 open positions across 16 role categories. The largest categories by volume: AI/ML Engineer (8,769), AI Software Engineer (586), AI Product Manager (511). These three account for the majority of open positions, though smaller categories often have higher per-role compensation because of specialized skill requirements.
The seniority mix tells a story about where AI teams are in their maturity. Entry-level roles (140) are outnumbered by mid-level (5,630) and senior (4,176) positions, reflecting that most companies are past the 'build a team from scratch' phase and need experienced engineers who can ship production systems. Leadership roles (Director, VP, C-Level) total 1,574 positions, representing the bottleneck between technical execution and organizational strategy.
Remote work availability sits at 6% of all AI roles (708 positions), with 10,737 requiring on-site or hybrid attendance. The remote share has stabilized after the post-pandemic correction. Senior and specialized roles (Research Scientist, ML Architect) are more likely to be remote-eligible than entry-level positions, partly because experienced hires have more negotiating power and partly because these roles require less hands-on mentorship.
AI compensation is structured in clear tiers. The market median sits at $213,480. Top-quartile roles start at $264,000, and the 90th percentile reaches $318,400. These figures include base salary with disclosed compensation. Total compensation (including equity, bonuses, and sign-on) runs 20-40% higher at companies that offer those components.
Category matters for compensation. AI Safety roles lead at $266,050 median, while Prompt Engineer roles sit at $140,000. The spread between highest and lowest-paying categories reflects the premium on specialized technical skills versus broader analytical roles.
The most in-demand skills across all AI postings: Python (2,267 postings), Aws (1,178 postings), Azure (972 postings), Rag (924 postings), Gcp (715 postings), Pytorch (586 postings), Claude (572 postings), Kubernetes (559 postings). Python dominates, appearing in the vast majority of role descriptions regardless of category. Cloud platform experience (AWS, GCP, Azure) is the second most common requirement. The newer entrants to the top skills list (RAG, vector databases, LLM APIs) reflect the shift from traditional ML toward generative AI applications.
Frequently Asked Questions
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