Fanatics

AI Engineer

Fanatics$90K — $95K *
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, AI/ML, Software Engineering, or related field preferred.
  • Hands-on experience building custom agents with frontier LLMs that solve business problems.
  • Familiarity with modern AI stack and methodologies (e.g., LLM APIs, agent frameworks).
  • Comfortable coding in Python, with a willingness to learn new tools as needed.
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to navigate ambiguous environments.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills for effective explanation of AI work.
  • Strategic mindset with a proactive 'get it done' attitude.

Responsibilities

  • Partner with business stakeholders to identify and prioritize AI automation opportunities.
  • Design, build, and deploy custom AI agents and workflows using advanced models and tools.
  • Contribute to the AI strategy by assessing tools and prioritizing workflows.
  • Drive projects from concept to production through scoping and prototyping.
  • Shape AI governance, ensuring tool evaluation and tracking of adoption metrics.
  • Critically evaluate automation opportunities and measure their ROI.
  • Encourage creativity by bringing personal ideas and insights to the role.

Benefits

  • Ownership of projects with enterprise-wide visibility.
  • Influential role in AI adoption within a global sports and collectibles company.
  • Mentorship opportunities with senior leaders.
  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
  • 401(k) plan with company match.
  • Generous paid time off and parental leave.
  • Wellness benefits and a learning & development stipend.
  • In-person collaboration in a vibrant NYC office.
  • Employee discounts on Fanatics products and merchandise.
Full Job Description
The Role

Are you someone who builds AI agents and thinks about how to automate the world? Fanatics wants you.

We're looking for a full-time AI Engineer to help shape and execute Fanatics' AI strategy across the company. You'll work directly with business leaders to identify high-impact automation opportunities, design and ship agentic workflows, and help set the bar for how AI gets deployed at Fanatics.

This is not an "ideate and hand off" role. You'll own problems end-to-end: define them, design the solution, build the agent or workflow, prove it works, and partner with stakeholders to scale it. If you're technical enough to build, strategic enough to prioritize, and entrepreneurial enough to spot the right opportunities, this is your role.

What You'll Do
  • Partner with business stakeholders across Fanatics to identify, prioritize, and deliver on AI automation opportunities that meaningfully move the business.
  • Design, build, and deploy custom agents and agentic workflows using frontier models (Claude, GPT, Gemini) and the modern agent stack (MCP servers, agent SDKs, orchestration tools, computer use / browser automation, evals).
  • Contribute directly to Fanatics' AI strategy: which tools to invest in, which workflows to prioritize, and how to measure impact across functions.
  • Take ideas from concept to production: scope the problem, design the solution, build the prototype, run evals, and drive adoption.
  • Help shape AI governance and best practices, including tool evaluation, security and InfoSec coordination, and tracking adoption metrics across the enterprise.
  • Ask the hard questions: Is this the right problem to automate? What does "good" look like? How do we measure ROI?
  • Bring your own ideas. This role rewards creativity and judgment as much as execution.

What We're Looking For
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, AI/ML, Software Engineering, or a closely related field preferred.
  • Hands-on experience building with frontier LLMs, including designing and shipping custom agents or agentic workflows that solve real business problems.
  • Familiarity with the modern AI stack: LLM APIs, MCP, agent frameworks (Claude Agent SDK, OpenAI Agents SDK, LangGraph, CrewAI, or similar), prompt engineering, RAG, and evaluation methods.
  • Comfort working in code (Python preferred) and a willingness to learn whatever the right tool for the job turns out to be.
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to operate independently in ambiguous environments.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication. Explaining your AI work clearly is just as important as building it.
  • Strategic mindset paired with a "get it done" attitude.
  • Bonus points if you're a fan of sports, collectibles, or fandom culture (because we're a little obsessed).

Why You'll Love It Here
  • Real ownership of real projects, with visibility across the entire Fanatics enterprise (Commerce, Collectibles, Betting & Gaming, Corporate).
  • A front-row seat, and a real voice, in how a global sports and collectibles company adopts AI.
  • Mentorship and collaboration with senior leaders across the business.
  • Competitive salary and comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
  • 401(k) plan with company match.
  • Generous paid time off, paid holidays, and parental leave.
  • Wellness benefits and a learning & development stipend.
  • NYC office with daily in-person collaboration.
  • Employee discount on Fanatics products and (yes) some sweet Fanatics swag.

Final Word

If you're ready to build agents, drive strategy, and ship AI that actually moves a global sports and collectibles business, let's talk. This is where your ideas get built.

The salary range represents base pay only and does not include short-term or long-term incentive compensation. When determining base pay as part of a final compensation package, we consider several factors such as location, experience, qualifications, and training. For information about our benefits, please visit https://benefitsatfanatics.com/

Salary Range

$90,000-$95,000 USD

About Fanatics

Fanatics is a leading retailer of licensed sports merchandise. The company was founded in 1995 and has grown to become the largest online retailer of officially licensed sports merchandise in the world. Fanatics offers a wide range of products, including jerseys, hats, and other apparel, as well as collectibles and memorabilia. The company has partnerships with all major sports leagues and teams, as well as with individual athletes. Fanatics is committed to providing a seamless shopping experience for its customers and has invested heavily in technology and logistics to ensure fast and reliable delivery.
Learn more about Fanatics
Size
5,000 employees
Industry
Founded
1995

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