Position Overview:

Reporting to the Lead Software Engineer, AI & Software Engineering the role will help design, build, and maintain internal automation and agentic AI systems that improve how the organization works. This is a hands-on role for an emerging engineer or self-taught automation builder who already has strong software fundamentals and can reason through technical trade-offs, while working closely with project management and software engineering.

The candidate should have a solid foundation in programming, APIs, basic infrastructure concepts, and structured technical problem-solving. Guidance will focus on Aspen's systems, business context, project priorities, higher-level design decisions, and how to choose the right approach for production workflows. Practical experience with automation, OpenClaw, Hermes agents, LLM APIs, or similar agent frameworks is more important than a traditional credential alone.

This is a two-month contractor contract role (40 hours/week), and then transition to full-time employment upon good performance.

Responsibilities:

• Work with project management and software engineering to identify automation and AI-driven process improvement opportunities, then help carry solutions from discovery through delivery.
• Design and build agentic workflows using tools such as OpenClaw, Hermes agents, LLM APIs, or similar frameworks to streamline repetitive tasks and accelerate decision-making.
• Develop Python-based automation programs, scripts, and integrations to support data flow, validation, reporting, and business operations.
• Build and support internal tools as web applications, serverless functions, scripts, and APIs, with attention to reliability, maintainability, and practical deployment needs.
• Evaluate technical approaches, infrastructure choices, and implementation trade-offs with the engineering team; explain why one approach is better than another for the problem at hand.
• Measure, quantify, and report the time savings, performance gains, and decision-making improvements delivered by implemented solutions.
• Document technical designs, agent workflows, implementation decisions, and best practices so solutions remain maintainable and easy to build on.

Qualifications:

Must be passionate about AI, engineering, automation, and practical problem-solving. The candidate should be curious, coachable, comfortable learning quickly, and able to propose new approaches, understand solution trade-offs, and execute within a project-managed software development environment. In addition, the candidate should possess:

• A Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Data Science, or a related technical field is helpful, but equivalent self-taught and practical engineering experience will be strongly considered.
• Strong software fundamentals: object-oriented design, version control, testing, debugging, and clean, maintainable code.
• Ability to reason through technical trade-offs, ask good questions, compare implementation options, and justify the approach taken.
• Strong proficiency in Python as the primary development language, with basic familiarity in C#, JavaScript/TypeScript, or similar languages to understand existing code, integrations, and core programming fundamentals.
• Hands-on experience building AI-assisted or automation-focused applications using LLM APIs, LangChain, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, agent frameworks, workflow tools, or similar automation systems.
• Practical understanding of APIs, web services, authentication, data flow, deployments, and cloud concepts such as Azure or AWS; deep cloud specialization is not required.
• Evidence of staying current with the AI and automation ecosystem, such as shipped projects, internal tools, prototypes, OpenClaw or Hermes agent work, open-source contributions, or a portfolio of practical builds.
• Detail-oriented and organized, able to break complex problems into actionable steps and execute assigned work within a collaborative software development workflow.
• Clear communication skills, with the ability to explain technical trade-offs to project managers and software engineers.

Personal Characteristics:

• Collaborative and engaging team member who partners well with others
• Strong team orientation and demonstrated client management skills
• Results-driven, with a strong work ethic and commitment to excellence
• Executive presence, outgoing with strong communication and presentation skills
• Builds trust by demonstrating high ethical standards and personal integrity
• Ability to adapt and learn quickly
• Analytical problem solver who views obstacles as challenges
• Self-motivated builder who works well with direction, project priorities, and engineering feedback

Location: NYC - on-site

Compensation Range: $45 per hour (40 hours per week)

Learn more about our generous employee benefits and perks by visiting Aspen Careers.