AI Engineer

Description Penlink is a technology company bringing clarity to complex data for people who need it now. We partner with law enforcement agencies across the United States, offering a software solution to manage data and aid investigators solving crimes. It sounds like a lot of data and analytics, but really, it’s about improving the world and keeping safe the places we call home. We focus on creating products that positively impact our communities and being "in the mission" and less about the laidback culture and amazing benefits – even though we offer those too. With our get it done attitude and focused mission we are growing at an unprecedented rate and are therefore seeking an AI Engineer to design, build, and ship AI-powered features in production. You’ll work across the stack from prompt design and model integration to evaluation, deployment, and optimization. You’ll partner closely with product, design, and engineering to turn business needs into reliable AI systems. This role is a great fit if you enjoy working at the intersection of applied machine learning and product engineering, and you’re comfortable iterating in a space where the tools and best practices are still evolving quickly. YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES Design, develop, and implement AI-powered features and applications Research, fine-tune, and deploy machine learning and large language models to support business and product initiatives Integrate AI models into existing applications and backend systems through APIs and scalable architectures Build and maintain data pipelines, including collecting, cleaning, preparing, and validating datasets for model training and evaluation Monitor, evaluate, and maintain model performance through testing, benchmarking, and performance metrics Optimize AI systems for scalability, latency, reliability, and cost efficiency Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Design, and Engineering teams to translate business needs into practical AI-driven solutions Contribute to continuous improvement efforts surrounding AI development processes, tooling, and best practices Communicate AI capabilities, limitations, and recommendations clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders Promote responsible AI practices by considering model bias, ethical implications, and system transparency throughout development Requirements YOUR COMPETENCIES & EXPERIENCE 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, including hands-on experience building and deploying production AI or machine learning systems Demonstrated experience delivering at least one AI-powered product or feature to end users in a production environment Strong programming skills, particularly in Python Experience with machine learning and deep learning frameworks such as PyTorch, TensorFlow, or JAX Familiarity with large language model ecosystems and tools including prompt engineering, embeddings, vector databases, and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines Experience fine-tuning and evaluating machine learning or large language models Knowledge of cloud platforms and deploying AI/ML solutions within scalable environments Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to navigate ambiguity and rapidly evolving technologies Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain AI concepts and model behavior to non-technical audiences Understanding of AI limitations, bias mitigation, and ethical considerations related to machine learning systems Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or equivalent practical experience This position currently follows a hybrid schedule requiring two days per week in our Lincoln, Nebraska office. Onsite requirements may be adjusted based on business needs and company or departmental policy.