AI Engineer

One application -> a network of AI-transformation teams

MeritFirst is a curated talent network for high-growth and investor-backed companies - 8VC and Slow Ventures portfolio companies and many others. A growing set of our partners - AI-transformation funds, family offices, and operator-led investment teams - forward-deploy engineers into the real businesses they own and back.

Most engineers get filtered out by keyword screens before a human ever reads their application. We flip that: apply through MeritFirst, take a 20-minute work sample, and your actual ability goes straight to the hiring principal.

What you'd be doing

• Deploy into real, profitable businesses - healthcare, professional services, multi-site operators, manufacturers - often in a sector you don't know yet
• Decompose an ambiguous problem: talk to the head of engineering and the person running the machine, pull the right threads, decide what to build
• Build production AI that moves the P&L - agents, automation, integrations - not pilots or slide decks
• Work shoulder-to-shoulder with CEOs, COOs, and operators
• Turn each engagement into a repeatable playbook the next deployment can reuse

Who we're looking for

• You've shipped real software with LLMs and AI APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, or comparable); strong in Python plus TypeScript, SQL, or scripting
• You thrive in ambiguity and minimal context - you're done building demos and want work that matters
• Systems thinker who maps a workflow end to end and sees where AI creates leverage
• You communicate as well with a non-technical operator as with an engineer
• Bonus: multi-site operations, professional services, or PE-backed / operator-adjacent experience

Want to skip the line?

Take our 20-minute assessment - a real work sample that puts your problem-solving in front of a hiring principal faster than any resume.

Take it now and skip the line: AI Engineer Screener

Otherwise, we review applications in the order they arrive.

Compensation Range: $100K - $250K