Early-Career Software Engineer - AI Applications

About the role

RTI RTI International is an independent, scientific research institute dedicated to improving the human condition. Our vision is to address the world's most critical problems with technical and science-based solutions in pursuit of a better future. Clients rely on us to answer questions that demand an objective and multidisciplinary approach—one that integrates expertise across social, statistical, data, and laboratory sciences, engineering, and other technical disciplines to solve the world’s most challenging problems. We believe in the promise of science and technical solutions, and we push ourselves every day to deliver on that promise for the good of people, communities, and businesses in the US and around the world. If you are looking for the opportunity to make a real difference, RTI is the place for you.

What You'll Do

• Develop production software using Python and modern development frameworks.
• Build AI-powered applications using large language models and AI APIs.
• Help develop retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines and agent-based workflows.
• Build and consume REST APIs and cloud-native services.
• Write clean, maintainable, well-tested code using AI coding assistance like Claude Code and GitHub Copilot CLI.
• Participate in code reviews and architectural discussions.
• Assist with deployment, monitoring, and troubleshooting production applications.
• Learn how to evaluate AI systems for quality, accuracy, reliability, and cost.
• Work with researchers and technical staff to understand requirements and translate ideas into software solutions.
• Contribute to improving development standards, documentation, and engineering practices.

What You'll Need

• Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field (or equivalent experience).
• Strong programming skills in Python or another modern programming language.
• Understanding of object-oriented programming, algorithms, and data structures.
• Experience using Git and collaborative software development workflows.
• Familiarity with REST APIs.
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to learn new technologies quickly.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience or coursework involving any of the following is a plus:
• Large Language Models (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, etc.)
• Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)
• Vector databases
• LangChain or LangGraph
• FastAPI
• Docker
• AWS cloud services
• SQL and NoSQL databases
• Automated testing
• CI/CD pipelines
• Machine learning fundamentals
• Prompt engineering
• Open-source software contributions
• Personal AI projects or hackathons

Pay

The anticipated pay range for this role is $73,000 - $90,000.