AI Engineer

AI Engineer — Cary, NC | 100% On-Site

Company: PAI3 — Decentralized AI Infrastructure Network
Location: Cary, NC 27513 — 100% On-Site
Type: Full-Time, 1099 Independent Contractor
Level: Junior–Mid-Level
Compensation: $42,000–$72,000 per year, based on experience and demonstrated ability

About PAI3

PAI3 builds decentralized AI infrastructure that runs locally on our own hardware rather than relying on cloud AI.

Our primary market today is healthcare, where data privacy and security are critical. We are also expanding into construction, education, and government.

We are growing our engineering team in Cary, North Carolina, and are looking for smart, curious, highly motivated AI Engineers who want to learn quickly and build real systems with AI.

You do not need years of professional software development experience.

We care much more about your ability to write code, learn quickly, research unfamiliar problems, use AI effectively, and get things working.

What You'll Do

You will work on real client projects from the beginning.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Write Python code and build working solutions.
• Build integrations with APIs and external platforms.
• Create data pipelines that collect, transform, and structure client data.
• Work with REST APIs, JSON, databases, authentication, and structured data.
• Research unfamiliar APIs, platforms, and technical documentation.
• Use Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, and other AI tools every day to research, plan, write, debug, test, and improve code.
• Test your own work and verify that the data and results are correct.
• Investigate technical problems and propose solutions rather than simply reporting blockers.
• Communicate clearly about what you tried, what worked, what didn't, and what you recommend.
• Take responsibility for getting your assigned task to a working result.

This is a hands-on engineering position. Your primary job is to build and deliver working technical solutions.

Who We're Looking For

This role is especially suitable for junior engineers, recent graduates, and early-career developers with strong technical potential and a desire to learn.

You may be a great fit if:

• You enjoy writing code and building things.
• You are genuinely interested in AI and AI-assisted development.
• You already experiment with tools such as Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, or similar tools.
• When you encounter something you don't understand, your first instinct is to research it and figure it out.
• You can learn a new API or technology from documentation.
• You ask good, specific questions after doing your own research.
• You are comfortable receiving feedback and changing your approach quickly.
• You enjoy solving practical technical problems.
• You take ownership of your work and want to see it actually working.

Years of experience are not our primary consideration. Learning speed, curiosity, technical ability, and execution are.

Technical Foundation

You don't need to know everything on this list, but you should have a solid foundation in software development.

Experience with some of the following is helpful:

• Python
• REST APIs
• JSON
• SQL and databases
• Git / GitHub
• API authentication
• OAuth
• Data pipelines
• AI / LLM tools

Your experience can come from:

• Professional work
• Internships
• University projects
• Personal projects
• Hackathons
• Open-source contributions

A Computer Science or related technical degree is helpful, but demonstrated ability matters more than the degree itself.

AI-Native Engineering

AI is not an occasional productivity tool at PAI3.

AI is part of our engineering process.

Our engineers use AI throughout the development cycle:

Research → Understand → Plan → Build → Test → Debug → Improve

We expect engineers to use tools such as Claude and Cursor actively as part of their daily work, while still understanding, testing, and taking responsibility for the code they produce.

We are looking for people who are excited to learn this way of working.

If you strongly prefer traditional development and do not want AI to be a core part of your engineering workflow, this position is probably not the right fit.

What Success Looks Like

A successful PAI3 AI Engineer can receive an unfamiliar technical problem and:

• Understand the desired result.
• Research the platform and documentation.
• Use AI to accelerate the research.
• Identify possible approaches.
• Select or recommend the best approach.
• Write the code.
• Test the solution.
• Troubleshoot problems.
• Ask for help when genuinely blocked.
• Deliver a working result.

We don't expect you to know every answer.

We expect you to know how to find answers and turn them into working code.

Training & Development

New engineers receive hands-on training in our AI-assisted development methodology and tools, including Claude, Cursor, and PAI3 engineering workflows.

Because our current primary market is healthcare, you will also learn relevant healthcare data and integration concepts.

We don't expect you to arrive knowing everything.

We expect you to arrive ready to learn quickly.

Location — Please Read Before Applying

This position is 100% on-site at our office in Cary, North Carolina.

This is not a remote or hybrid position.

You should currently live within a reasonable commuting distance of Cary or be prepared to relocate before starting work.

Working together in the office is an important part of our engineering model, particularly for learning, collaboration, and rapid problem-solving.

Please do not apply if you are only considering remote or hybrid opportunities.

Hiring Process

Our hiring process is designed to understand how you think, learn, code, and use AI, rather than simply measuring years of experience.

Step 1 — Application Review

We review your resume and, when available, GitHub profile, personal projects, university work, hackathon projects, or other examples of things you've built.

Step 2 — Written Assessment

Selected candidates will receive a short written technical assessment.

It focuses on:

• Problem-solving
• Technical reasoning
• Research ability
• Understanding unfamiliar systems
• AI-assisted development

Step 3 — On-Site Working Session & Interview

Candidates who successfully complete the written assessment will be invited to our Cary office for a short interview and practical working session.

We want to see how you actually work, not just how you answer interview questions.

You will receive a small technical problem and can use AI tools such as Claude and Cursor while solving it.

We will evaluate how you:

• Understand the problem
• Research unfamiliar information
• Use AI
• Write code
• Test your work
• Troubleshoot
• Explain your approach
• Respond to feedback
• Move toward a working solution

We are not looking for perfection.

We are looking for technical potential, curiosity, learning speed, practical coding ability, AI fluency, ownership, and the determination to figure things out.

Work Authorization

This is a 1099 independent contractor position.

Candidates must already have U.S. work authorization that permits this type of independent-contractor work.

We do not currently provide employment visa sponsorship for this position.

Work authorization will be confirmed during the hiring process.

How to Apply

Please submit your resume.

We also encourage you to include links to anything you've built, including:

• GitHub
• Personal projects
• AI projects
• University projects
• Hackathon projects
• Open-source contributions

Don't worry if you don't meet every technical requirement.

If you can write code, love learning, actively use AI, enjoy figuring out difficult problems, and want to grow quickly as an AI Engineer, we want to hear from you.

Pay: $42,000.00 - $72,000.00 per year

Work Location: In person