AI Engineer

As a 100% Employee-Owned company, Robert E. Mason & Associates, Inc. believes our Associates are the foundation of both our customers’ and our success.  Our strong company culture, and belief in continued investment in our Associates, has helped us realize long Associate tenures, as well as long lasting relationships with our customers.  Under the Robert E. Mason & Associates, Inc. umbrella there are two divisions: R.E. Mason and Apperture Solutions.

R.E. Mason is an Emerson Impact Partner covering North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.  Emerson is the global leader of process systems and solutions.  R.E. Mason provides industry-leading process equipment and service for process control, automation, safety, and reliability.  The industries served include Chemical, Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences, Power & Utilities, Food & Beverage, and Pulp & Paper. 

Apperture Solutions is a technology independent, professional consulting, and implementation services firm.  Apperture Solutions offers Data Enablement, Production Optimization, Operations Management, and Other Value-Added Services.  Apperture Solutions partners with other providers to offer our customers the technologies and solutions that fit their needs.

What Apperture Offers Associates:

Apperture is a 100% employee-owned company that offers a comprehensive, industry leading benefits package to all eligible Associates:

• Participation in the Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP)
• Retirement plan, including a Safe Harbor contribution
• Medical / Dental / Vision Insurance
• Employer paid Life Insurance and Long-Term Disability Insurance
• Generous paid leave options that include vacation time, sick leave, personal leave time, R.E. Mason Way Half Day, paid Jury Duty, and paid Bereavement Leave
• Paid Parental Leave
• Paid company holidays
• Career Development Program
• Retirement and Financial Wellness program
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Alternative/Hybrid Work Schedules

General Description

The Lean AI Engineer will help design, build, and deploy lightweight, domain-specific AI tools—including embedded LLM agents, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems, and workflow co-pilots. This role focuses on solving practical engineering and operations problems using narrowly scoped GenAI and ML solutions that can run on local or hybrid infrastructure in DOE-compliant environments. 

Specific Responsibilities

• Develop and deploy lightweight GenAI agents (e.g., SOP Assistants, Throughput Co-Pilots) using open-source or cloud-hosted LLMs. 

• Design retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines using tools like LangChain, Semantic Kernel, or custom logic. 

• Create and manage vector stores for knowledge retrieval using FAISS, Qdrant, or Azure AI Search. 

• Work with stakeholders to extract, clean, and embed SOPs, logs, and operational knowledge into AI-ready formats. 

• Integrate AI systems with internal tools (SharePoint, Power BI, custom dashboards). 

• Contribute to fine-tuning, prompt engineering, and orchestration of model pipelines. 

• Package models and pipelines into secure, containerized apps suitable for offline or GovCloud deployment. 

• Document systems, workflows, and compliance touchpoints. 

• Collaborate closely with OT, IT, cybersecurity, and business operations teams to meet deployment constraints. 

• Support internal customers by developing innovative solutions to meet their data needs. 

• Enhance and support the CI/CD automation needs of the business. 

• Previous experience as an active SCRUM team member.

Required Competencies

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or a related field. 

• 3+ years experience in AI/ML, NLP, or data science roles. Academic experience is acceptable 

• Experience building or integrating with LLMs (e.g., OpenAI, HuggingFace, LLaMA). 

• Strong Python skills (FastAPI, LangChain, PyTorch, etc.). 

• Understanding of vector databases and embedding models. 

• Knowledge of cloud deployment models (Azure, AWS, GovCloud). 

• Familiarity with containerization (Docker) and edge/on-prem compute.Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently and in a team environment. 

• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal. 

• Highly communicative, detail-oriented, and career-minded with the ability to multitask. 

• Customer service-oriented with a positive attitude, always willing to tackle any task and go the extra mile. 

• Excellent communication skills 

• Resourcefulness and troubleshooting aptitude 

• Attention to detail 

• Ability to follow detailed instructions 

• Verbal and written communication Skills 

• Time Management Skills 

• Teamwork 

• This is a hybrid role requiring three days per week in the office and two days working from home.

Required Education and Experience

• BSc/BA in Computer Science, Engineering or a related field. 

• Experience with semantic search, knowledge graphs, or enterprise RAG. 

• Familiarity with DOE or highly regulated environments. 

• Exposure to SCADA, DCS, or control systems as AI input sources. 

• Contributions to open-source AI tooling or fine-tuning pipelines.

Preferred Experience/Competencies

• Experience with industrial data sources and IoT data such as SCADA/DCS, PLC, or process control. 

• Knowledge of data warehousing concepts and technologies (e.g., Redshift, Snowflake). 

• Understanding of machine learning concepts and experience with model deployment. 

• Certifications in relevant technologies and platforms. 

Physical Requirements

• Standing
• Walking
• Sitting
• Kneeling
• Reaching Overhead
• Climbing
• Pushing and Pulling
• Lifting -  50 pounds
• Using a Computer
• Using a Telephone
• Driving

Apperture is a federal contractor and, as such, is required to solicit the race, gender, disability status and protected veteran status of candidates. Thus, you are required to answer self-identification questions as part of your application process. These questions are part of Apperture’s Affirmative Action Plan and the completion of these questions will not have any effect on any consideration of your application materials.

In compliance with the ADA Amendments Act (ADAAA), if you have a disability and need to request an accommodation in order to apply for a position with Apperture, please call our office at (704) 375-4465.