AI Engineer, Forward Deployed

Job Title: Collectiv Recruitment – AI Engineer, Forward Deployed (Copilot and Azure AI Foundry)

Company Name: Collectiv

Role: AI Engineer, Forward Deployed (Copilot and Azure AI Foundry)

Job ID / Requisition ID: e6c17dfd5592

Department: Consulting – Data & AI

Employment Type: Full-Time

Job Location: Chicago, IL - Remote (Any Location / Worldwide)

Work Mode: 100% Remote

Expected Compensation: $150,000 – $190,000 USD / year (plus comprehensive benefits)

Company Overview:

Collectiv is a leading Microsoft consulting firm specializing in enterprise data architecture, analytics, and cutting-edge AI technologies. As elite experts across the Microsoft Data & AI Stack, Collectiv helps enterprises break free from stagnation and make smarter, data-driven decisions through strategy, implementation, forecasting, and forward-deployed engineering teams.

Role Summary / Purpose:

The AI Engineer (Forward Deployed) is a hands-on technical builder who embeds directly with client teams to design, build, and ship production-grade generative AI solutions. In this role, you will leverage Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, and Azure AI Foundry to create declarative agents, autonomous agents, connectors, and enterprise RAG pipelines that integrate seamlessly with line-of-business systems.

Key Responsibilities:

AI Solution Design & Delivery: Design, build, and deploy production AI solutions utilizing Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Copilot Studio, and Azure AI Foundry / Azure OpenAI.

Agent & Connector Engineering: Build declarative agents, Copilot connectors, plugins, topics, custom actions, and autonomous multi-step agents.

Enterprise System Integration: Connect Copilot and AI agents to SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Graph, Dataverse, Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, and enterprise line-of-business systems via APIs and Azure Functions.

RAG Pipeline Development: Build and optimize end-to-end Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions using Azure AI Search, vector databases, and document ingestion pipelines.

Prompt & Orchestration Management: Write, test, and iterate on system prompts, tool definitions, and multi-step agent orchestrations based on user evaluations and feedback.

Governance & Production Engineering: Implement logging, tracing, monitoring, LLMOps, cost controls, identity (Microsoft Entra ID), and data security guardrails across client deployments.

Client-Facing Consulting: Translate business requirements into scoped AI use cases with measurable success metrics; run technical demos, train client administrators, and support post-launch adoption.

Practice Innovation: Contribute reusable architectural patterns, agent templates, and accelerators to Collectiv’s internal AI repository.

Eligibility Criteria & Qualifications:

Education: Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in Computer Science, Data Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field (or equivalent practical experience).

Overall Experience: 4+ years of professional experience in software engineering, data engineering, or Microsoft 365 / Power Platform development.

Generative AI Experience: 1+ years of hands-on experience building and deploying generative AI or LLM-powered applications in production or enterprise environments.

Location Requirement: Fully remote; open to qualified candidates globally.

Required Technical Skills & Competencies:

Copilot & Microsoft AI Stack: Proven hands-on experience with Microsoft 365 Copilot extensibility, Copilot Studio, and Azure AI Foundry (or Azure OpenAI).

RAG Architecture: Practical experience building RAG architectures utilizing Azure AI Search and vector indexing.

Programming Proficiency: Strong programming skills in Python or C#.

Azure Ecosystem: Solid working knowledge of Azure cloud services (Storage, Compute, Azure Functions, Logic Apps, Networking, and Microsoft Entra ID).

Client-Facing Consulting: Demonstrated capability to work independently in an advisory, forward-deployed engineering capacity with external clients.

Preferred / Good to Have:

Experience with Microsoft Agent Framework, Semantic Kernel, or AutoGen.

Hands-on familiarity with Power Platform, Dataverse, and Power Automate.

Exposure to enterprise data platforms including Microsoft Fabric, Databricks, or Power BI.

Understanding of LLMOps best practices (model evaluation frameworks, prompt versioning, observability).

Multi-client or multi-industry consulting background.

Relevant certifications: Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Engineer Associate, Copilot Studio / Power Platform certifications, or Microsoft Fabric certifications (DP-600 / DP-700).

Benefits & Perks:

100% remote work environment with no location restrictions.

Competitive base compensation ($150k – $190k USD) and professional development allowances.

100% company-covered health insurance (medical, dental, and vision plans for employees and dependents).

Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO).

401(k) retirement plan with a 4% company match.

Home office technology stipend and educational assistance.

Quarterly in-person team retreats and gatherings.