Fuel Cycle is building and deploying production AI agents, and they are hiring an early-career Associate AI Engineer to help bring agent capabilities into real-world services. The role is fully in-office in Los Angeles, CA, with a mentorship model designed for pair programming, in-person code review, and hands-on guidance.
In this position, you will work across agent workflows and application engineering, using Python and FastAPI to ship features while building agent components on AWS. You will also contribute to retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines and integrate Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools so agents can use the right capabilities at the right time.
Responsibilities
- Design, build, and improve AI agents, including structuring tool-calling loops, model configuration, and multi-step workflows using Strands Agents and AWS Bedrock
- Build and integrate MCP tools and servers, learning how tool names and descriptions influence LLM behavior
- Deploy and run agents on Bedrock AgentCore, collaborating with the platform team and a mentor
- Build RAG pipelines over pgvector or FAISS, selecting chunking, embedding, and retrieval approaches based on observed results
- Design, test, and iterate on prompts, evaluating answer quality, latency, and token cost, and learning how production guardrails are applied
- Evaluate models, tools, and approaches and recommend selections with documented reasoning
- Ship FastAPI services with REST and WebSocket APIs backed by PostgreSQL and Redis, including designing, implementing, and testing features
- Contribute to background jobs and queue consumers so agent work runs outside the API request path
- Apply architectural standards, use judgment on design choices within those standards, keep design documents current, and flag where standards should change
- Submit pull requests, respond to review feedback, and review teammates’ code as you grow
Requirements
- Solid Python from coursework, internships, or work, including functions, classes, type hints, error handling, and testing fundamentals
- Data structures and algorithms, with awareness of time and space complexity
- SQL fundamentals (joins, aggregations, indexes, schema design), with PostgreSQL exposure preferred
- REST and HTTP concepts, including how a web API is structured
- Git and pull-request workflow
- Clear communication, comfort asking questions, and a habit of learning new tools while seeking help when stuck
Technologies
Python, FastAPI, AWS Bedrock, AgentCore, Strands Agents, MCP, pgvector, FAISS, PostgreSQL, Redis, REST APIs, WebSocket APIs, S3, SQS, LangChain, OpenAI SDK, Flask, Django, SQLAlchemy, async Python
Experience
- Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience (bootcamp, self-taught, or on-the-job)
- Roughly 0–2 years of software engineering experience, with internships, research, and substantial projects counting
- A track record of learning quickly through coursework, projects, work, open-source contributions, or community involvement
Preferred
- An agent project built with Strands Agents, LangChain, OpenAI SDK, or similar frameworks, including how an LLM chooses and calls tools
- Experience building or using Model Context Protocol (MCP) tools and servers
- AWS Bedrock or Bedrock AgentCore, or AWS basics such as S3 and SQS
- RAG knowledge, including chunking, embeddings, and vector stores
- Prompt engineering experience writing, testing, and iterating prompts
- FastAPI or similar frameworks such as Flask or Django, familiarity with SQLAlchemy or another ORM, and willingness to learn async Python
Compensation
- Expected starting salary range: $90,000 - $110,000
- Final base salary is determined based on location, work experience, skills, knowledge, education, and certifications
- Eligible for variable bonus, and may include an equity grant or purchase option
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance plans
- 401(k) with Company Match
- Equity Purchase Option
- Flexible Work Schedule
- 15 vacation days and 7 sick days per year
- 12 company holidays
- 4 floating holidays/recharge days
- Paid Parental Leave
- Monthly Internet & Phone Stipend
- Wellness & Lifestyle Perks (Rightway, Headspace, Peloton)
- Weekly community lunches, refreshments, and snacks at their LA & NY headquarters
Company Equal Opportunity
- Fuel Cycle is committed to fostering an inclusive company culture and is an equal opportunity employer
- Fuel Cycle complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- They do not discriminate based on disability, sex, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, age, veteran status, or any other protected status under the law
- If you require accommodations during the application process, contact hr@fuelcycle.com
Hiring note: Fuel Cycle hires for fundamentals, curiosity, and initiative. Engineers new to the field are welcome, as are engineers with one or two years of experience who want to deepen their focus on AI and agentic systems. You do not need to know the stack on day one.
