Applied AI Engineer

Clayco builds creative, complex, high-profile projects using a collaborative design-build approach, and you’ll help bring that same discipline to governed AI used by real employees. This onsite role in St. Louis, MO focuses on replacing ad-hoc document and retrieval workflows with retrieval and document intelligence that teams can depend on.

What you’ll build

The Applied AI Engineer will create governed AI applications that turn Clayco’s internal knowledge into reliable, production-ready tooling. You’ll deliver retrieval grounded in the company’s procedures, training content, project history, and platform documentation, then translate Clayco’s domain model into concrete retrieval boundaries that reflect how work actually happens.

Responsibilities

• Build governed AI applications to eliminate the need for employees to create ad-hoc tools for themselves
• Implement retrieval over Clayco’s internal knowledge base, including procedures, training materials, project history, and platform documentation
• Turn a domain model into working retrieval boundaries, not just diagrams
• Test model and approach decisions against real Clayco work rather than relying on public benchmarks
• Define prompt and context engineering standards for engineers who will inherit and extend the systems
• Build within the agent registry and identity model, rather than working alongside them

Requirements

• Experience shipping to real users, with retrieval and document intelligence running in production where people depend on it (not only prototypes)
• A track record of honest evaluation: you know whether a system works because you tested it on real tasks, including where it failed
• The ability to work closely with the people who do the work, including observing how a project engineer reviews a submittal and why seemingly obvious automation would be wrong
• Comfort building early: this pillar is actively being formed, with architectural latitude and fewer internal stakeholders to consult than in more established teams

Tools and technologies

• Snowflake, Snowflake semantic layer, Snowflake Cortex
• n8n

Benefits and support

• Discretionary Annual Bonus: subject to company and individual performance
• Comprehensive Benefits Package including medical, dental and vision plans, 401k, generous PTO and paid company holidays, employee assistance program, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, disability coverage, learning and development programs, and more

Nice to have

• Construction or AEC background
• Snowflake Cortex
• n8n
• Document extraction at scale
• Experience consolidating shadow tooling into something supported

Additional details

• Clients and projects are nationwide, so travel is required
• This position is classified as safety-sensitive; candidates selected will undergo a comprehensive background check including mandatory drug testing

Why Clayco

• 2025 Best Places to Work (St. Louis, Los Angeles, and Phoenix Business Journals)
• 2025 ENR Top 400 (Top Data Center Contractor, Top 3)
• 2025 ENR Top 100 Design-Build Firms (Design-Build Contractor, Top 5)
• 2025 ENR Top 100 Green Contractors (Green Contractor, Top 3)

Compensation: The salary range considers factors such as education, qualifications, skills, training, experience, certifications, internal equity, and location. Compensation decisions depend on the facts and circumstances of each case.