Associate Engineer, AI and Agentic
Exelixis
About the Role
The Associate Engineer - AI and Agentics is responsible for building foundational AI-enabled applications, prototypes, prompts, tests, documentation, and agentic automations while learning SDLC best practices, security expectations, and responsible AI standards.
Key Responsibilities
- Assist in building simple AI-enabled prototypes, internal tools, and workflow automations.
- Translate clearly defined requirements into small software components, scripts, prompts, test cases, and configuration changes.
- Support prompt engineering, basic agent workflows, retrieval-assisted use cases, and API integrations.
- Use approved AI-assisted development tools (e.g., coding copilots or agentic coding tools) to learn, prototype, document, and improve code with appropriate review.
- Write and execute basic unit tests, validation checks, and troubleshooting steps.
- Maintain clear documentation, including setup notes, design summaries, prompt/spec notes, user instructions, and operational runbooks.
- Participate in code reviews, demos, testing sessions, backlog discussions, and team learning activities.
- Follow company policies for data privacy, information security, access control, compliance, and responsible use of AI.
Requirements & Tech Stack
- Foundational programming ability in Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, Java, or a similar language.
- Basic understanding of software development fundamentals, including data structures, APIs, Git, debugging, testing, and documentation.
- Introductory knowledge of AI, machine learning, generative AI, LLMs, prompt engineering, or data science concepts.
- Ability to learn and apply approved AI-assisted development tools responsibly, with review and coaching.
- Ability to quickly acquire new knowledge, apply critical thinking, maintain attention to detail, and ask insightful questions.
- Clear written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to apply principles of responsible AI, data privacy, information security, and ethical technology practices.
Qualifications
- Candidates with early experience in software engineering, data science, automation, or related technical work gained through internships, academic projects, research assignments, open-source contributions, hackathons, or personal portfolio work.
- A portfolio, GitHub repository, class project, internship deliverable, or capstone project demonstrating coding, automation, AI, data, or problem-solving skills.
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Software Engineering, or a related field; or
- Equivalent combination of education and experience.
Preferred
- Basic familiarity with cloud platforms, databases, REST APIs, notebooks, or data tools.