Applied AI Engineer, AI Surfaces at Opengov

OpenGov is the leader in AI and ERP solutions for local and state governments in the U.S. More than 2,000 cities, counties, state agencies, school districts, and special districts rely on the OpenGov Public Service Platform to operate efficiently, adapt to change, and strengthen the public trust. Category-leading products include enterprise asset management, procurement and contract management, accounting and budgeting, billing and revenue management, permitting and licensing, and transparency and open data. These solutions come together in the OpenGov ERP, allowing public sector organizations to focus on priorities and deliver maximum ROI with every dollar and decision in sync. Learn about OpenGov’s mission to power more effective and accountable government and the vision of high-performance government for every community at OpenGov.com [Upgrade to PRO to see link] JOB SUMMARY OpenGov is seeking an Applied AI Engineer, AI Surfaces to own the API and middleware layer that connects OpenGov’s AI capabilities to the applications and workflows end users depend on. You will be among the first members of our Pune AI engineering team, with real ownership over how AI features reach production surfaces across the organization. This is a software engineering role first. You bring strong backend and API fundamentals, including clean service design, production reliability, and the full lifecycle of a deployed application, and apply them to the integration challenges that sit between our AI platform and our internal tooling/applications. System integration experience is a genuine plus, but not a prerequisite. What matters is that you build things that work reliably for real users, and that you are motivated to grow your AI engineering skills in a fast-moving environment. You will work closely with the Sr. AI Platform Engineer to surface AI capabilities through scalable, observable, and maintainable interfaces, and collaborate with product and frontend teams to deliver AI-powered experiences that are fast, trustworthy, and built to last. CORE RESPONSIBILITIES - Design, build, and maintain the REST APIs, MCP Servers, and middleware services that expose AI capabilities (including but not limited to RAG pipelines, agent workflows, and data services) to OpenGov’s end-user applications. - Build and maintain backend services using Python (FastAPI, Flask) that support AI-driven workflows and enterprise integrations. - Own reliability, performance, and observability of AI-powered services: logging, latency monitoring, error handling, and graceful degradation under load. - Integrate AI features into OpenGov’s existing application surfaces, working with well-defined interfaces from the AI platform team rather than rebuilding the model layer. - Collaborate with product and frontend teams to deliver AI-native user experiences that meet production standards for usability, performance, and security. - Implement authentication, authorization, and secure access patterns across internal AI tools and APIs. - Support integration of AI workflows into enterprise platforms such as Slack, Salesforce, and other SaaS systems. - Containerize and deploy services using Docker and cloud-native infrastructure; contribute to CI/CD pipeline development and maintenance. - Support rapid prototyping of AI-powered features while maintaining a clear and disciplined path from prototype to production-grade deployment. - Actively develop AI engineering knowledge on the job. you will grow into an AI integration specialist, not just an API application engineer. REQUIRED EXPERIENCE - Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. - 3–6 years of experience in software engineering, backend development, or platform engineering roles. - Strong Python skills with hands-on experience building and maintaining production REST APIs using FastAPI, Flask, or equivalent frameworks. - Familiarity with Model Context Protocol (MCP) and experience building and/or consuming MCP-compatible tool servers. - Proven ability to design, deploy, and operate production application services, not just internal prototypes or demos. - Solid understanding of API design patterns, versioning, authentication and authorization, and service reliability fundamentals (retries, timeouts, circuit breakers). - Comfortable with containerized deployment (Docker) and/or Snowflake SPCS. - Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines and Git-based release workflows. - Strong debugging and troubleshooting skills across backend and infrastructure layers. - Collaborative by default: works well with product, frontend, and data teams without creating bottlenecks. - Growth orientation: genuinely motivated to develop AI engineering skills on the job. NICE TO HAVE - Experience integrating LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, etc.) into production application services. - Familiarity with LangChain, Snowflake Cortex or similar AI application frameworks. - Experience building AI-powered internal tools, copilots, or enterprise dashboards. - Experience integrating with enterprise platforms such as Slack, Salesforce, Workday, NetSuite, or similar SaaS systems. - Familiarity with Snowflake data architecture or Snowflake-hosted APIs. - Understanding of async patterns and streaming API responses (SSE, WebSockets) relevant to AI-powered UX. - Experience collaborating with cross-functional, non-technical stakeholders. WHY OPENGOV? A Mission That Matters. At OpenGov, public service is personal. We are passionate about our mission to power more effective and accountable government. Government that operates efficiently, adapts to change, and strengthens public trust.  Some people say this is boring.  We think it’s the core of our democracy. Opportunity to Innovate The next great wave of innovation is unfolding with AI, and it will impact everything—from the way we work to the way governments interact with their residents. Join a trusted team with the passion, technology, and expertise to drive innovation and bring AI to local government. We’ve touched 2,000 communities so far, and we’re just getting started. A Team of Passionate, Driven People This isn’t your typical 9-to-5 job; we operate in a fast-paced, results-driven environment where impact matters more than simply clocking in and out. Our global team of 800+ employees is united in our commitment to challenge the status quo. OpenGov is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Dubuque, Plano, and Pune. A Place to Make Your Mark We pride ourselves on our performance-based culture, where every employee is encouraged to jump in head-first and take action to help us improve. If you have a great idea, we want to hear it. Excellent performance is recognized and rewarded, and we love to promote from within. Benefits That Work for You Enjoy an award-winning workplace with the benefits to match, including: - Comprehensive healthcare options for individuals and families - Flexible vacation policy and paid company holidays - 401(k) with company match - Paid parental leave, wellness stipends, and HSA contributions - Professional development and growth opportunities - A collaborative office environment with weekly catered lunches.