AI Automation Engineer (LLMs & Agentic AI) - EST Working Hours (Remote)

Location: South Africa, Western Cape, South Africa, Gauteng, South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, Eastern Cape, South Africa, North West, South Africa

Department: South Africa

Workplace: remote

Employment Type: full

Description

ISTA Personnel Solutions is a dynamic and fast-growing BPO company. We are not a recruitment agency. We partner with international U.S. clients and integrate our staff members directly within our clients' operations. We focus on long-term placements where you contribute directly to the client's success.

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced AI Automation Engineer who enjoys building production-ready AI solutions using today's leading Large Language Models (LLMs), AI coding assistants and agent orchestration frameworks.

This is a hands-on engineering role where you will design, build, deploy and optimise AI-powered automations that solve real business problems. You will work with cutting-edge AI technologies to create intelligent workflows, multi-agent systems and integrations that drive operational efficiency.

Please note: This is not a traditional Machine Learning or AI Research role. You will not be training AI models. Instead, you will build production-ready AI automations using existing AI technologies and modern AI development tools.

Requirements

• Working Hours: Monday – Friday from 14:30pm – 23:00pm South African time (subject to change with daylight savings)
• Public Holidays: This role requires working on South African public holidays (compensation for working South African public holidays in accordance with the BCEA).
• Internet Requirements: A fixed fibre line with a minimum speed of 25 Mbps upload and download, with wired Ethernet capability, is mandatory. Applicants without a fixed fibre line cannot be considered.
• Power Backup: Reliable backup power is required to manage load shedding or power outages. Applicants without adequate backup power cannot be considered.
• Work Environment: Fully remote (applicants must reside in South Africa)

Key Responsibilities

• Design, build and deploy production-ready AI automations and intelligent workflows.
• Develop and maintain multi-agent systems using modern AI orchestration frameworks.
• Build LLM-powered business solutions using today's leading AI technologies.
• Integrate AI agents with APIs, CRM platforms, messaging platforms, document generation tools and other business systems.
• Deploy, monitor and maintain secure AI environments using Docker and modern deployment practices.
• Debug, optimise and continuously improve AI workflows following deployment.
• Work closely with business stakeholders to scope new automation opportunities and estimate technical effort.
• Evaluate emerging AI technologies and recommend solutions that improve business efficiency.
• Deliver scalable, reliable and maintainable AI solutions.

Minimum Requirements

• 3–5 years' professional software engineering experience.
• Demonstrated commercial experience designing, building and deploying production-ready AI automations, AI agent workflows or LLM-powered applications.
• Strong practical experience using modern AI coding tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Codex, Cursor AI or similar.
• Experience working with AI orchestration frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI, AutoGen, n8n or similar.
• Strong experience building and integrating REST APIs.
• Experience working with Docker and modern deployment practices.
• Strong debugging and analytical problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to explain technical concepts clearly.
• Comfortable working independently within a fast-paced environment.

Please note: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. If you do not hear from us within 14 days of your application, please consider your application unsuccessful.