Solutions Engineer

THE JOB / Solutions Engineer 

STRATEGY / Responsible for developing and executing investment recommendations for our clients.

 ***Our headquarters are in Stamford, CT, but the location of this position can be 100% remote for qualified candidates.

You’re a hands-on builder who speaks business. Your mission is to design and implement workflows that reduce manual effort, improve data quality, and streamline internal operations. You’ll turn internal workflows into shipped AI solutions—fast prototypes that become reliable tools. You’ll lead the development of scalable, intelligent automation systems by designing and implementing LLM-powered features, wiring up model APIs, standing up lightweight data flows, and driving adoption. Your north star is time saved and process acceleration across the agency. Your task will be to work across departments, understand business issues and pain points, then build solutions leveraging AI to solve those problems.

 THE WORK YOU’LL DO

• Scope & prioritize: Convert stakeholder needs into user stories with clear success metrics (e.g., hours saved, cycle-time reduction).
• Rapid Prototyping & Delivery – Quickly translate scoped automation needs into tangible solutions by spinning up lightweight proofs of concept or conducting feasibility assessments.
• Build & integrate (hands-on): Implement LLM workflows (prompt chains, RAG, document extraction/summarization); write Python/SQL (R a plus); connect model APIs (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, Google, open-source LLMs) with proper auth, retries, and versioning.
• Data plumbing (lightweight): Create small ETL jobs; define data contracts; add validations, logging, and basic observability.
• Ship fast: Run short sprints, coordinate QA/UAT, and launch v1s (contract extraction, web monitoring, RFP/RFI autofill); iterate based on real usage.
• Evaluate & improve: Establish offline/online evals (quality, latency, cost), tune prompts/retrieval, and manage model/version rollouts.
• Operationalize: Automate with cron/GitHub Actions (Airflow/Prefect a plus), set up CI checks, write runbooks, and monitor usage/cost.
• Enable adoption: Produce playbooks, deliver brief trainings, stand up simple dashboards, and close the loop with users.
• Collaborate: closely with stakeholders across GTM, Finance, Supply Chain, Engineering, and Security to surface the highest-impact opportunities for simplification, automation, and AI-driven augmentation.
• Define and measure: product and agent success with clear KPIs around performance, usability, reliability, and business value.
• Flexibility and willingness to travel and work weekends or holidays as needed. Anticipated travel level: Low (0-15%).

 THE BIGGER TEAM YOU’LL JOIN

Recognized as one of the “Best Places to Work in Sports”, Octagon is the global sports, entertainment, and experiential marketing arm of the Interpublic Group.

We take pride in being Playmakers – finding insightful, bold ways to create play in our work, our lives, and in the world. We believe in the power of play to create big ideas and unlock potential for our clients and talent.

We can put ourselves in the shoes of fans because we ARE fans – of sports, entertainment, and culture at large. This expertise allows us to continually evolve the fan experience across sports and entertainment alongside some of the biggest brands and talent in the world.

The world needs play more than ever. Are you a Playmaker?

WHO WE’RE LOOKING FOR

Must-Haves:

• Proven track record shipping AI-powered tools used by business users (e.g., assistants/agents, RAG search, document extraction/summarization, prompt engineering, fine-tuning, vector search, multi-agent workflow automations and pipeline automations).
• Deep understanding of cross-system integrations, APIs, event-driven workflows, and business process automation.
• Ability to evaluate system architecture, and make thoughtful trade-offs for build vs. buy (open-source, third-party, and custom-built solutions).
• Portfolio required: links/screenshots and a brief walkthrough of at least 2 shipped AI solutions (what you built, how it works, impact/time saved).
• 3+ years (or equivalent portfolio) building internal tools/solutions; strong Python + SQL; familiarity with R is a plus.
• Hands-on with LLM providers and APIs (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, Google, open-source stacks), prompt/retrieval design, and Git-based workflows to drive intelligent decision-making, classification, or summarization.
• Strong experience with AI agent frameworks (e.g., LangChain, ReAct, AutoGPT, OpenAgents, or custom architectures).
• Testing & QA – Validate solutions before handoff, build guardrails for fail-safe execution, and establish clear logging and error alerts.
• Working knowledge of data modeling, schemas, validation, and secure secrets management; bias toward simplicity, reliability, and measurable outcomes.
• Basic understanding of data, security and tech governance, in order to follow statutes handed down by parent company.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to articulate complex AI concepts to peers.

Nice-To-Haves:

• Streamlit or R Shiny (or similar lightweight UIs); Power BI or Tableau for operational dashboards.
• Experience with embeddings/vector databases (FAISS/pgvector/etc.), evaluation frameworks, and/or web scraping at scale.
• Understanding of modern automation orchestration platforms.
• Orchestration (Airflow/Prefect), containers (Docker), and cost/usage monitoring.
• Software engineering fluency (e.g., Python, Rust, or Go) and ability to own model + infrastructure integration end-to-end.
• Familiarity with sponsorship/marketing or media-measurement datasets.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment and manage multiple priorities effectively.

The base range for this position is $90,000 – $100,000. Where an employee or prospective employee is paid within this range will depend on, among other factors, actual ranges for current/former employees in the subject position; market considerations; budgetary considerations; tenure and standing with the company (applicable to current employees); as well as the employee’s/applicant’s background pertinent experience, and qualifications

Octagon’s comprehensive benefit package includes:

• Unlimited PTO policy – we understand you need time for play!
• Competitive medical/dental/vision insurance plans with FSA/HSA and Dependent Care FSA options. Pet Insurance for those who need it too!
• Generous Family and Parental Leave Policy (12 weeks) with eligibility extended to all parents regardless of gender or primary/secondary caregiver status 
• Access to our parent company (IPG) Savings plan (401K program) with company match as well as an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
• Pretax Transportation/Commuter Benefits and Parent Travel Program
• Dedicated Mental Health resources including Headspace membership, Employee Assistance Program (CCA) and more
• Discount portal for everyday goods and services
• Employee Resource Groups and inclusive diversity programming and initiatives
• Personal Development programs