Junior AI Developer

Jr. AI Developer

What they actually need
Someone who builds and ships AI tools, mostly in the ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot ecosystem, rather than a traditional software engineer. The scale is notable: a backlog of about 60 tools and about 30 delivered every eight weeks. That means fast, practical, repeatable builds, not deep research or model training.

Must-haves (even for a junior)

·       Hands-on experience building with ChatGPT, Custom GPTs, OpenAI tools, or Microsoft Copilot. Personal or school projects count.

·       Strong prompt engineering: turning a vague business problem into a working solution.

·       Ability to test, refine, and deploy, including gathering user feedback and iterating.

·       Clear communication with non-technical stakeholders (Events, Commercial Services, Hotel Operations).

·       Can juggle many small projects at once.

·       Analytical, troubleshooting mindset.

Nice-to-haves

·       Copilot Agents / Copilot Studio experience

·       OpenAI API familiarity

·       Hospitality or hotel operations background

·       Related degree (CS, AI, Data Science, IT), though equivalent experience is accepted

Where to find juniors in Chicago

·       Recent grads or 1year people in IT, business analytics, or data roles who have built Custom GPTs or Copilot agents on their own

·       Power Platform / Power Automate / low-code automation people (Copilot Studio is a natural next step)

·       Business analysts, operations analysts, or “AI champions” at Chicago firms in hospitality, consulting, or finance

·       Local grads from UIC, DePaul, Loyola, Northwestern, IIT, and bootcamp graduates (General Assembly, Northwestern/DePaul AI certificates)

·       Hospitality-adjacent people who have taught themselves AI tools