What are the responsibilities and job description for the AI Automation Engineer position at CBT?
Help Build the Future of Work at CBT
For nearly 100 years, CBT has earned a reputation as one of the most innovative industrial distributors in the Midwest. We've built our success by helping customers solve complex operational challenges, embracing new technologies, and continually investing in our people and processes.
Today, we're entering our next phase of transformation.
Artificial Intelligence is changing how businesses operate, make decisions, and serve customers. At CBT, we believe AI should do more than create excitement—it should create measurable business value. We're actively investing in AI-powered automation, intelligent workflows, knowledge accessibility, and operational efficiency across the organization.
That's where this role comes in.
We're looking for an AI Automation Engineer who is excited about turning emerging technologies into practical business solutions. This is not a research position and it's not a purely software development role. It's an opportunity to sit at the intersection of technology and business operations, helping CBT identify, build, and scale AI-driven solutions that improve how work gets done.
If you're someone who enjoys solving problems, experimenting with new technologies, building automations, and helping organizations work smarter, this could be the opportunity you've been looking for.
The Opportunity
This role will help shape CBT's AI strategy by designing and implementing intelligent workflows, AI agents, business automations, and knowledge-access solutions across multiple business platforms.
Working closely with software developers, data engineers, business leaders, and operational teams, you'll help bridge the gap between emerging AI capabilities and real-world business applications.
You'll be involved in everything from building AI-enabled workflows and integrations to developing retrieval systems, automating business processes, and identifying new opportunities where AI can create value.
The ideal candidate is naturally curious, highly adaptable, and energized by learning. You don't need to have all the answers today—but you should be excited about discovering what's possible tomorrow.
What You'll Help Build
As an AI Automation Engineer, you'll play a key role in expanding CBT's AI capabilities by:
- Designing and implementing AI-enabled agents and business workflows
- Connecting AI services with internal business systems and APIs
- Building solutions that improve knowledge accessibility and information retrieval
- Supporting automation initiatives across CRM, Prophet21, eCommerce, and other business platforms
- Developing internal tools that improve productivity and operational efficiency
- Identifying opportunities to automate repetitive processes and streamline workflows
- Monitoring, optimizing, and troubleshooting AI-powered systems and automations
- Helping evaluate emerging AI technologies and their practical business applications
What Success Looks Like
Success in this role won't be measured by how many AI tools you test or the tokens used.
It will be measured by business impact.
The right candidate will help create solutions that save time, reduce manual effort, improve access to information, and enable employees to focus on higher-value work.
You'll help establish AI as a practical business capability rather than simply a technology initiative.
Over time, you'll become a trusted resource for identifying opportunities, solving operational challenges, and helping CBT continuously improve how work gets done.
Why CBT?
This is a unique opportunity to help build something new.
You'll work directly with business leaders and technology teams to shape how AI is adopted across a growing organization. You'll have the freedom to experiment, the support to learn, and the opportunity to make a visible impact on the future of CBT.
In return, we offer:
- Competitive salary and incentive opportunities
- Comprehensive health, dental, vision, and 401(k) benefits
- Professional development and continuous learning opportunities
- Exposure to cutting-edge AI technologies and business applications
- A collaborative, values-driven culture focused on innovation and growth
If you're excited about helping businesses leverage AI in practical, meaningful ways, we'd love to talk with you.
Qualifications:What We're Looking For
We're less interested in finding someone who has experience with every AI tool on the market and more interested in finding someone who learns quickly, solves problems, and embraces change.
Successful candidates will typically bring:
- 2 years of software development or technical solution-building experience
- Experience working with Python, JavaScript, C#, or similar technologies
- Strong understanding of APIs, integrations, and modern software architecture concepts
- Familiarity with automation platforms, workflow orchestration tools, or low-code solutions
- Understanding of prompt engineering and AI-assisted workflows
- Working knowledge of SQL, data concepts, and system integrations
- Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- A high level of ownership, accountability, and curiosity
Experience with technologies such as LangGraph, n8n, RAG architectures, MCP, AI Skills, LLMs, vector databases, or modern AI platforms is highly desirable but not required.
An associate or bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or a related field is preferred.