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
