Forward Deployed Software Engineer Jobs in Chicago, IL

POSITION SUMMARY

The Forward Deployed AI Architect sits with a team, learns how their work actually happens, and then rebuilds that work with them using AI. Reporting to the Sr. Director of AI + Digital Transformation, with a close relationship to the Direct, AI Platform Operations, this role takes prioritized processes from across the Alzheimer’s Association and makes them agentic, in whole or in part.

Each engagement is a sprint. Weeks to a few months, one process at a time, sometimes reaching across several business areas. The work starts with sitting next to people and watching what they actually do, at a level of detail needed for true transformation. It ends with something running that gives hours back, documentation the team can live with, and a clean handoff to AI Platform Operations and IT.

This is a builder role. You will spend your days inside our AI platforms (primarily Claude) shipping working solutions rather than recommending them. When we need something outside our existing technology stack, you will say so and find what that is.

Every hour this role gives back to the Association and our staff goes somewhere meaningful. Toward care, toward being in community, toward the research that ends this disease—toward the work only a person can do.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Process Discovery: Embed with a team and learn their work in granular detail. Sit through the actual task. Map where the time goes, where errors creep in, and which parts of the job people dread. Bring the team into the redesign from the first day so they own what comes out of it.
• Building: Build working agents, automations, skills, and tools using approved AI platforms, primarily Claude. Ship something people can use inside the sprint. Work in real time alongside the staff who will use it, iterating on their actual deliverables rather than a sample.
• Sprint Delivery and Handoff: Run each engagement as a time-boxed sprint with a defined start and end. Set the value target up front. Prove it at the close. Hand the solution to AI Platform Operations and IT with the documentation, test cases, and runbook they need to support it, then stay available through a 30-day stabilization window before moving to the next process.
• Troubleshooting: Diagnose and fix what you built while a sprint is live and through stabilization. After that, partner with the standing IT support group on resolution rather than owning it. Feed every failure back into how the next thing gets built.
• Reuse and Pattern Library: Recognize when a solution built for one team fits four others. Turn one-off builds into reusable skills, agents, and templates. Maintain a working library that the AI Collective and staff across the Association can pull from without asking permission.
• Value Measurement: Define a measurable target for every engagement before the work starts, whether that is hours returned, cycle time reduced, or capacity created. Track it through delivery and after. Report results to the Sr. Director and the AI Steering Committee, including the engagements that did not pay off.
• Responsible Deployment: Work inside the Association’s Responsible AI guidelines, data handling standards, and information security requirements. Know which processes should stay in human hands and say so early. Partner with Enterprise Risk and AI Platform Operations before any solution touches constituent, donor, research, or staff data.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Maintain a close working relationship with the Director of AI Platform Operations, who owns platform configuration, enterprise connectors, security review, and consumption. Coordinate early when a build needs new system access or new credentials. Serve as a dedicated member of the AI Collective.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• 3–5 years of professional experience in work that required understanding how a process actually runs and then changing it. Consulting, operations, product, program delivery, or a dedicated AI transformation role all qualify
• Hands-on experience building AI agents, automations, or tools that real people adopted and continued using in their day-to-day work. Candidates should be prepared to walk through what they built, who used it, and what changed as a result
• Working fluency with Claude or a comparable enterprise AI platform, including experience going beyond chat into agentic and multi-step workflows. Candidates coming from applied AI, forward deployed, or solutions delivery backgrounds are encouraged to apply
• Comfort working with APIs, connectors, and structured data well enough to wire a solution to the systems where work lives
• A clear understanding of what separates a prototype from a production system, and the judgment to know which one a given situation calls for
• Ability to teach while building, so that the people you build for can maintain and extend the work after you leave
• Strong written and verbal communication with non-technical staff, and the patience to work through a process with someone who is skeptical of AI
• Comfort operating in a role with no established playbook, in an organization where trust is earned over time

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Direct experience with Claude Code, Claude Cowork, MCP servers, or comparable agent development frameworks
• Experience delivering AI or automation work inside a large, matrixed organization
• Background in one or more of the areas the Association works in: scientific research, public policy and advocacy, healthcare, fundraising, or field and volunteer operations
Familiarity with Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Workday, or C
• one as the systems a solution connects to
• Prior nonprofit sector experience
• Experience documenting and scaling a solution beyond the team it was built for

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Granular Curiosity: Wants to know what someone clicks on at 9:15 on a Tuesday. Learns an unfamiliar business area fast and earns credibility with the people doing the work
• Bias Toward Building: Would rather show a working prototype on someone’s real deliverable this week than present a polished plan for next quarter
• Teaching Instinct: Builds with people rather than for them, and measures success partly by how little the team needs you afterward
• Judgment on Where to Stop: Recognizes when a process should stay human, when a prototype is good enough, and when a build needs to go to IT before it goes any further
• Plain Language: Explains technical decisions to a program director, a fundraiser, and a C-suite leader without changing the substance

PHYSICAL & PRACTICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Ability to work at a computer for extended periods
• Occasional evening or weekend availability during active sprints or at handoff
• Travel up to 15% to work on site with teams, including field and chapter operations
• Ability to facilitate working sessions with groups of varying sizes, both virtual and in person

Location: US Remote

Work Schedule: Full-Time (37.5 hours per week)

Reports To: Sr. Director, AI + Digital Transformation

Position Grade & Compensation: Grade 512 The Alzheimer’s Association’s good faith expectation for the salary range for this role is $155,000-$168,000. This position is eligible for a bonus based on both individual and organizational performance, up to 6%

The Alzheimer’s Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Our mission is to lead the way to end Alzheimer's and all other dementia– by accelerating global research, driving risk reduction and early detection, and maximizing quality care and support.

The Alzheimer’s Association announced a landmark $100 million investment in research for 2023. This unparalleled commitment is illustrative of the momentum we are building in dementia research — our investments today will lead to breakthroughs tomorrow.

At the Alzheimer’s Association, our employees are at the core of all we do. Our network of more than 1,900 employees across the United States makes a difference each and every day for those impacted by Alzheimer’s and those at risk for the disease.

We warmly invite qualified applicants to consider this opportunity to make a life-changing impact on the millions living with Alzheimer’s, their caregivers and those that may develop the disease in the future. Read on to learn more about the role, then visit our website www.alz.org/jobs to explore who we are and why we've been recognized as a Best Place to Work for the last twelve years in a row.

At the Alzheimer's Association®, we believe that diverse perspectives are critical to achieving health equity — meaning that all communities have a fair and just opportunity for early diagnosis and access to risk reduction and quality care. The Association is committed to engaging underrepresented and underserved communities and responding with resources and education to address the disproportionate impact of Alzheimer’s and dementia. The Alzheimer’s Association commitment remains steadfast in engaging all communities in our full mission. The Association provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment to the fullest extent required by law, including, but not limited to, on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, gender identity, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected characteristic.

Employees working 24 hours/week or more are eligible for a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, flex accounts, short and long-term disability, life insurance, long term care insurance, tuition reimbursement, generous Paid Time Off, 12 annual holidays and Paid Family Leave, as well as an annual Cultural & Heritage Day and Volunteer Day of their choosing. They are also eligible for our gold standard 401(k) retirement plan.

Full time employees (37.5 hours/week), will enjoy all of the above plus an annual School Visitation Day and an Elder Care Facility Day of their choosing.