Associate Software Engineer (AI)

Location: Hybrid Austin, Texas, USA; requires working some days from CDK's Austin office and residing within commuting distance.

Base salary: $85,000–$95,000 per year.

Company

hirify.global provides cloud-based SaaS software for automotive dealerships and original equipment manufacturers, supporting vehicle sales, financing, insurance, repair, maintenance, and consumer purchasing.

What you will do

• Build and ship production software using AI-based development workflows, progressing from AI-accelerated coding to delegating well-scoped tasks to advanced AI systems.
• Write precise specifications, technical plans, and acceptance criteria for human and AI execution.
• Own the correctness, security, and maintainability of shipped software by reviewing, testing, and validating AI-generated code.
• Keep codebases lean, limit unnecessary dependencies and over-engineering, and optimize AI compute and tooling costs.
• Develop expertise in automotive retail, collaborate with engineering, product, and design, and share AI development workflow improvements.
• Participate in on-call rotations and emergency response while following responsible AI usage, compliance, and other CDK policies.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, with 0–2 years of professional experience.
• Experience with NodeJS, ReactJS, and AWS Cloud.
• Strong command of at least one programming language and core computer science fundamentals.
• Ability to read and reason about unfamiliar code, identify bugs, edge cases, security issues, and design problems.
• Excellent written communication for describing problems and designs precisely.
• Curiosity about AI-based development demonstrated through coursework, projects, hackathons, or independent experimentation.
• A verification mindset, including skepticism toward unvalidated output and rigor in testing before trusting code.
• Self-motivated fast learner with strong adaptability as tools change.
• Collaborative problem-solving ability, both independently and in teams, with the ability to drive issues to timely resolution.

Nice to have

• Substantive personal or academic projects using AI development tools, with the ability to explain what worked, what failed, and what was learned.
• Experience with Spec-Driven Development, Kafka, and Mongo.
• Exposure to version control, code review, automated testing, and CI/CD.
• Experience across a modern full stack, including mobile or web front ends, backend APIs, databases, and cloud.
• Interest in building software on which business operators and consumers depend.

Culture & Benefits

• Hybrid work combining Austin office days with remote work on remaining days.
• Structured mentorship, a defined progression path, and early production ownership.
• Medical, dental, and vision benefits.
• Paid time off, 401(k) matching, and tuition reimbursement.
• Inclusive workplace with an emphasis on diversity, different perspectives, and equal employment opportunity.