Overview:

At ACT, Your Work Makes a Difference

Education has power – a power that changes lives forever. It creates opportunities that lift up individuals, their families, and sparks societal change that echoes through generations to come. From our grassroots we have fought the good fight for fairness in education, and we remain devoted to helping anyone who struggles to access that power. This is what matters to us and we must do better - we’ve never been more sure of our purpose.

ACT team members are part of an organization dedicated to a mission that has never been more important: Helping people achieve education and workplace success. Advancing that mission within our organization, by helping our team members achieve education and workplace success of their own, is core to our values. ACT values a diverse workplace and is committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable environment in which every team member has an opportunity to grow.

We want our team members to have the well-being and confidence they need to do their best work, in an environment where both they and ACT thrive. To support this, our total rewards include company paid life insurance, medical, dental, vision, flexible health and dependent spending accounts, 401(k) retirement savings with company match, paid holidays, paid time off, and so much more. You can find a comprehensive list of our benefits here.

We are seeking a Prompt Engineer II or Senior Prompt Engineer to help us fulfill that mission.

As part of the Digital Science team, the Prompt Engineer will collaborate to build advanced generative AI tools that enhance various aspects of education and assessment development. These include text and graphical content, workflow optimization, text extraction, and automated entity classification. Our initiatives leverage technologies such as deep learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and reinforcement learning to drive innovation and improve learning experiences and outcomes.

The finalist will be hired at the salary and level commensurate with their qualifications. For this position, we anticipate offering an annual salary in the range of $95,000 to $125,000, depending on the level. ACT manages salaries within the range based on relevant factors including, skills, experience, and internal equity.

Location: Remote (can also be onsite or hybrid if in Iowa City, Iowa area)

What you will be working on:

Construct high quality and engaging prompts that reliably elicit accurate, relevant, and unbiased responses
Elicit requirements from internal customers to ensure prompt alignment with user needs
Continuously reiterate – experiment, test, and refine prompts – to satisfy stakeholder requirements and acceptance criteria
Monitor and analyze prompt performance to identify areas for improvement
Illuminate and document best practices for task specific prompts
Determine how to best integrate prompts into workflows and applications
Maintain documentation of prompt development processes, guidelines, and best practices
Work as part of a collaborative unit to build AI tools that support ACT’s AI and Automation Strategy

Prompt Engineer II Requirements

3 years of technology, UX, cognitive, or similar experiences that includes hands on prompt design and prompt engineering experience
Experience successfully employing multiple prompting methods/techniques such as zero-shot, few-shot, chain-of-thought (CoT), prompt chaining, tree of thoughts (ToT), retrieval augmented generation (RAG), automatic reasoning and tool-use (ART), automatic prompt engineer (APE), etc.
Experience building prompts and then integrating them into workflows and applications
Experience evaluating LLMs
Experience with various data structures/algorithms
Experience locating, pre-processing, manipulating, analyzing, interpreting, and visualizing large, complex data sets
Experience documenting technical work for both technical and non-technical audiences
Experience designing experiments that systematically address research problems and choosing appropriate statistical tests
Solid understanding of the architecture and operation of large language models

Senior Prompt Engineer Requirements

5 years of relevant experience with at least one year being hands-on experience working in the role of prompt engineer
Experience successfully employing multiple prompting methods/techniques such as zero-shot, few-shot, chain-of-thought (CoT), prompt chaining, tree of thoughts (ToT), retrieval augmented generation (RAG), automatic reasoning and tool-use (ART), automatic prompt engineer (APE), etc.
Experience building prompts and then integrating them into workflows and applications
Experience testing, training, and fine-tuning LLMs
Experience with various data structures/algorithms
Experience locating, pre-processing, manipulating, analyzing, interpreting, and visualizing large, complex data sets
Experience documenting technical work for both technical and non-technical audiences
Experience designing experiments that systematically address research problems and choosing appropriate statistical tests
High-level understanding of the architecture and operation of large language models

Role Progression:

Within 1 month, you will become familiar with ACT's internal stakeholders and the different types of AI projects they are currently working on. You will attend meetings with non-technical and technical staff and assist with gathering requirements for projects requiring prompt engineering solutions. You will work under the supervision of other digital science staff to execute these projects. You will assist non-technical and technical staff with building prompts and help troubleshoot problems with Azure developer services and other AI applications for digital science. You will understand ACT's client infrastructure and management solutions, and be able to provide solutions to solve well-defined problems.
Within 3 months, you will help train staff on prompt engineering methods and best practices. You will co-facilitate meetings with non-technical and technical staff to gather requirements for projects requiring prompt engineering solutions. You will work collaboratively with other digital science staff to execute these projects. You will be responsible for troubleshooting problems with Azure developer's services and possibly other AI applications as assigned for digital science. You will collaborate with IT teams to build and deploy strategic initiatives.
Within 6 months, you will facilitate meetings with internal stakeholders to gather requirements for projects requiring prompt engineering solutions. You will work collaboratively with other digital science staff or as an individual contributor to execute these projects, as well as assist, AI/ML engineers and/or Senior AI/ML researchers with other ML projects as needed. You will continue to be responsible for troubleshooting problems with AI services and applications and collaborate with IT teams to build and deploy strategic initiatives. You will also identify and execute opportunities to improve internal efficiency using AI and automation solutions.

This could be the job for you if you have (minimum requirements):

Familiarity with NLP techniques to adjust models
Proficiency in programming in Python and familiarity with basic Python libraires such as scikit-learn and pandas
Familiarity with relational databases (Postgres, MySQL)
Excellent problem-solving, troubleshooting, and analytical skills
Excellent communication skills with ability to synthesize and communicate ideas visually, verbally, and in writing with ability to explain highly technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
Adaptability and a willingness to learn and grow in a rapidly evolving field
Ability to stay current with industry trends and advancements in AI technology and apply knowledge to the ongoing development of the prompt system
Ability to collaborate within cross-functional teams and with internal customers
Excellent time management and organization skills with an interest in continuous learning
Familiarity with Agile practices
Ability to work independently but staying close to the customer to get feedback to make progress
Skills and knowledge required for success in this position attained through experience and education (Bachelor’s Degree in cognitive, computer, or information science (HCI, UIUX, Human Factors), or related field of study), or a combination of both

It’s a plus if you have:

Proficiency using Microsoft Azure’s Cognitive Services or other AI services and applications
Familiarity with TensorFlow and/or PyTorch frameworks
Experience with prompt engineering used in assessment development
Experience using JIRA to track work
Prompt engineering certification

About ACT:

When ACT was founded in 1959, it disrupted the assessment industry with a new approach to helping students better understand their readiness so they could take steps to improve it. By leveraging our expertise and authority in assessment and research, we will again disrupt the industry—helping more people learn, better measure their progress, and improve their navigation through life’s transitions.

More than ever before, ACT is fulfilling its mission of helping people achieve education and workplace success. We’re doing it by pushing the boundaries of learning innovation through the work of our people, who we call team members because we’re all in this together.

We know transformation does not come without challenge. That’s why ACT invests in a variety of experiences for team members to strengthen their connections, explore ideas, learn from customers, and celebrate success.

Learn more about working at ACT at act.org!

ACT is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. ACT participates in E-verify. ACT's online position announcements are intended only to provide general descriptions of employment opportunities; none of the information provided for any position should be interpreted as a commitment by ACT to specific terms and conditions for employment.

Application FAQs

**If you have received an ACT employment-related communication from an email address that is not affiliated with @act.org and/or that requests personal or financial information, please do not reply. Instead, reach out to us at careers@act.org with the details. ACT's recruitment team appreciates your interest in working with us to transform college and career readiness pathways for all learners and wishes you the best of luck in your career journey.**

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Prompt Engineer II or Senior Prompt Engineer