Forward Deployed Engineer

Company Description

Vitol is a leader in energy and commodities. Vitol produces, manages and delivers energy and commodities to consumers and industry worldwide. In addition to its primary business of trading, Vitol is invested in infrastructure globally, with $10+billion invested in long-term assets.

Vitol’s customers include national oil companies, multinationals, leading industrial companies and utilities. Founded in Rotterdam in 1966, today Vitol serves its customers from some 40 offices worldwide. 

Our people are our business. Talent is precious to us and we create an environment in which individuals can reach their full potential, unhindered by hierarchy. Our team comprises more than 65+ nationalities and we are committed to developing and sustaining a diverse work force. Learn more about us here.

This Role is located in Houston, TX - In office 5x a week

Job Description

We are looking for a hands-on Forward Deployed AI Engineer to join our global AI team. This is a hybrid role across engineering and commercial teams. You will sit directly with commercial users, build and ship agentic solutions that solve real workflow problems, and communicate technical requirements back to our foundational engineering teams. 

You will own technical design and delivery from prototype to production. As Vitol's AI portfolio grows, you will help shape what gets built, in what order, and make sure what the team builds gets used. 

The successful candidate will join a growing, collaborative team of experienced practitioners who are solving some of the most challenging and impactful problems the energy industry is facing, as well as pushing the boundaries around the 'art of the possible'.  

Key Responsibilities  

• Embed with commercial teams to understand their workflows, constraints, and business objectives; identify high-value opportunities for AI solutions 
• Translate business problems into clear technical requirements, solution designs, and delivery plans to build, integrate, and deploy agentic solutions 
• Development of the firm's internal GenAI platform, extending its capabilities through new integrations, data connectors, MCP servers, tool-calling, and domain-specific skills 
• Apply a broad range of AI and modelling techniques, including LLMs, RAG, NLP, time-series forecasting, and optimization, to commodity pricing, supply/demand signals, trade flow analysis, and operational optimization problems 
• Communicate requirements, technical constraints, and reusable patterns back to the foundational AI and platform engineering teams 
• Present capabilities, assumptions, and limitations clearly to traders and senior management, supporting confident commercial decision-making and building trust in AI outputs among technical and non-technical audiences 
• Champion AI best practice on the desk and across the team: participate in code reviews, experiment and evaluation design, and tooling decisions; mentor colleagues and help raise the overall standard of engineering and applied-AI practice 

Qualifications

• Degree in computer science, statistics, mathematics, data science, or a related quantitative field 
• Fluency in Python for both applied AI and engineering purposes: clean, modular, well-documented code, with strong understanding of software engineering best practices including version control, testing, and code review 
• Minimum 3 years of experience in software engineering, AI engineering, machine learning, data science or a related hands-on technical role 
• Practical understanding of generative AI concepts, including prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation, tool use, agentic workflows, model evaluation, and responsible AI considerations. Including proficiency with modern GenAI orchestration and tooling frameworks (e.g. LangChain, LlamaIndex, or equivalent) 
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS preferred) 
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal; able to engage effectively with technical teams and commercial stakeholders 
• Self-motivated and comfortable working autonomously in a fast-paced environment, with a collaborative, non-political style and high personal integrity 
• Strong curiosity for emerging AI developments, with a proactive commitment to continuously learning, experimenting and expanding your skills 
• Genuine intellectual curiosity about commodities markets, global energy flows, and the commercial dynamics of trading; willingness to develop deep domain knowledge as part of the role 
• Strong management commitment to putting AI at the heart of the future of Vitol's operations 

This Role is located in Houston, TX - In office 5x a week

Additional Information

• Competitive salary and benefits package 
• Large diversity of projects with real-world impacts on a truly global scale 
• Entrepreneurial environment within a flat hierarchy, where great ideas come to life quickly 
• Direct, close collaboration with trading desks and other business units across our key regions (e.g. London, Singapore, Houston, Geneva) 
• A highly motivated AI team comprised of experienced individuals with a supportive attitude and great team spirit 
• Being part of the energy transition through increased emphasis on renewable and alternative energy sources at a pivotal moment in the industry 

Comprehensive benefit coverage includes:

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• Paid Vacation
• 401k with company contributions
• Life insurance
• Short-term & Long-term disability

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.