Vanguard Auto Group is seeking a hands-on software developer to build business applications, develop AI solutions, and automate dealership workflows.
You will work directly with company leadership to turn ideas into practical software, connect existing systems, and improve applications based on employee feedback. The ideal candidate has professional coding experience, has deployed and supported working applications, and is comfortable using AI development tools and locally hosted models.
Our in-house IT team supports networking and infrastructure. This position focuses on software development, AI integration, and application performance, with IT collaboration for hosting and deployment.
Key Responsibilities
- Design, build, test, deploy, and maintain internal applications, dashboards, and automation tools.
- Expand and improve our Vanguard Ops platform and develop new applications based on business needs.
- Use AI coding assistants effectively while understanding, reviewing, and testing the code they generate.
- Connect applications with business systems through APIs, databases, file imports, and authorized browser automation.
- Build enterprise AI applications, including internal assistants, document-processing tools, and workflow automations.
- Develop Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions that allow AI applications to use information from company documents, databases, and other business sources.
- Build AI agents that use software tools and APIs to carry out defined business tasks.
- Install, evaluate, and integrate open-weight models running on local computers or company servers.
- Stay current on open-weight model releases, AI coding tools, and local AI technologies. Test relevant options and recommend practical improvements.
- Collaborate with our in-house IT team to deploy applications and locally hosted AI models, identify hardware and hosting requirements, and support secure, reliable access across dealership locations.
- Implement application permissions, appropriate data handling, testing, logging, and error monitoring.
- Troubleshoot issues, improve performance, and maintain clear documentation.
- Work with department managers and employees to understand requirements and improve usability.
Qualifications
- At least two years of professional software development experience, including applications deployed and used in a business.
- Strong Python skills and working knowledge of SQL and database design.
- Experience with web application development, including JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
- Experience developing and integrating APIs and connecting applications to business data.
- Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot code independently and evaluate code produced by AI assistants.
- Hands-on experience building AI-powered applications, with an understanding of LLMs, prompt engineering, RAG, embedings, vector search, and AI agents.
- Experience running open-weight models locally and connecting them to applications.
- Familiarity with Git, version control, software testing, and application deployment.
- Understanding of application hosting and the computing, GPU, memory, and storage requirements of local AI.
- Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and clear communication with nontechnical users.
- Ability to take a defined project from initial requirements through deployment and ongoing support.
Preferred Experience
- AI application or agent frameworks.
- Cloud platforms or hosted AI services.
- Local model tools such as Ollama, LM Studio, or similar software.
- Docker, Linux, and automated deployment tools.
- Document processing, invoice extraction, or image-based workflows.
- Dealership systems, accounting applications, or business-software integration.
Examples of Projects
- Vehicle invoice processing and photo matching.
- Inventory and reconditioning trackers.
- Employee portals, approval workflows, and management dashboards.
- Internal AI assistants that answer questions using company information.
- Service reporting and routine task automation.
Vanguard Auto Group is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws