AI and Automation Engineer (Full Stack, JavaScript, Node.js)

This is a remote position.

The accounting industry is huge ($140 billion in the US alone). Most accounting firms still do things in old-fashioned ways.

BooksTime is here to modernize the accounting industry. We are an ambitious, innovative accounting firm. Our model is 100% remote and international. Our staff are in the United States, Ukraine, Philippines, Georgia, and UAE. We were founded in 2016 and have been growing a lot since then. We use the latest tech to deliver the best service to our clients and achieve a degree of scalability that would be impossible for most accounting firms.

There are huge opportunities to use the latest AI tech and to automate many tasks. We have a chance to be one of the first companies to truly take advantage of these opportunities. We believe this can enable us to become the #1 leader in the accounting industry within a few years. When we accomplish this goal, it will allow us to improve the lives and livelihoods of a huge number of people.

AI has the power to rapidly and massively change the accounting industry. There are tons of clear opportunities to revolutionize the way this business works. We have a long list of ideas for automations and apps that we'd like to develop -- but we need a creative developer to take advantage of these opportunities. That's where you come in!

You will have the opportunity to develop both internal tools and automations, as well as customer-facing apps, all of which can make a huge impact at our business – and also in transforming the accounting industry overall.

Each includes different software to integrate with, different underlying technologies, etc. So no matter what specialized expertise you have, you will need to be ready to learn new technologies, as well.

The variation in the work means that you probably will never be bored! Always something new to learn or try.

You will report directly to the CEO, who is based in the US. You will also collaborate a lot with the Head of IT, the Cloud Sysadmin, and the Director of Operations. They are in the US and Ukraine.

Examples of projects:

More details and examples can be provided later. In the meantime, just to give you an idea:

• AI email summarizer:Outlook extension that summarizes all email threads with emails mentioning a particular client, so a supervisor can easily see a summary of the complete history of communication with and about that client. The extension would need to integrate with our CRM to know which email addresses correspond to a specific client, since there can be multiple contacts for a single client.

• AI sales coach:When a call is recorded in Zoom or JustCall, a transcription of the recording should be analyzed using an API from a service such as OpenAI (ChatGPT) to generate an email to the salesperson with training tips related to sales best practices and accounting knowledge. Security is important since the calls may contain sensitive information.

• AI social media bot:Bot that monitors certain social media locations. If someone asks a question like “does anyone know a good bookkeeping service they can recommend?” or something similar, the bot will reply with a message promoting our company.

• AI sentiment analysis:We have a tool that monitors emails for negative or positive sentiment expressed by a client, and sends alerts to supervisors if it seems there is a problem we need to review. However, it is not very accurate yet, so we need to test different approaches, prompts, etc. to improve it.

• Automating interview evaluation:Job candidates for some of our positions in the US need to take automated online interviews, where software asks them some questions and they record answers to those questions. We’d like to develop an app that reviews the transcript of these recordings and evaluates their performance based on certain criteria (did they answer certain questions correctly, etc.).

• Automating time logs:We need to know how much time each team member spends on each client, so we can bill the client for the hours we spent on their work. As a result, staff spend a lot of their time making time logs manually. We want to automate the creation of time logs based on what’s happening on their screen. Our time logging software is Zoho Projects.

• Automating client onboarding steps:When a new client signs up, various steps need to be taken manually. For example, we need to set up an Office 365 group for each new client. We’d like to automate steps like that using tools like Microsoft PowerAutomate and Zoho Flow.

• Review accounting records for potential errors:Using the QuickBooks Online API, we’d like to check accounting records for certain types of errors (an accountant will be available to explain what we need to catch, the logic, etc. – we know that you might not know accounting).

• …and many more! There are many more exciting projects in the backlog.

Tech involved:

• Many projects will require the use ofZoho Deluge(more detailshere). You don’t need prior knowledge of this, but you should be ready to learn it and become an expert in it.

• Most apps will be server/cloud-based and/or web/browser-based. There will be very few desktop or mobile applications. If you are not experienced in building desktop or mobile apps, it is okay – if we need to work on a desktop or mobile app, we have people in the company who can help you with it.

• For some projects, you will be able to choose the languages, frameworks, and other technologies you want to use to accomplish the goal. In other cases, it will be defined in advance.

• See more about tech skills needed in the next section below.

Note: you will be building, testing, and maintaining the apps mostly independently.

Requirements

• Full-stack developer who can independently build apps:The ideal candidate can handle all programming tasks involved in projects like the examples above by themselves, especially for browser-based and cloud-based apps. You will need to be able to create apps from scratch independently, and also test them and maintain them.

• However:

• If a designer is needed for a project, we can provide you with a designer.

• If we need to make any kind of desktop/mobile app, we have specialists who can help with it.

• If you need input from an accountant for an accounting-related project, or any other kind of expert from within the company, of course, you will be able to collaborate with them as needed..

• Open to many different types of projects:As the examples above show, there is huge variety in the work, the systems and software involved, etc. You should be open and excited to try many different things, even though some will require learning new things.

• Creative, resourceful, innovative.For some projects, we can provide very detailed specs. In other cases, we will discuss an idea with you – the big-picture goal for the app – and then we’d ask you to work with us as we fill in the specs together. And once you are familiar with our business, we will want to hear your ideas for new automations, too!

• Fast & efficient coder

• Successful track record building useful apps. Ideally, you have recently used generative AI in an app you built. It would be great (preferred but not required) if you have an understanding of how to use OpenAI's GPT-4 API, including embeddings, fine-tuning, and more.

• Security:Skills and knowledge related to cybersecurity best practices would be helpful. Security will be important to many of our projects.

• English:You will need to be able to communicate in English fluently enough to discuss complex technical topics.

• Technology skills:

• JavaScript:Strong expertise is required. You should have experience building complex apps in JavaScript.

• Node.js: Not required, but preferred.

• Either React or Angular: It’s ideal if you are familiar with one of these, but neither are required.

• Database management:

• At a minimum, you should have basic knowledge of SQL.

• Ideally, you have some experience in both SQL and NoSQL databases. However, deep expertise is not required in either.

• RESTful APIs.

• For example, some projects will require the use of APIs likeMicrosoft Graph APIandQuickBooks Online API. However, you don’t need to have prior experience with those specific APIs.

• Most APIs we’ll use are secured using OAuth, so you should be familiar with OAuth.

• Cloud platformslike AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud for hosting services and data storage. At least a little experience with at least one of these platforms is required.

• Other preferred (but not required) skills:

• Shell scripting

• Git for version control, etc.

• Any automation and/or integration experience with Microsoft Office 365, or Zoho, or Google Workspace.

• Other skills:

• Strong communication and project management skills; ability to set clear expectations, accurate deadlines, etc.

• Close attention to detail

• Ability to self-manage (we're looking for someone who can work independently; we do not want someone we need to micromanage)

Benefits

Most hours can be flexible – you can work at the times convenient to you. However, you would be required to be available 9:30am to 11:00am Eastern Time, Mondays through Thursdays (i.e. all weekdays except Friday).

For full-time staff, a standard leave and holiday schedule is included.

Monthly pay amounts depends greatly on experience and skills:

• When work starts:

• Candidatesmeetingthe requirements above: $2000-$3000

• Candidatesexceedingthe requirements above: $3000-$3500

• After 1 year of work:

• With exceptional performance: 10-20% increase

• With strong performance: 5-10% increase

• With ordinary performance: 2-4% increase

• Additional bonuses possible for results that exceed expectations.

Amounts above assume full-time work.

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