Associate Java / AI Engineer – Spring Boot, LLM & Copilot

Associate Java / AI Engineer – Spring Boot, LLM & Copilot

Location: Charlotte, NC – Onsite

Employment Type: Full-Time W-2 – Trilogy NextGen

Experience: 1–5 years

Client: Financial-services customer

C2C: Not allowed

Visa: Eligible visa transfers supported with Premium Processing where available

About the Role

Trilogy NextGen is seeking an Associate Java / AI Engineer to support one of our financial-services customers in Charlotte, NC.

We are looking for a hands-on engineer with 1–5 years of experience who can build enterprise applications using Java and Spring Boot while also helping teams get practical value from modern AI development tools.

This is not an architect-level or senior-management role.

We need someone who can independently deliver software, work effectively with developers and users, and continue growing technically across:

• Java / Spring Boot
• Microservices and REST APIs
• LLM integration
• GitHub Copilot
• Prompt engineering
• Model Context Protocol (MCP)
• AI-enabled developer and user workflows

What You’ll Do

• Develop enterprise applications and services using Java and Spring Boot.
• Build and maintain REST APIs and microservices.
• Develop integrations with databases and enterprise systems.
• Use GitHub Copilot and similar AI-assisted development tools for:
• Coding
• Testing
• Debugging
• Documentation
• Code analysis
• Refactoring
• Help engineering teams improve how they use Copilot and other AI tools.
• Develop, test, and refine prompts for software-development and enterprise use cases.
• Create reusable prompt patterns and context strategies.
• Integrate LLMs and Generative AI capabilities into applications and workflows.
• Help configure MCP servers, tools, and approved data sources for enterprise AI assistants.
• Support AI assistants that interact with:
• APIs
• Documentation
• Repositories
• Databases
• Developer tools
• Evaluate AI output and identify where prompts, context, or tool configuration should be improved.
• Work with developers and users to understand the usability of AI-enabled tools.
• Help improve the user experience of copilots and AI-assisted workflows.
• Participate in code reviews, design discussions, testing, and troubleshooting.
• Work independently on assigned features and integrations.
• Recognize when requirements are incomplete or contradictory and stop to ask the right question rather than simply executing the wrong solution.

What We’re Looking For

• 1–5 years of professional software-development experience.
• Strong hands-on Java experience.
• Working experience with Spring Boot / Spring Framework.
• Experience building REST APIs.
• Experience working with relational databases and SQL.
• Familiarity with microservices and enterprise application patterns.
• Experience using Git.
• Experience with testing and standard CI/CD development practices.
• Practical experience with GitHub Copilot or a comparable AI coding assistant.
• Hands-on familiarity with LLMs and Generative AI.
• Experience writing and refining prompts.
• Understanding of how context affects LLM and Copilot output.
• Interest in or experience with Model Context Protocol (MCP) and tool-enabled AI assistants.
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills.
• Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with a larger team.
• Strong written and verbal communication.
• Ability and willingness to work onsite in Charlotte, NC.

Preferred Experience

• Experience configuring or using MCP servers and tools.
• GitHub Copilot Enterprise experience.
• Experience with:
• OpenAI
• Anthropic
• Gemini
• Azure OpenAI
• AWS Bedrock
• Similar enterprise AI platforms
• Exposure to:
• RAG
• Embeddings
• Vector search
• Semantic search
• Agentic workflows
• Experience building developer-productivity tools.
• Experience improving user-facing AI applications or workflows.
• Cloud experience with AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
• Docker or Kubernetes exposure.
• Banking or financial-services experience.

AI & Copilot Focus

This role goes beyond simply having used an AI coding tool.

We want someone who understands that getting real value from AI requires thoughtful engineering.

You should be comfortable thinking about:

• Prompt quality
• Context quality
• Reusable instructions
• Tool access
• MCP configuration
• Security and permissions
• Model limitations
• Validation of AI-generated output
• User experience
• When AI is useful — and when conventional software is the better answer

You should be able to help answer questions such as:

• How can we make Copilot more useful for this development team?
• What context does the model need?
• Should this capability be implemented with a prompt, an API, an MCP tool, or traditional code?
• How do we expose the right enterprise tools without exposing the wrong data?
• Is the resulting workflow actually useful to the developer or business user?

Working Style

We are looking for someone who can take ownership and move work forward independently.

That does not mean blindly executing every request.

The right person can recognize when something does not make sense, pause the work, clarify the requirement, and ask the right technical or business question before significant effort is wasted.

We value engineers who are:

• Self-directed
• Curious
• Practical
• Comfortable with ambiguity
• Willing to experiment
• Accountable for getting work completed
• Confident enough to ask questions when the direction is unclear

Employment & Visa Requirements

This position requires direct W-2 employment with Trilogy NextGen.

No C2C. We will not respond to or entertain C2C, third-party consulting, subcontracting, or agency submissions.

Trilogy NextGen can support eligible employment-based visa transfers and will utilize Premium Processing where available.

Because this is an urgent opening, candidates requiring a visa transfer must be willing to begin work as soon as legally permissible following a qualifying filing/receipt, subject to applicable immigration requirements and confirmation by our immigration counsel.

Candidates who require final petition approval before beginning employment may not align with the timeline for this role.

This position requires working onsite in Charlotte, NC.

Why This Role

This is a strong opportunity for an engineer who already has solid Java experience and wants to grow deeper into enterprise AI, Copilot enablement, prompt engineering, MCP, and AI-assisted application development.

We want someone who understands that good enterprise AI is not simply calling an LLM API.

It requires good software engineering, good context, good prompts, useful tools, appropriate controls, and a good user experience.

• Apply through LinkedIn or contact: careers@trilogynextgen.com