Job Summary
Join FRANdata’s technology team as an Internal Developer and play a key role in building the next generation of internal software tools and AI-driven processes. FRANdata is a leading provider of franchise market research and analytics, managing the world’s largest database on franchise companies, brands, and franchisees. In this role, you will collaborate closely with our Information Management team to solve new challenges, automate workflows, and drive development of our internal platforms. This position is ideal for a passionate developer who is eager to grow, bring energy, and innovate within the Franchise industry.
This is a hybrid role based in our Arlington, VA office. In-office attendance is required on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with the remainder of the week remote.
Responsibilities
- Develop and Maintain AI-Powered Pipelines: Design and enhance data processing pipelines that leverage OCR and large language models (LLMs) to extract and analyze information from core documents. For example, you will work on our document breakdown system – a two-phase OCR extraction and LLM parsing process that converts PDFs into structured data. This involves writing robust Python code to integrate OCR engines and LLMs, optimizing for accuracy and performance.
- Build Internal Web Tools for Data Management: Extend and improve our internal applications that manage franchise data. This includes full-stack development on existing tools like a React/TypeScript + Node.js application for editing franchise ownership hierarchies. You’ll implement new features, ensure smooth UX for internal users, and maintain backend services (Express.js, MySQL) that store and retrieve critical data.
- Implement Intelligent Search & Analytics: Integrate AI solutions into our tools to empower research and sales objectives. You’ll help develop intelligent search and Q&A functionalities using techniques like keyword search, semantic vector search and retrieval-augmented generation. This involves working with vector databases (e.g. ChromaDB), metadata filtering, and calling LLM APIs or frameworks to produce insights from our franchise datasets.
- Collaborate with Cross-Functional Teams: Work closely with the FRANdata Information Management, Research and Sales teams to understand their workflows and pain points. You will gather requirements for new features, demo prototypes, and iterate based on feedback. Strong communication is essential as you’ll be translating business needs into technical solutions and explaining AI capabilities to non-technical stakeholders.
- Problem Solving & Innovation: Tackle ad-hoc challenges with a creative, can-do approach. Whether it’s writing a quick Python script to transform data for an urgent report or architecting a new module for a special project, you approach problems with curiosity and resilience. You will be expected to research new technologies (APIs, libraries, AI services) as needed, rapidly prototype solutions, and drive them to completion. In this role, adaptability and eagerness to learn are key.
Qualifications
- Education & Experience: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience. Approximately 2–5 years of software development experience is desired. Prior experience in an environment building internal tools is a plus.
- Programming Skills: Proficiency in Python is required – you have developed back-end services, scripts, or data pipelines in Python. Experience with machine learning or NLP libraries/frameworks (e.g. working with OCR, transformers, HuggingFace, OpenAI API, etc.) is highly beneficial for this role.
- Web Development: Hands-on experience with JavaScript/TypeScript and modern web frameworks. You should be comfortable building front-ends with React and developing back-ends with Node.js/Express. Familiarity with building RESTful APIs and working with front-end state management will be useful for our React-based tools.
- Database & Data Handling: Strong knowledge of relational databases and SQL (we use MySQL for core data). Ability to design data models and write efficient queries is important. Experience with NoSQL or vector databases (for example, Chroma or Elasticsearch for embeddings) is a plus, as some AI features rely on them.
- AI/ML Familiarity: Demonstrated interest or experience in AI and machine learning. You don’t need to be a data scientist, but you should understand concepts like embeddings, semantic search, and LLMs. Experience integrating an ML model or working with AI APIs in a project (e.g. building a chatbot or data extractor) will help you hit the ground running. Exposure to frameworks for OCR or NLP (Tesseract, spaCy, etc.) is also a plus.
- Communication & Collaboration: Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal. You can work closely with non-technical team members to gather requirements and explain solutions in plain language. Being a team player is crucial as you will collaborate with colleagues across departments, from data analysts to product managers. Experience in an internal customer-facing role or providing tech support/training to users is a plus, as this role involves significant internal engagement.
- Ownership & Proactiveness: Self-driven and highly organized. You take ownership of projects and see them through completion. When you spot an issue or an opportunity for improvement, you proactively address it. We value people who can manage their time effectively, balance multiple priorities, and continuously seek to improve both the codebase and the user experience of our tools.ce.
Pay: $65,000.00 - $90,000.00 per year
Education:
Ability to Commute:
- Arlington, VA 22203 (Required)
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Arlington, VA 22203
