Find Hidden AI Jobs: Search by Skills (RAG, LLMs), Not "AI Engineer" Titles

Bashiri Smith · Facebook reel · 2026-09-28 · 1:03 · 4,588 views · Open on Facebook

Topics: Resume, Job Search & Interviews, Industry Trends & Job Market · Level: beginner

Summary

Bashiri Smith points to an Andela study of Fortune 500 technical job postings. It found that over half of job titles don't match the actual work, and thousands of postings asking for AI engineering skills weren't titled "AI Engineer." If you only search for "AI Engineer," you miss many roles you qualify for. Instead, search by the skills you actually use (RAG, LLMs, vector databases, embeddings) and judge each role by its responsibilities, not its title.

Key points

• Andela analyzed 47,101 technical job postings from Fortune 500 companies (the transcript says 'over 45,000') and found that over half of job titles don't match the actual work.
• Almost 7,000 postings asked for AI engineering skills, such as building AI applications, but none were titled 'AI Engineer.'
• Some 'Data Scientist' roles actually ask you to implement RAG and build AI agents.
• Searching only 'AI Engineer' on job boards hides many relevant roles.
• Search for skill keywords instead: RAG, LLM, vector databases, embeddings, plus any other skill you'd use day to day.
• Read the job description and responsibilities before deciding whether a role fits. Don't judge by the title alone.

Resources mentioned

• The roles emerging in the gaps between roles (Andela Research) · article · andela.com · free
  Andela's study of 47,101 Fortune 500 technical job postings, which found that job titles often don't match the actual work.
• BASWE.Ai Engineer (Skool community) · community · skool.com · paid
  The creator's paid community and program, with an AI learning roadmap (including the full ops and evaluation track), daily calls with engineers and recruiters, resume and portfolio help, and a job-search pipeline.
  Also in: Basic RAG Pipeline in 60 Seconds: From Documents to Grounded Answers (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), Pointer to Bashiri Smith's Complete AI Engineer Roadmap for 2026 (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), Step-by-Step Roadmap to a $200K+ AI Engineering Role (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes), How to Evaluate a RAG Pipeline: Retrieval vs. Generation (Interview Answer) (Bashiri Smith on Facebook · notes) and 76 more

Try this

• Stop searching only for the 'AI Engineer' title on job boards.
• Search job boards by skill keywords you have: RAG, LLM, vector databases, embeddings, and others you use daily.
• Read each posting's responsibilities and job description before deciding whether to apply.
• Consider differently titled roles (e.g., Data Scientist) that ask for agent or RAG work.
• Optional: join the creator's Saturday 9 AM Pacific Career Strategy Q&A through the BASWE.Ai Skool community (comment 'strategy' to get the link).