Freelance Value Engineering Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Freelance AI Growth Engineer & Creative Technologist

Company: PA-AI
Location: Southern California
Collaboration: Periodic in-person meetings at RKS Design in Thousand Oaks
Engagement: Initial paid 30-day independent contractor sprint
Potential: Continuing freelance engagement or transition to a full-time role based on results and mutual fit

About PA-AI

PA-AI is a human-centered artificial intelligence platform that helps organizations make better product, innovation, business, and marketing decisions.

The platform combines advanced AI with a deeper understanding of human behavior, emotion, perception, aspiration, and trust. It helps teams identify opportunities, evaluate ideas, reduce risk, and create products, services, brands, and experiences that people genuinely value.

PA-AI is built on Psycho-Aesthetics®, a proprietary methodology developed and refined by RKS Design through more than 45 years of innovation and product-development work.

The Opportunity

You will design and build an AI-powered growth system that identifies relevant conversations, creates platform-specific content, activates communities, tests messaging, and converts awareness into qualified PA-AI users.

We are not looking for someone who simply schedules posts. We want someone who can build the machine behind the campaign.

The right candidate will know how to combine existing AI tools, SaaS platforms, content applications, CRM systems, analytics products, and automation services into a coordinated growth workflow.

You will not be expected to build every component from scratch. You should be able to identify the best existing tools for each requirement, integrate them effectively, and add lightweight customization where necessary.

This may include using Claude and other AI-assisted development tools to create scripts, connect APIs, transform data, configure workflows, troubleshoot integrations, and develop small custom applications that close gaps between existing platforms.

The goal is not unnecessary custom software. The goal is a practical, measurable, maintainable system that produces results.

What You Will Build

• An AI-powered content and campaign production system.
  
• Coordinated but distinct growth campaigns for students and professionals.
  
• Automated discovery of relevant trends, conversations, communities, and engagement opportunities.
  
• A student challenge, campus ambassador, and referral engine.
  
• A professional thought-leadership engine for LinkedIn and YouTube.
  
• A system that transforms PA-AI insights into videos, carousels, posts, articles, email content, and audience responses.
  
• Automated outreach to university organizations, student publications, creators, influencers, and professional communities.
  
• Shareable SPS result cards, leaderboards, challenges, and viral participation loops.
  
• A measurement dashboard connecting content activity to registrations, PA-AI Foundation completion, referrals, qualified inquiries, and paid conversion.
  
• A continuous testing system for messaging, creative formats, audiences, offers, and calls to action.
  
• Documented workflows that can be maintained, improved, and expanded by the PA-AI team.
  

How You Will Build It

You will use the most effective combination of existing and customized tools.

This may include:

• AI platforms and agents for research, monitoring, ideation, content creation, personalization, and analysis.
  
• Content-generation and production tools for writing, images, video, narration, editing, and repurposing.
  
• CRM and outreach systems for audience segmentation, contact management, campaign sequencing, and follow-up.
  
• Analytics and dashboard tools for attribution, engagement, funnel performance, and conversion measurement.
  
• Automation platforms such as Zapier, Make, n8n, Airtable, or comparable systems.
  
• APIs, webhooks, databases, and lightweight custom code where native integrations are insufficient.
  
• Claude or comparable AI-assisted development tools for workflow design, scripting, API integration, debugging, and documentation.
  

You should be able to determine when to:

• Use an existing platform as configured.
  
• Connect multiple platforms through a standard integration.
  
• Build an automation using a no-code or low-code tool.
  
• Add a lightweight script or custom application.
  
• Retain a human review step for creative, strategic, factual, or brand decisions.
  

What We Are Looking For

• Demonstrated ability to build AI agents, automations, integrated workflows, or growth systems.
  
• Strong command of current generative AI, content, video, development, analytics, and workflow tools.
  
• Experience connecting APIs, CRM systems, analytics products, publishing platforms, databases, or outreach applications.
  
• Ability to assemble existing platforms into a functioning system rather than defaulting to custom development.
  
• Experience using Claude or similar AI coding tools to customize and integrate workflows.
  
• Understanding of TikTok and Instagram culture for student audiences.
  
• Understanding of LinkedIn thought leadership and professional conversion.
  
• Ability to translate complex ideas into compelling, accessible stories.
  
• Ability to produce or direct written, visual, and video content.
  
• A bias toward rapid experimentation, measurement, and continuous improvement.
  
• Ability to distinguish meaningful business results from superficial engagement metrics.
  
• Strong documentation and communication skills.
  
• Ability to execute independently while collaborating closely with PA-AI leadership.
  
• Based in Southern California and available for periodic meetings at RKS Design in Thousand Oaks.
  

A computer science, engineering, technical product, creative technology, growth, or entrepreneurial background is preferred, but demonstrated capability matters more than credentials.

Relevant Experience May Include

• Building AI-assisted content or marketing systems.
  
• Connecting CRM, publishing, outreach, and analytics platforms.
  
• Developing AI agents or automated research workflows.
  
• Launching a digital product, creator platform, student initiative, startup, or online community.
  
• Building a measurable acquisition or referral funnel.
  
• Creating automated content-production or repurposing systems.
  
• Developing dashboards that connect campaign activity to product engagement and conversion.
  
• Using Python, JavaScript, APIs, webhooks, or AI-assisted coding to customize existing applications.
  
• Producing video, social, written, or interactive content designed to generate a specific audience action.
  

How Success Will Be Measured

Success will be evaluated based on measurable growth and the quality of the system created, including:

• Qualified student and professional registrations.
  
• Percentage of registrants completing the PA-AI Foundation.
  
• Referral, sharing, and participation rates.
  
• Cost per qualified registration.
  
• Conversion from content exposure to platform engagement.
  
• Conversion from registration to meaningful product use.
  
• Organic reach generated through repeatable systems.
  
• Speed and quality of experimentation.
  
• Ability to identify and improve weak points in the funnel.
  
• Percentage of the growth workflow that becomes intelligently automated.
  
• Reliability, maintainability, and documentation of the system.
  
• Quality and relevance of the content produced—not simply its volume.
  

Follower counts and impressions alone will not be considered sufficient measures of success.

Initial Engagement and Compensation

The engagement will begin with a paid 30-day discovery, build, and validation sprint.

During the sprint, the selected candidate will:

• Audit PA-AI’s existing website, videos, reports, presentations, thought leadership, CRM capabilities, analytics, and content assets.
  
• Identify the strongest initial student and professional growth opportunities.
  
• Recommend the platforms, applications, integrations, and custom components required.
  
• Design the initial growth architecture.
  
• Build the first working version of the system.
  
• Launch measurable experiments for student and professional audiences.
  
• Establish baseline funnel and conversion metrics.
  
• Document the system, tools, workflows, prompts, integrations, and recommended next steps.
  

The anticipated project fee is $7,500 to $12,500, depending on the proposed scope, experience, deliverables, and demonstrated ability.

This is a project-based independent contractor engagement, not a monthly salary or guaranteed employment arrangement.

A continuing freelance engagement or transition to a full-time position may be considered based on measurable results, quality of execution, mutual fit, business needs, and the candidate’s ability to take ownership of the growth system.

Expected 30-Day Sprint Deliverables

Proposals should define clear deliverables, but the initial sprint is expected to produce:

• A concise audit of current assets, systems, audiences, and growth opportunities.
  
• A proposed growth-system architecture.
  
• A recommended technology and application stack.
  
• At least one functioning student acquisition experiment.
  
• At least one functioning professional acquisition experiment.
  
• A repeatable content-transformation workflow.
  
• An initial outreach or community-discovery workflow.
  
• A basic measurement dashboard.
  
• Clear attribution from campaign activity to registrations and platform engagement where technically practical.
  
• Documentation of what was automated, what was customized, and what still requires human judgment.
  
• A prioritized 60- to 90-day roadmap based on initial findings.
  

How to Apply

Please provide:

1. A brief explanation of why you are the right person to build PA-AI’s growth engine.
   
2. Two examples of AI, automation, integration, or growth systems you personally built.
   
3. Evidence of measurable results—not merely impressions, views, or follower counts.
   
4. The AI, development, automation, analytics, CRM, content, and video tools you currently use.
   
5. An explanation of how you decide between using an existing platform, integrating multiple tools, or developing a custom solution.
   
6. Your Southern California location and availability for periodic meetings in Thousand Oaks.
   
7. Your proposed scope, deliverables, timeline, and fee for the initial 30-day sprint.
   
8. Links to relevant working systems, prototypes, code, campaigns, dashboards, content, or case studies.
   

Please Also Answer

Using PA-AI’s existing website, videos, thought leadership, reports, and platform capabilities, how would you design an initial system to generate qualified student and professional registrations?

Please address:

• The first audiences you would target.
  
• The platforms and existing applications you would use.
  
• How you would connect those tools into one workflow.
  
• Where you would use Claude or custom development to close integration gaps.
  
• What content or campaign experiments you would launch first.
  
• What you would automate.
  
• What would continue to require human judgment.
  
• How you would measure registration, Foundation completion, referral activity, and paid conversion.
  
• What you believe could realistically be built and tested during the first 30 days.
  

PA-AI is an equal-opportunity organization. We value different perspectives, backgrounds, experiences, and ways of thinking, and encourage qualified candidates from a wide range of disciplines to apply.

What We Are Looking For

• Demonstrated ability to build AI agents, automations, integrated workflows, or growth systems.
  
• Strong command of current generative AI, content, video, development, analytics, and workflow tools.
  
• Experience connecting APIs, CRM systems, analytics products, publishing platforms, databases, or outreach applications.
  
• Ability to assemble existing platforms into a functioning system rather than defaulting to custom development.
  
• Experience using Claude or similar AI coding tools to customize and integrate workflows.
  
• Understanding of TikTok and Instagram culture for student audiences.
  
• Understanding of LinkedIn thought leadership and professional conversion.
  
• Ability to translate complex ideas into compelling, accessible stories.
  
• Ability to produce or direct written, visual, and video content.
  
• A bias toward rapid experimentation, measurement, and continuous improvement.
  
• Ability to distinguish meaningful business results from superficial engagement metrics.
  
• Strong documentation and communication skills.
  
• Ability to execute independently while collaborating closely with PA-AI leadership.
  
• Based in Southern California and available for periodic meetings at RKS Design in Thousand Oaks.
  

A computer science, engineering, technical product, creative technology, growth, or entrepreneurial background is preferred, but demonstrated capability matters more than credentials.

Relevant Experience May Include