AI Prompt Engineer: How to Find and Hire One for Your Business in 2024

Don't know how to talk to AI systems? Hire an AI prompt engineer to help you get great results for your business, every time.

Designing and creating AI prompts looks quite simple — until it's not.

You stare at the computer screen, trying to think up AI prompt ideas for your content, but you keep drawing blanks. Like almost everyone else, you're stuck in beginner mode and lack the stylistic language to talk to the model. 

Whether you want to produce AI-generated text or images, the program requires a text prompt — the primary means of communication between humans and AI. Written poorly, these prompts can be a time sink and might cost you money.

But an AI prompt engineer can change all that.

This guide shares why you need an AI prompt engineer for your business, and where to find them.

What is an AI prompt engineer?

An AI prompt engineer is a skilled professional who knows the ins and outs of AI systems. He understand exactly how these systems work, what kind of information to feed them, and how to get the best results with fewer, high-quality renders.

It’s all about knowing the right prompts to achieve the desired outcomes.

Source: Sam Altman, via Twitter

Just as you'd prompt a human to write an essay, a prompt engineer guides AI models to a desired outcome using:

• Strings of words

• Statements

• Blocks of code

Prompt engineers understand AI models also struggle to understand context, and — if left unchecked — they ramble and meander, presenting fiction as sure facts. So they handpick the data and formatting that AI tools understand. Then they design and create prompts that AI models can train on to learn how to perform specific tasks. 

The result? High-quality training data and accurate predictions and decisions.

This brings us to the question: What exactly does an AI prompt engineer do? 

Let's find out.

What does an AI prompt engineer do?

Remember the 'long snapper' roster spot, which didn't really exist before the 1990s, but is a fixture on every NFL team today? 

Although some tight ends or linebackers have the skill to fill this position, it's a highly specialized role with its own job description, training, and experience — so you must hire a good one.

The same goes for the prompt engineer position — a field that's arguably less than two years old — but much needed in businesses.

“With the rise of newer technologies (like AI and mixed reality) and increased adoption and scale (accelerated by connectivity and the cloud), the world will continue to innovate on what jobs are needed,” says Allie Miller, an AI entrepreneur, advisor, and investor. “And a lot will be new. There are now hundreds of new jobs like AI prompt writers, AI video editors, AR filter designers, VR developers, and smart contract engineers.”

Prompt engineering is a tech-wrought position, which — like long snapping — requires a special set of skills and experience. Prompt engineers (aka "AI whisperers") talk to and work with AI systems to craft good prompts to obtain desired results or outputs for specific tasks. 

But that's not all they do.

Brand new prompt engineering job descriptions are popping up in recruiting ads across the web detailing the specifics of the role. 

Like this AI prompt engineer job listing for Boston Children's Hospital: 

Source: Boston Children's Hospital

Based on several job descriptions we reviewed, a prompt engineer's responsibilities include:

• Using large language models (LLMs) and other emerging solutions in various contexts

• Understanding the organization's needs to design and develop effective prompts to streamline and automate repetitive tasks and improve operational efficiency

• Exploring new ways to use GPT in various functions of a business

• Working with cross-functional teams to identify opportunities to implement AI systems and offer solutions

• Testing and optimizing AI prompts continuously to improve performance and results

• Fine-tuning AI models for different use cases for optimal performance and accuracy

These aren't the only AI services a prompt engineer provides. Some companies have fewer or added responsibilities, depending on the scope and the type of organization. 

Here's another prime example from AI research startup Anthropic's viral job listing.

Source: Rowan Cheung, via Twitter

Anthropic appreciates the nascency of the prompt engineering field. So the company doesn't place hard requirements for years of experience. 

Neither do they ask for a Computer Science degree; just need "at least basic programming, QA skills, and be comfortable writing small Python programs."

However, the company expects prospective candidates to demonstrate their experience working on LLMs or image generation models. If they have no existing projects, they must prove they can get complex behaviors from well-crafted prompts. 

Does prompt engineering have a future? To answer this question, let's review what analysts say about the future AI job market.

What are future trends in AI prompt engineering?

Market analysts already foresee big changes in the labor market owing to AI. 

Gartner, for instance, estimates that contact centers with conversational AI deployments will cut agency labor costs by $80 billion.

And, thanks to generative AI and ChatGPT's publicity, there's an emergence of AI startups — like Anthropic and others — meaning AI is drawing attention from the mainstream.

Source: Google Trends

Shahrokh Barati, an executive director at the United Bank of Switzerland (UBS), opines that the advancement of generative AI systems will increase the importance of AI prompt engineering. 

Like Search Engine Optimization (SEO) birthed the SEO specialist role, Barati expects a new crop of prompt engineering optimization specialists (PEOs) to help people get the most out of generative AI systems. 

Gartner says companies will increase the functions of smart machines, apps, software, and avatars as "virtual doppelgangers" or counterparts. This further underscores the need for AI prompt engineers skilled at operating AI models to generate the desired output.

“The more embedded AI tools are in a team, the more important it will be to have an AI specialist: someone who knows how to build prompts and turn them into templates, or at least knows enough about AI to work with the AI platform provider to create customized solutions,” says Alaura Weaver, Senior Manager, Content and Community at Writer. “It’s kind of like how many larger orgs have their own Salesforce admins to manage and leverage the platform. I could see a similar role for AI platforms.”

AI-powered tools are most powerful in combination with humans as they augment their capabilities, enabling them to work better and faster. 

Ivan Campos, Founder of Sopmac LLC, says while it's difficult to predict the outlook of prompt engineering over the next five years, the role is likely to be in demand as usage of LLMs becomes more widespread. According to Campos, the role of the prompt engineer will become increasingly important as more models are deployed in other functions. 

The future notwithstanding, having an AI prompt engineer on your team offers several advantages. Let's look at the business case for hiring one.

Why should a small business hire an AI prompt engineer? 

The AI prompt engineering role is having a moment right now. But what's in it for your small business? 

We interviewed business executives across various industries to get their views on what they see as the top benefits of hiring a prompt engineer. Here's a sample of the responses:

• They help save on costs: "One prompt engineer can provide similar insights as dozens of data analysts at less cost," says Tasia Duske, CEO at Museum Hack. "However, some business owners may find it challenging to adjust their processes and operations based on the prompt engineer's advice. So it's important to have an experienced team with good communication skills to ensure successful implementation of recommended strategies. 

• They deliver higher quality output: A prompt engineer understands how AI systems and models work to craft efficiently designed prompts that deliver the desired outcomes. "Designing prompts that work in zero-shot (or few-shots) requires iteration and someone who can understand the nuances of the underlying model," says Deepti Chopra, Co-founder, Adaface. "The challenge is that, for a few use-cases, it might not be possible to design a zero-shot prompt and you might have to rely on corpus-based priming."

• They're a necessary bridge to AI: While AI tools are getting smarter, they're not advanced enough without human input. Tory Gray, CEO and founder at The Gray Dot Company, believes prompt engineers help small businesses introduce AI models, bridge the communication gap, and significantly improve their results. "One day the prompt engineer may be obsolete," says Gray. "But for now, they can better manipulate AI systems to build the content you need and deliver business payoffs."

• They help eliminate redundancies: Part of an AI prompt engineer's role is to automate and streamline certain business processes in your workflow. This frees up your team to do more strategic work, resulting in higher efficiency and productivity. 

• They improve the customer experience: Hiring a prompt engineer to develop your AI systems and other conversational interfaces helps you provide better customer support and experiences. They'll feed your virtual assistant or chatbots with the right prompts and responses for faster, more personalized service and increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

• They enhance your decision-making: Better quality output from AI models means you have higher quality data to make more informed decisions about your business. A prompt engineer can develop predictive models that analyze volumes of data and detect trends or patterns that may not be obvious to a human data analyst.

• They increase your competitive advantage: With the right AI tools and a prompt engineer, your business is more likely to gain an edge over the competition. That's because the prompt engineer can develop innovative AI models and solutions that make your business stand out from the crowd.

While the AI prompt engineering role is still in its early days of scaling, business uses abound. 

With these benefits in mind, let's review some of the common business functions where a prompt engineer could create the most impact.

How can a small business use an AI prompt engineer to grow?

There are scores of business functions where the skill and talent of a prompt engineer could have the most immediate impact.

Keep in mind that while AI models and systems seem like a ready-to-go technology, you still need to exercise caution. There are plenty of practical and ethical issues and risks at this early stage of their development.

That said, a prompt engineer can help build your AI capacity and business advantage across different functions, including:

• Operations: AI prompt engineers can train your AI systems to identify errors or anomalies in production/design, improve customer support chatbots, or automate the service to increase your team's productivity. They can also help human resource teams by creating recruitment prompts for candidate assessments or employee onboarding and other HR tasks.

• Marketing and sales: Prompt engineers can design and create prompts that help your marketers or sales reps create better content marketing material or product user guides. By crafting the right prompts, the AI systems can learn how to extract customer responses to improve your feedback analysis processes and deliver better experiences.

• Risk and Legal: A prompt engineer can help your risk and legal team respond to complex questions by teaching AI systems to pull from your legal documentation and drafting or reviewing reports for better analysis and faster decision making.

• IT or Engineering: A prompt engineer can help web or app developers accelerate and scale projects. They can also train AI models to learn to write the right code, document and review the code, generate synthetic data, auto-complete tables, and more.

• Research and Development: Your R&D function benefits from a prompt engineer's skills, particularly where you need data or information on new research or discoveries and a better understanding of complex concepts.

Where can a small business find an AI prompt engineer?

The AI prompt engineer role is fairly new, so it can be a bit hard to find and hire for. To find the right one, figure out the requirements and qualifications you seek from prospective candidates. 

You could search for prompt engineers in various professional AI-specific forums, on social media platforms, or via search engines. But the process is time-consuming, tedious, and frustrating.

That's where Fiverr comes in. The digital services marketplace is host to talented AI prompt engineering experts who can help you complete your AI projects.

So whether you need a ChatGPT app developer or Midjourney artist, you can find the right prompt engineer on Fiverr to get your project up and running. 

Here's how:

1. Go to Fiverr, sign up as a Buyer, and log in to your account. 

2. Select the AI Services tab. For quicker search results, enter the query "AI prompt engineer" or "Prompt engineer" in the search field at the top of the page.

3. Fiverr will generate and display suggestions of prospective prompt engineers from across its database for you to choose from.

4. Use the filter menu to narrow down your results based on:

• Category: Find prompt engineers based on parameters like AI apps, AI artistry, content, data engineering, chatbot development, and more

• Service options: Search for prompt engineers based on the AI engine, delivery type, data type, or programming language

• Seller details: Select the seller level, preferred language, and preferred location.

• Budget: Enter a budget range for your project

• Delivery time: Determine your project timeline expectations

Note: You can also toggle the Pro services or Local sellers switches to find pro-level prompt engineers within your vicinity. Or, use the Online sellers switch to chat with a prompt engineer who's available online.

5. Once you identify a few candidates to screen, review each of their profiles to find who best fits your project. Look at their services, portfolio, rates, and reviews from previous clients. 

6. Next, reach out to the candidate(s) you feel are best suited for your business. Select the Contact Seller button on the right side of the seller profile or send a quick message via the Message seller bubble on the bottom left side. 

7. Select the package you'd like from the prompt engineer or ask them to make you an offer, then select Continue.

8. Confirm your order, enter your payment details on the billing page, and submit your requirements.

Once you connect with your ideal candidate, you can choose how to communicate, whether via Fiverr chat or other channels that work for you both. 

Upon completion, the seller will deliver your project and you'll receive a notification of the submitted work. You can approve the work, if it meets your requirements, or send it back to the prompt engineer to refine it further before re-submitting.

It's that simple!

Pro Tip: Need to streamline your prompt engineers, projects, and finances into one workspace? Join Fiverr Pro. Here, you can connect with and hire multiple prompt engineering experts, manage them in one dashboard, manage your activity, use a shared payment method, and execute every project.

What are some tips for finding and using an AI prompt engineer? 

Now that you know how to find and hire a prompt engineer, here are tips to find the right one for your business:

• Look for prompt engineers equipped with expertise in NLP and ML and are familiar with developing automated systems that handle sensitive tasks securely.

• Check for certifications and qualifications specific to the role. This can include understanding and experience with different programming languages or LLMs, ability to design and implement solutions that meet your project needs, communication skills, and teamwork.

• Evaluate the candidate's problem-solving and critical thinking skills, and adaptability to new technologies. That way, you can find someone who's willing to learn new things yet skilled enough to handle challenges that may arise.

• When interviewing the prospective candidates, present scenarios that challenge their ability to identify and analyze complex issues, and come up with creative solutions through written prompts.

Find the best-fit AI prompt engineer for your business

AI speeds up processes in your business. But it's faster when you can avoid the learning curve by hiring an AI prompt engineer.

Fiverr makes it easy to find, hire, and manage prompt engineers who know how to talk to AI models and deliver positive business payoffs.

Sign up for Fiverr to begin your search for an AI prompt engineer.