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Applied AI Engineer | Python / AI Agents | Must Have Startup Exp

Optimal • Full-time • San Francisco, CA, US • $175k - $280k / year • 1m ago

Applied AI Engineer | Python / AI Agents | Must have startup experience

Location: San Francisco, CA (Onsite preferred; remote for exceptional candidates)

Package: $175,000 - $280,000 + meaningful equity

Eligibility: Open to candidates with existing work authorization - US Residents Only

🚨 Please only apply if you have commercial experience with all of the following 🚨:

Python backend engineering
Building AI agents or LLM‑powered tools
Production‑grade software development
Startup/Scale up experience
Working autonomously across prototype → production
Customer‑facing technical work (R&D, field, or similar)

🚀 Join a hyper‑growth AI organisation fresh off a major seed round, building next‑generation agent technology that’s transforming how technical teams work. You’ll be in a high‑ownership engineering environment where prototypes become production systems fast, and where your work directly shapes how customers use AI to compress complex workflows from months into hours.

This team drives some of the company’s most advanced agent capabilities, and you’ll be one of the key builders taking these systems from concept to real‑world impact.

Required Background

3+ years of professional software engineering experience
Proven delivery of systems used in production environments
Experience in life sciences, pharma, scientific computing, or technical R&D workflows
Strong grounding in computer science, engineering, mathematics, physics, or a related field
Able to operate with a technical founder or founding‑engineer mindset

ℹ️ Very Important Notes

This role requires hands‑on engineering depth - not suitable for non‑coders or frontend‑heavy profiles
Must be comfortable owning multiple responsibilities in a fast‑moving, startup‑style environment
Some customer interaction is required to understand workflows and validate solutions
High autonomy expected - you will design, build, ship, and iterate quickly

Must-Haves

Strong Python backend development
Experience building AI agent architectures or LLM‑powered applications
Ability to work independently and handle ambiguity
Startup mindset with evidence of high personal achievement
Ability to translate customer needs into technical direction
Strong problem‑solving and technical ownership

Bonus Experience

Experience in pharmaceutical R&D or scientific research workflows
Past technical founder or early founding engineer
Open‑source contributions in AI or scientific tooling
CRUD application development
Work in fast‑growing startups or top‑tier tech environments

Hands-On Experience With

Python (backend systems)
AI/LLM‑powered tools and agent systems
Infrastructure and tooling for reusable agent capabilities
Integrating tools, data sources, or scientific workflows
Prototype‑to‑production development across multiple domains

What You’ll Be Doing

Automation Engineering

Architect, implement, and maintain production AI agents
Build and refine agent capabilities from early prototypes to fully deployed systems
Develop reusable infrastructure and skills that support all platform agents

Quality Ownership

Validate agent behaviour with real scientific workflows and user feedback
Improve reliability, capability, and performance of agent systems
Translate field insights into technical priorities and product direction

Collaboration

Partner with internal science and engineering teams on new agent architectures
Work directly with R&D and customer teams to test and iterate
Feed real‑world findings back into platform evolution and roadmap decisions

What They’re Looking For

A proactive, technically sharp engineer with a scrappy, founder‑like mindset
Someone comfortable working across multiple functions in a fast‑moving environment
A builder who thrives on autonomy, ownership, and rapid iteration
An engineer who enjoys combining customer insight with deep technical execution

If you meet the above requirements and want to build production AI agents that directly accelerate scientific discovery, get in touch for a fast response.