# Senior Software Engineer, Backend - AI Platform

**Company:** [Rippling](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/rippling)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA, New York, NY, Seattle, WA
**Role:** ML Engineering
**Salary:** $168k – $280k/yr
**Experience:** 5+ years
**Skills:** Distributed Systems, Platform Engineering, AI Agents, System Design, Software Engineering
**Posted:** 2026-06-03

> As a Senior Software Engineer on the AI Platform team, you will own end-to-end technical design and implementation for high-impact AI platform initiatives. You will build scalable agent infrastructure, design observable and self-correcting systems, and mentor junior engineers.

## Job Description

## What you will do
* Own end-to-end technical design and implementation for high-impact AI platform initiatives from design through production
* Collaborate closely with engineers across product, infra, and platform organizations
* Build scalable agent infrastructure that automates repetitive, high-frequency workflows across Rippling's product surface
* Design systems that are observable, self-correcting, and capable of improving over time with minimal human intervention
* Develop harness and platform capabilities that encode business logic and institutional knowledge into reliable, automated workflows
* Partner closely with Product to ensure AI-powered surfaces are trustworthy, controllable, and intuitive for end users and admins
* Mentor junior engineers, contribute to best practices for AI platform development, and raise the technical bar on your team
* Track the frontier, translate model capability improvements into architectural decisions and move quickly when new approaches unlock better outcomes

## What you will need
* 5+ years of software engineering experience with a proven track record of owning and delivering complex technical projects
* Strong expertise in platform and distributed systems engineering — you've built reliable, observable, large-scale systems
* Strong hands-on coding skills; you are an active, high-output contributor in the codebase
* Experience driving technical initiatives end-to-end, including collaborating across teams to deliver outcomes
* Strong product instincts — you translate ambiguous problems into durable platform capabilities and partner effectively with product teams
* Clear, precise communication to diverse audiences, both written and verbal
* Comfort with ambiguity and high velocity; the roadmap evolves as the technology evolves
* Recent hands-on experience building AI agents is a plus

## Additional Information
Rippling highly values having employees working in-office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. For office-based employees (employees who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office), Rippling considers working in the office, at least three days a week under current policy, to be an essential function of the employee's role.

This role will receive a competitive salary + benefits + equity.

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