Software Engineer
Builds core infrastructure for AI software agents in Devin and Windsurf, focusing on long-horizon task execution, tool use, planning, and reliability at scale. Requires strong Python, systems engineering depth, and AI curiosity; onsite in San Francisco.
About the job
What You'll Accomplish
- Build core agent infrastructure: Design and ship the systems that power Devin's long-horizon task execution: tool use, context management, multi-step planning, subagent orchestration, and sandboxed code execution environments.
- Improve Windsurf as an AI-native IDE: Contribute to editor intelligence, agent-in-the-loop workflows, real-time code understanding, and the developer experience that makes Windsurf different from every other IDE.
- Close the loop between models and products: Work directly with researchers to translate new model capabilities into shipped features; your feedback shapes what gets prioritized in training.
- Own reliability and performance at scale: Build systems that handle millions of agentic tasks with low latency, high reliability, and the kind of correctness that developers depend on in production.
- Move the category forward: Cognition is defining what AI software engineering looks like. You will have real input into what gets built next and why.
Exceptional Candidates Have Demonstrated
- Systems engineering depth: Experience building reliable, performant distributed systems; you have strong opinions about correctness, failure modes, and production behavior.
- Product instinct: You care about how the software you build feels to use and you have shipped things that real people depend on.
- Comfort with ambiguity: You can make progress on hard problems with incomplete specs, learn fast from results, and course-correct without needing a lot of direction.
- Velocity without shortcuts: A track record of shipping quickly while maintaining the kind of code quality that a high-density team expects.
- Curiosity about agents and AI: You have dug into how LLMs work, how agents fail, and what it takes to make AI-powered systems behave reliably in the real world.
- Strong Python proficiency: Python is the primary language across Cognition's codebase; you write clean, well-structured Python and are comfortable owning large Python codebases in production.
- Relevant industry experience: Prior experience at a frontier AI lab, applied AI company, or developer tools company; you know what good looks like in this category.
- Degree from a top-tier university: BS, MS, or equivalent in Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related technical discipline from a highly selective program.
Compensation & Benefits
- Base Salary: $260,000 - $300,000 + Significant early-stage equity
- Medical, Dental, Vision: Fully paid for you and your dependents
- 401(k): Company match included
- Perks: Private chef, cozy slippers, endless snacks, and more
Skills
Python, Distributed Systems, LLMs, AI Agents, Tool Use, Context Management, Multi-Step Planning, Subagent Orchestration, Sandboxed Code Execution, Real-Time Code Understanding
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