Software Engineer
clera · San Francisco · $130,000 to $220,000
Open. First seen 13 September 2026.
Description
About the Role
This is a full-stack software engineering role at a seed-stage AI platform company serving the hospitality industry, where AI agents handle guest communication and operations workflows at scale. You'll own meaningful pieces of the AI system end-to-end, from intent classification and knowledge retrieval through tool orchestration and response generation. The engineering team is flat, giving you real autonomy over design decisions and the systems you build.
What You'll Do
Design and build response generation pipelines, including routers, orchestrators, and synthesizers that classify intent, assemble context, select tools, and decide when to send or escalate. Develop knowledge retrieval systems that ground agent responses in accurate, current data despite messy real-world inputs. Build tool orchestration layers that execute multi-step workflows reliably, including graceful handling of third-party API failures mid-conversation.
Create evaluation frameworks that measure quality against real conversations and catch regressions before they reach customers. Implement observability and tracing that makes agent reasoning legible and trustworthy to non-technical support teams. Design controls and interfaces that let support leads adjust agent behavior without writing code.
Extend the system to voice conversations with real-time transcription and the same tool-use capabilities as text. Optimize for speed and cost through model routing, caching, and prompt refinement. Own infrastructure, data pipelines, integrations, and API work that underpin the platform.
What We're Looking For
3 or more years of experience building and shipping production systems that real users depend on. Experience designing and debugging AI/ML systems in production, including retrieval pipelines, prompt engineering, or model orchestration. Proficiency across multiple layers of the stack: backend, frontend, infrastructure, or data pipelines.
Experience building and evaluating retrieval systems such as knowledge bases, ranking, context validation, or semantic search. Experience designing multi-step workflows, tool orchestration, or function-calling systems. Experience building observability, tracing, or debugging tools for complex pipelines.
Proficiency in at least one backend language such as Python, Go, Rust, or Java. Experience integrating with third-party APIs and handling failure modes in production. Bonus: experience with real-time or low-latency systems, voice and transcription, model routing, or building configuration interfaces for non-technical users.
Candidates must be authorized to work in the US (no visa sponsorship). Compensation & Benefits Base salary: $130,000 to $220,000 annually Equity: 0.20% to 1.20% Comprehensive health insurance and 401(k) match Location On-site in San Francisco, CA. This is not a remote role.
ABOUT THE ROLE
This is a full-stack software engineering role at a seed-stage AI platform company serving the hospitality industry, where AI agents handle guest communication and operations workflows at scale. You'll own meaningful pieces of the AI system end-to-end, from intent classification and knowledge retrieval through tool orchestration and response generation. The engineering team is flat, giving you real autonomy over design decisions and the systems you build.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Design and build response generation pipelines, including routers, orchestrators, and synthesizers that classify intent, assemble context, select tools, and decide when to send or escalate.
- Develop knowledge retrieval systems that ground agent responses in accurate, current data despite messy real-world inputs.
- Build tool orchestration layers that execute multi-step workflows reliably, including graceful handling of third-party API failures mid-conversation.
- Create evaluation frameworks that measure quality against real conversations and catch regressions before they reach customers.
- Implement observability and tracing that makes agent reasoning legible and trustworthy to non-technical support teams.
- Design controls and interfaces that let support leads adjust agent behavior without writing code.
- Extend the system to voice conversations with real-time transcription and the same tool-use capabilities as text.
- Optimize for speed and cost through model routing, caching, and prompt refinement.
- Own infrastructure, data pipelines, integrations, and API work that underpin the platform.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
- 3 or more years of experience building and shipping production systems that real users depend on.
- Experience designing and debugging AI/ML systems in production, including retrieval pipelines, prompt engineering, or model orchestration.
- Proficiency across multiple layers of the stack: backend, frontend, infrastructure, or data pipelines.
- Experience building and evaluating retrieval systems such as knowledge bases, ranking, context validation, or semantic search.
- Experience designing multi-step workflows, tool orchestration, or function-calling systems.
- Experience building observability, tracing, or debugging tools for complex pipelines.
- Proficiency in at least one backend language such as Python, Go, Rust, or Java.
- Experience integrating with third-party APIs and handling failure modes in production.
- Bonus: experience with real-time or low-latency systems, voice and transcription, model routing, or building configuration interfaces for non-technical users.
- Candidates must be authorized to work in the US (no visa sponsorship). COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
- Base salary: $130,000 to $220,000 annually
- Equity: 0.20% to 1.20% - Comprehensive health insurance and 401(k) match LOCATION On-site in San Francisco, CA. This is not a remote role.
Posting history
Reposted once since 10 September 2026: a posting for this role in San Francisco was taken down and the role was posted again.
- 25 September 2026 – open
- 17 September 2026 – open
- 13 September 2026 – open (this posting)
- 10 September 2026 – closed 19 September 2026
Salary context
67 other open postings titled Software Engineer state a salary: median USD 131,000 to USD 185,000 a year.
See Software Engineer salaries in San Francisco →
Similar jobs
- Software Engineer at Coursedog
- Software Engineer at snapmagic
- Software Engineer at Printed.com
- Software Engineer at Propeller
- Software Engineer at Prenosis
- Software Engineer at Callsign
Is this your posting and you want it taken down? Email info@careerholo.com.