Staff Engineer, Agentic AI

Clera
San Francisco, CA
On-site

Who this role is best for

Aimed at experienced AI engineers with domain knowledge in mechanical engineering software who can lead technical teams and design evaluation systems.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with 7+ years of experience in LLM-based agent development and a background in mechanical engineering software
    — “Experience with desktop engineering software, CAD/CAE, PLM, or an adjacent domain”
  • Technical leaders who have managed small teams and contributed to production code
    — “Technical leadership experience on a small engineering team, with a track record of reviewing code and continuing to contribute production software”
  • Individuals skilled in building evaluation infrastructure for AI agents and benchmarking task completion
    — “Experience building rigorous agent evaluation and benchmarking systems that measure task completion, cost, and failure modes”

Things to consider

  • On-site presence in San Francisco is required despite the lack of explicit remote flexibility
    — “On-site in San Francisco, California, United States”
  • Visa sponsorship is not available, which may limit eligibility for non-US candidates
    — “Visa sponsorship is not available”

How to stand out

  • Highlight your experience in building evaluation systems for AI agents in your resume and interview responses
    — “Design and build reproducible evaluation infrastructure based on validated user stories”
  • Emphasize your ability to translate user workflows into technical benchmarks and metrics
    — “Document their workflows, and translate validated stories into benchmarks”
  • Showcase your leadership in small teams and your hands-on coding contributions
    — “Lead a small AI engineering team while writing production code, reviewing designs, and unblocking teammates”
  • Demonstrate your expertise in LLM application architecture and tool calling
    — “Strong Python skills and deep experience with LLM application architecture, including model selection, retrieval, context management, orchestration, and tool calling”
  • Include projects involving desktop engineering software or proprietary data in your portfolio
    — “Experience shipping AI or LLM tools using proprietary engineering data or desktop engineering software”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • improved agent task success metrics
  • reduced workflow costs
  • enhanced agent architecture
Typical background
7+ years of software engineering experience

Skills & requirements

Required

Llm-based AgentsPythonAgent ArchitectureEvaluation InfrastructureTechnical LeadershipAI Engineering

Preferred

Mechanical Engineering SoftwareCad/caePLM

Stack & domain

Software EngineeringLlm-based AgentsPythonLLM Application ArchitectureAgent EvaluationBenchmarkingTeam LeadershipAI ToolsDesktop Engineering SoftwareFunction CallingTool ApisTracingObservabilityEvaluation ToolsDesktop AutomationMechanical Engineering SoftwareCad/caePLMTechnical LeadershipTeamworkProblem-solvingCommunicationAIEngineering

About the role

Original posting from Clera via Ashby

ABOUT THE ROLE

Lead the development of agent intelligence that helps mechanical engineers complete multi-step workflows in desktop engineering software. You will combine hands-on engineering, technical leadership, and collaboration with user research and domain experts to improve real-world task completion and product value.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

  • Own agent task success metrics, establish baselines, and systematically improve completion rates across engineering workflows.
  • Design and build reproducible evaluation infrastructure based on validated user stories, including tests for cost efficiency and failure modes.
  • Set per-task token budgets and track the cost of completed workflows.
  • Interview engineers with research and domain teammates, document their workflows, and translate validated stories into benchmarks.
  • Prioritize workflow coverage based on customer value and technical feasibility.
  • Set the agent architecture for tool calling, state management, error recovery, model routing, and context management.
  • Lead a small AI engineering team while writing production code, reviewing designs, and unblocking teammates.
  • Work with product, integrations, and customers during proof-of-concept projects to align agent behavior with real usage.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

  • At least 7 years of software engineering experience, including 2 or more years building LLM-based agents that take real-world actions.
  • Strong Python skills and deep experience with LLM application architecture, including model selection, retrieval, context management, orchestration, and tool calling.
  • Experience building rigorous agent evaluation and benchmarking systems that measure task completion, cost, and failure modes.
  • Technical leadership experience on a small engineering team, with a track record of reviewing code and continuing to contribute production software.
  • Experience shipping AI or LLM tools using proprietary engineering data or desktop engineering software.
  • Familiarity with function calling, tool APIs, tracing or observability, and evaluation tools.
  • Experience with desktop automation or application APIs, such as COM, and a background in mechanical engineering software, CAD/CAE, PLM, or an adjacent domain.
  • Understanding of deployment constraints on managed enterprise workstations.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Base salary: $160,000 to $250,000 USD annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.

LOCATION

On-site in San Francisco, California, United States.

Source: Clera careers (Ashby)

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