Staff Software Engineer, AI Foundations (Agent Optimization)

About Us

Temporal is an open source programming model that can simplify code, make applications more reliable, and help developers focus on the important things like delivering features faster. We are on a mission to be the reliable foundation of every developer’s toolbox, and are building the team that will make that happen. Our values guide us—they are present in how we show up, make decisions, and work together to make an impact. We’re curious, driven, collaborative, genuine and humble. Temporal is growing and we are looking for those who share our values, challenge 'standard' thinking, and want to influence our future. If you have a passion for improving the developer experience, building world-class open-source software and communities, and want to be a part of our amazing team, we'd love to hear from you!

Summary

We have an opening to hire a Staff Software Engineer - Agent Optimization. Temporal provides a reliable foundation powering AI leaders such as OpenAI, NVIDIA, Cursor, Lovable, Replit, and others. Its adoption is expanding to users spanning a broad range of AI applications ranging from agents to data pipelines and everything in between. The mission of the AI Foundations team is to accelerate Temporal adoption across the entire ecosystem. Our approach combines a deep understanding of use cases with rigorous application of computer systems and software design principles. In this role, you will lead our agent agent optimization efforts. You will design tools and mechanisms to help Temporal users build agents that are optimized for token spend and response time while maintaining result quality.

What You Will Do

• Work as a software engineer
• Maintain and expand a deep understanding of agentic coding
• Design and build agentic coding systems that we can trust to deliver high-quality outputs
• Develop a deep understanding of AI application development patterns and techniques, including emerging approaches and architectures
• Take end-to-end ownership of new features, working with other teams to deliver exceptional reliability and a great developer experience
• Work with multiple programming languages: Python and TypeScript, Java, Go
• Serve as a domain expert on AI design patterns, collaborating with field staff to provide best-practices and canonical examples
• Work directly with our developer community to debug issues that need expert attention and get feedback on Temporal features and APIs
• Write public technical documentation describing Temporal concepts and APIs
• Go the extra mile to support a customer in need, on the rare occasion that our teams’ engineering expertise is needed
• Serve as a domain expert on AI design patterns, collaborating with field staff to provide best-practices and canonical examples
• Work directly with our developer community to debug issues that need expert attention and get feedback on Temporal features and APIs
• Write public technical documentation describing Temporal concepts and APIs
• Go the extra mile to support a customer in need, on the rare occasion that our teams’ engineering expertise is needed

What You Won’t Do

• Work as a Data Scientist, Data Analyst, Devops SWE, or SRE
• Work in an office (unless you want to, but you’d be by yourself)
• Commit code that’s poorly-tested or works “most of the time”
• Sit in meetings all day
• Work behind closed doors
• Our work is open source—that means PRs and comments are open to the public, too

What You’ll Bring

• 8+ years of professional work experience
• Proven experience in optimizing AI systems using both machine learning and systems techniques
• Experience and passion for harnessing generative AI, particularly for agents and coding
• A deep appreciation for how to use AI to improve quality, not only to increase quantity
• A sense of taste in code and software development practice
• Your approach should be opinionated and thoughtful, but not dogmatic
• Fluency in multiple programming languages, and an affinity for learning new ones
• Deep experience with concurrent programming—you should know how to use mutexes, atomics, and other concurrency primitives safely
• Experience designing APIs and writing documentation for publicly-available libraries or modules
• Strong technical communication skills—written and verbal—in English
• BS or MS in Computer Science (or a closely-related degree), or equivalent work experience writing production-grade software

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with Temporal’s programming model (e.g. you’ve written an app on Temporal)
• A track record of open source software contributions, including contributions to 3rd party libraries
• Experience contributing to the architecture and design of large-scale distributed systems
• Deep background in machine learning, model training, data science, or machine learning systems
• Graduate degree in Computer Science

Compensation

The estimated pay range for this role is $224,000 - $302,400. Additionally, this role is eligible to participate in Temporal's equity plan. Compensation ranges reflect salary and commission compensation (when applicable) across several geographic markets. Employee benefits and perks below are for full-time employees, part-time or temporary positions are excluded.

Employee Benefits

• Unlimited PTO, 12 Holidays + 2 Floating Holidays
• 100% Premiums Coverage for Medical, Dental, and Vision
• AD&D, LT & ST Disability, and Life Insurance (Standard & Supplemental Available)
• Empower 401K Plan
• Additional Perks for Learning & Development, Lifestyle Spending, In-Home Office Setup, Professional Memberships, WFH Meals, Internet Stipend and more!

International Benefits

• Paid Time Off (PTO) and Benefits outside the United States vary by country, and are issued in partnership with Remote.com.
• Additional Perks for Learning & Development, Lifestyle Spending, In-Home Office Setup (in addition to company-issued hardware - laptop, monitor, keyboard, mouse, trackpad, and extension power cable at no cost to you)
• Reimbursement for Internet
• Calm App Subscription for Mental Health & Wellness

Travel

Temporal is a globally distributed, collaborative team that values opportunities for in-person connection. Occasional travel may be required for company events, team offsites, and other meaningful moments that bring us together.

Additional Perks

• $3,600 / Year Work from Home Meals
• $1,800 / Year Professional Enrichment (Career Development & Professional Memberships)
• $1,200 / Year Lifestyle Spending Account
• $1,000 / Year In-Home Office Setup (In addition to Temporal issued equipment - laptop, monitor, keyboard, mouse, trackpad, and extension power cable at no cost to you)
• $74 / Month Reimbursement for Internet
• Calm App Subscription for Mental Health & Wellness