Staff Software Engineer, Applied AI
Senior Software Engineer at early-stage startup Whirl AI, building AI agent tooling, multi-agent orchestration systems, and data ingestion pipelines for enterprise IT. Backend-leaning generalist role using Python, PostgreSQL, React/TypeScript, OpenAI/Anthropic APIs, and AWS, working hybrid from San Francisco's FiDi.
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- San Francisco
- Work setup
- Hybrid
- Seniority
- Staff
- Employment
- Full time
- Experience
- 7+ years
- Category
- Ai engineering
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- 5–7 years of professional software engineering experience
- Hands-on production experience building with LLMs or AI APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.)
- Experience with agent frameworks, tool-calling systems, or AI orchestration layers
- Experience designing and operating data ingestion or ETL pipelines
- Strong backend fundamentals with full stack capability (React/TypeScript, Python, PostgreSQL)
Nice to have
- Startup experience strongly preferred; large-company candidates welcome with real IC ownership and a scrappy, high-autonomy style
Full description
Company Description
Whirl AI helps Enterprise IT organizations deliver business change faster. Our platform gives enterprise teams AI agents grounded in a deep, continuously updated understanding of how their systems actually work - compressing discovery and documentation from weeks to hours without sacrificing quality or control. We are early-stage, moving fast, and building the team that will define how Enterprise IT operates in the AI era.
Role Description
We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer to own the engineering behind our AI agents and the data infrastructure that powers them. You are a backend-leaning generalist who moves fast, makes pragmatic decisions, and takes pride in shipping things that work. You will be an early team member with real influence over how we build and who we become.
We value in-person collaboration along with flexibility – our team works hybrid from the FiDi in San Francisco, with in-office days Tuesday - Thursday.
What you will do
- Build and maintain agent tooling: the tools, actions, and APIs that our AI agents use to operate
- Develop agent orchestration systems that coordinate multi-step, multi-agent workflows reliably
- Own data ingestion pipelines that bring customer data into our platform cleanly and at scale
- Integrate AI APIs and third-party services, selecting the right building blocks rather than rebuilding from scratch
- Take full ownership of projects from design through deployment and monitoring
Required Experience
- 7+ years of professional software engineering experience, including time as a tech lead or staff-level engineer
- Hands-on production experience building with LLMs or AI APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.)
- Experience with agent frameworks, tool-calling systems, or AI orchestration layers
- Experience designing and operating data ingestion or ETL pipelines
- Strong backend fundamentals with full stack capability (React/TypeScript, Python, PostgreSQL)
- Startup experience strongly preferred; large-company candidates welcome if you've operated with real IC ownership and a scrappy, high-autonomy style
Our Stack
- Frontend: React, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
- Backend: Python, PostgreSQL, DuckDB
- AI: OpenAI/Anthropic APIs
- Infrastructure: AWS (ECS)
- Tools: GitLab, Linear, Figma, HoneyComb
Why Join us
- Own meaningful technical decisions at the ground floor of an AI company targeting a massive market