Founding Engineer, Agents
Clera · San Francisco · onsite
ABOUT THE ROLE
Join an early-stage AI company as a Founding Engineer building autonomous agents for complex computer-based work. You will own core systems that help agents execute reliably over extended periods, learn from accumulated knowledge, and demonstrate performance against human-level benchmarks.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Build agents that pursue goals over weeks with minimal or no human intervention.
- Design memory systems that help agents retain and use knowledge to improve over time.
- Develop evaluation frameworks to determine whether agents outperform people on specific tasks.
- Improve agent reliability and reduce the need for human review of individual runs.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
- Hands-on experience building production agents that people rely on, with a clear understanding of their failure modes.
- Experience with agent memory, long-running execution, multi-step reasoning, and maintaining goal coherence over time.
- A track record of building evaluation systems that inform real decisions, including comparisons against human-level baselines.
- At least 1 to 2 years at a fast-growing or AI-focused startup, and evidence of substantive engineering work.
- Published research that others build on, or software shipped at meaningful scale.
- Strong engineering fundamentals and evidence of exceptional problem-solving, such as competitive programming, founding experience, or an equivalent credential.
- Agent architecture experience is a plus. A collaborative, kind approach to working through challenging problems is valued.
COMPENSATION & BENEFITS
$200,000 to $300,000 annual base salary, with up to $350,000 for exceptional candidates. Meaningful founding equity is available. Visa sponsorship is available.
LOCATION
On-site, five days a week in San Francisco, California, United States.