Senior Software Engineer

The Upstarts Club; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 110,000 - 145,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Predominantly remote

Occasional London meetings

Competitive salary £110k–£145k

Job summary

The Upstarts Club is seeking experienced agent-first engineers to shape how software is built. You’ll define specifications, direct agents and own the engineering process, prioritizing correct outcomes over handwritten code.

You’ll work with complex production systems, set verification standards, and influence how far agent orchestration can go. This role demands exceptional judgment and clear communication, with some London-based meetings.

Qualifications

• Genuine agent-first engineering experience.
• Strong Python and TypeScript capability.
• Serious production engineering experience.
• Code review and automated verification experience.
• Exceptional technical judgement and English communication.

Responsibilities

• Define specifications and direct AI agents to build production software.
• Oversee agent orchestration across complex production systems.
• Establish verification standards and ensure correct, reliable code from agents.
• Collaborate with leadership to scale agent-first practices.

Skills

Agent-first engineering

Python

TypeScript

Production engineering

Code review & verification

Technical judgement & communication

Job description

£110,000–£145,000 Basic | Predominantly Remote | London

We're not looking for engineers to write more code. We're looking for engineers who can change how software gets built.

You write the specifications. You direct the agents. You own the engineering.

You'd rather get the specification, context and instructions absolutely right than spend the afternoon writing code an agent could have delivered in minutes.

You know when to let the agents run, when to challenge their output and when to step in yourself. And you understand that getting an agent to produce code is the easy bit. Getting it to produce the right code, inside a complicated production system, without breaking something else?

That's where the real engineering starts.

Imagine working somewhere that thinks like you do.

Imagine joining a software business where agent-first engineering isn't something you have to sell to the leadership. It's the direction they've already chosen.

Our client is an established Series B SaaS business with a sophisticated product, demanding customers and a serious commitment to agent-first software engineering. They're investing in an engineering approach built around small teams of exceptional engineers, where coding agents handle most of the implementation and humans concentrate on the thinking, judgement and decisions that matter.

They're now looking to strengthen their engineering capability with experienced agent-first specialists who can help take that ambition further. You'll work with complex production systems, contribute to the engineering practices and verification standards behind this approach, and have a meaningful say in how far agent orchestration can go.

This isn't about inheriting somebody else's finished playbook.

It's about helping write it.

What we're looking for.

Let's be clear. This isn't a role for engineers who are interested in becoming agent-first. We're looking for people who are already there.

The following are essential:

• Genuine agent-first engineering experience. You're already using AI coding agents as your primary method of building production software, not simply using AI to assist conventional development.
• Strong Python and TypeScript capability. Commercial experience with both is essential, although you don't need equal depth in each.
• Serious production engineering experience. You've worked extensively with complex, established codebases and personally owned significant technical implementation decisions.
• Code review and automated verification. You can critically assess agent-generated implementations for correctness, reliability and maintainability, and have practical experience with automated verification in production environments.
• Exceptional technical judgement and communication. You can break difficult problems into executable tasks, understand unfamiliar code quickly, solve problems agents cannot, and communicate technical instructions with exceptional clarity in written and spoken English.

Experience orchestrating multiple coding agents concurrently would be particularly interesting, but isn't essential. We're far more interested in how effectively you use these technologies than which platform you favour.

The package

£110,000–£145,000 basic salary, predominantly remote working, with occasional meetings in London. UK-based candidates are preferred, although exceptional engineers elsewhere in Europe may also be considered, provided they can attend occasional meetings in London.

One last thing. If you're still experimenting with AI-assisted coding, this probably isn't the opportunity for you just yet.

But if agent-first engineering is already how you work, and you're ready to take that expertise beyond your own projects...

You've already changed the way you engineer software. Now here's your chance to help change the way an entire business does it.