Agent Systems Engineer

Adaption; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible work

Travel stipend

Lunch stipend

Well-Being benefits

Job summary

Adaption is building agent systems that translate customer goals into reliable, multi-step execution across real tools and services. You'll own how agents plan, use tools, recover from errors, and improve over time.

We seek engineers with 5+ years in production ML or backend systems and a strong grasp of agent design, evaluation, and observability. Collaboration across teams and bold experimentation are encouraged as we ship real capabilities.

Qualifications

• 5+ years building production ML or backend systems, including taking LLM or agent applications from prototype to production.
• Strong understanding of agent design: planning, reasoning, tool use, orchestration, and memory.
• Experience building rigorous evaluation systems with execution tracing and observability for agents.
• Familiarity with OpenAI Responses API, MCP, and server- vs client-side execution.
• Adaptive team player; comfortable taking bold ideas and working across constraints.

Responsibilities

• Design agent architectures for planning, reasoning, tool use, memory, and integration with external systems and data.
• Improve reliability on long-running, multi-step tasks and enable failure recovery.
• Build loops that let agents improve with real use, so performance compounds over time.
• Develop evaluations that measure agent performance and resist gaming.
• Make practical tradeoffs between quality, latency, cost, and complexity.

Skills

Agent design

Planning

Tool orchestration

Observability

Production ML

Back-end systems

Tools

OpenAI API

MCP

Server-side execution

Job description

The Role

You'll build the agent systems at the core of our product. These systems turn customer goals into reliable, multi-step execution across real tools and services. This is not about building demos. You'll work on agents that operate under real constraints: incomplete information, external failures, limited budgets, and unpredictable traffic. You'll own how they plan, use tools, recover from errors, and improve over time.

Responsibilities

Design agent architectures for planning, reasoning, tool use, memory, and integration with external systems and data. Improve reliability on long-running, multi-step tasks, including failure recovery. Build the loops that let agents improve with real use, so performance compounds instead of staying frozen. Develop evaluations that measure agent performance and resist being gamed. Make practical tradeoffs between quality, latency, cost, and complexity.

Qualifications

5+ years building production ML or backend systems, including taking LLM or agent applications from prototype to production. Strong understanding of agent design: planning, reasoning, tool use, orchestration, and memory. Experience building rigorous evaluation systems, plus execution tracing and observability for agents, with a focus on reproducibility. Familiarity with the OpenAI Responses API, MCP, and server- versus client-side execution. Above all, we're looking for great teammates who make work feel lighter and aren't afraid to go out on a limb with bold ideas. You don't need to be perfect, but you do need to be adaptable. We encourage you to apply, even if you don't check every box.

About us

Most AI is frozen in place - it doesn't adapt to the world. We think that's backwards. Our mandate is to build efficient intelligence that evolves in real-time. Our vision is AI systems that are flexible, personalized, and accessible to everyone. We believe efficiency is what makes this possible - it's how we expand access and ensure innovation benefits the many, not the few. We believe in talent density: bringing together the best and most driven individuals to push the boundaries of continual adaptation. We're looking for builders and creative thinkers ready to shape the next era of intelligence.

Benefits

• Flexible work: In-person collaboration in the Bay Area, a distributed global-first team, and team offsites.
• Adaption Passport: Annual travel stipend to explore a country you've never visited. We're building intelligence that evolves alongside you, so we encourage you to keep expanding your horizons.
• Lunch Stipend: Weekly meal allowance for take-out or grocery delivery.
• Well-Being: Comprehensive medical benefits and generous paid time off.