Applied AI Engineer

Nothing; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 159,000 - 242,000; Full time

Job summary

Nothing is seeking an Applied AI Engineer in San Francisco or remote-eligible for the right candidate. The role emphasizes building agents that complete real tasks, developing the on-device and cloud backend, and solving complex backend challenges.

You will work with our AI and systems teams to integrate agents into the platform and push end-to-end delivery. The candidate will ship with a backend-first mindset using Python, JS/TS, and possibly Rust, with a bias toward practical, high-impact

Qualifications

• Shipped working software in professional, personal, or open-source projects.
• Backend-first mindset focusing on services, APIs, concurrency, storage, and data flow.
• Experience with LLMs or agents or quick to learn and apply them to real problems.

Responsibilities

• Build agents that use tools, data and app capabilities to finish real tasks.
• Build the backend they run on: services, APIs, storage, and sync between devices and the cloud.
• Solve the hard backend problems: concurrency, state and data flow across services and devices.
• Work with on-device AI and systems engineers to plug agents into the platform.
• Write evals against real tasks, chase down failures and ship fixes.
• Own the task end to end, frontend included.
• Build with coding agents daily and know when your own judgment should win.

Skills

Backend-first mindset

LLMs/agents experience

Problem solving

Fast learner

Team collaboration

Tools

Python

JavaScript/TypeScript

Rust

Job description

About Nothing

Nothing exists to make tech feel exciting again.

We’re building a different kind of technology company, one that puts design, emotion, and human creativity at the heart of everything we do. From the way our products look and feel to how we communicate and show up in culture, we believe technology should make you feel something.

Founded in London in 2020, we’ve grown from idea to global challenger in just a few years. Backed by GV (Google Ventures), EQT Ventures, and C Ventures, and investors like Tony Fadell (iPod), Casey Neistat, and Kevin Lin (Twitch), we’re now sold in 40+ markets with millions of users worldwide.

About the role

Applied AI Engineer

San Francisco · Full-time

AI should run on the devices you carry, work across all of them, and actually get things done. That's a hard problem, and we're solving it from the operating system up. Your job: turn what models can do into agents that get real things done for people.

It's hands-on and backend-first, and full-stack when it needs to be. One week you're prototyping something new. The next, you're making it reliable enough to ship. We're open on seniority, what matters is what you've built, how you think and how fast you learn.

What you'll do

• Build agents that use tools, data and app capabilities to finish real tasks

• Build the backend they run on: services, APIs, storage, and sync between devices and the cloud

• Solve the hard backend problems: concurrency, state and data flow across services and devices

• Work with our on-device AI and systems engineers to plug agents into the platform

• Write evals against real tasks, chase down every failure and ship the fix

• Own the task end to end, frontend included

• Build with coding agents every day, and know when your own judgment should win

What you'll bring

• You've shipped working software: at a job, in your own projects or in open source

• A backend-first mindset: services, APIs, concurrency, storage and how data moves through a system

• You've built with LLMs or agents, or can show us you'd pick them up fast and use them on a real problem

• You can take a vague idea and turn it into something that works

• You learn by building, testing and breaking things

• You like small teams where everyone builds

Nice to have

Shipped agent products, full-stack products or distributed backend systems. Python, JavaScript/TypeScript and Rust are all relevant, but strong fundamentals matter more than a list of frameworks.

Location

San Francisco, we are open to remote for the right person, with regular time in person with our SF team.

Nothing offers excellent benefits and competitive compensation packages. The base salary pay range for this role is $159,000–$242,000 USD. Nothing is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to inclusion, diversity, and equity in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veterans’ status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.