Senior Technical Leader — Agentic AI (Engineering Tools)

Fruition Executive Search; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Fruition Executive Search in San Francisco, CA is seeking a Senior Technical Leader for Agentic AI (Engineering Tools). You will own core agent intelligence across desktop engineering tools, report to the CTO, and lead a small team of AI engineers, a user researcher, and domain experts.

The role demands 7+ years of software engineering with hands-on agentic AI work, strong Python skills, and experience with cost-aware, enterprise-ready deployments. Relocation not offered.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of software engineering experience, with hands-on work in agentic AI.
• Proven ability to build evaluation and benchmarking frameworks for task completion and cost efficiency.
• Technical leadership experience guiding small teams (3–6 engineers) and performing code reviews.
• Strong Python skills and familiarity with LLM tooling including function calling and observability.
• Experience with desktop automation or programmatic control of applications (COM or similar).
• Domain knowledge in mechanical engineering, CAD/CAE, PLM, or related fields.
• Understanding enterprise deployment constraints on secured workstations.
• Track record contributing to public benchmarks, publications, or open-source AI projects.

Responsibilities

• Lead development of the core agent intelligence layer for multi-step workflows across desktop engineering software.
• Report to the CTO and lead a small team of AI engineers, a user researcher, and domain experts.
• Own the full product loop: define agent capabilities from user stories, implement, and benchmark against real workflows.
• Improve completion metrics by defining evaluation frameworks, baselines, and iterations.
• Set per-task token budgets and track cost per completed workflow for commercial viability.
• Build reproducible evaluation infrastructure grounded in validated user stories.
• Lead user story mapping and validation through interviews with domain experts.
• Translate validated user stories into testable evals, closing the loop between research and benchmarking.
• Own agent architecture decisions including tool-calling, state management, error handling, and routing.
• Act as a player-coach: write production code, review designs, unblock the team, raise standards.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with integrations, product, and customers during POCs.

Skills

7+ years software engineering

Agentic LLM development

Evaluation frameworks

Technical leadership

Python

LLM tooling

Desktop automation

Mechanical engineering domain

Enterprise deployment

Public benchmarks/open-source

Job description

Senior Technical Leader — Agentic AI (Engineering Tools)

Full time | Fruition Executive Search | United States

Posted On 10/20/2026

Job Information

Technology

Work Experience 5+ years

$160K - $240K

City San Francisco

State/Province California

94111

Job Description

Senior Technical Leader — Agentic AI (Engineering Tools)

The build:Our client is hiring a senior technical leader to own the core agent intelligence that turns mechanical engineers' intent into reliable, cost-efficient multi-step workflows across desktop engineering tools. This role sits at the intersection of applied agentic AI, user research, and product delivery — and will determine the product's real-world value to enterprise customers.

What you'll do

• Lead development of the core agent intelligence layer that executes multi-step workflows across complex desktop engineering software.
  
• Report to the CTO and serve as technical lead for a small team of AI engineers, a user researcher, and domain expert contractors.
  
• Own the full product loop: define agent capabilities from user stories, build implementations, and benchmark against real workflows.
  
• Drive agent task success rate by defining evaluation frameworks, establishing baselines, and iterating to improve completion metrics.
  
• Set and enforce per-task token budgets and track cost per completed workflow to ensure commercial viability.
  
• Build rigorous, reproducible evaluation infrastructure grounded in validated user stories.
  
• Lead user story mapping and validation through interviews and close collaboration with domain experts.
  
• Translate validated user stories into testable evals and close the loop between research and benchmarking.
  
• Own agent architecture decisions including tool-calling, state management, error recovery, model routing, and context management.
  
• Act as a player-coach: write production code, review designs, unblock the team, raise engineering standards.
  
• Collaborate cross-functionally with integrations, product, and customers during POCs.
  

Requirements

What we're looking for

• 7+ years software engineering, including at least 2 years building agentic LLM-based agents that act in the real world.
  
• Proven ability to build evaluation and benchmarking frameworks measuring task completion, cost efficiency, and failure modes.
  
• Technical leadership experience setting direction for small teams (3–6 engineers) and performing meaningful code review.
  
• Strong Python skills and familiarity with LLM tooling (function calling, tool APIs, observability/tracing, evaluation frameworks).
  
• Experience with desktop automation or programmatic control of applications (COM or similar).
  
• Domain experience in mechanical engineering, CAD/CAE, PLM, or adjacent industries.
  
• Understanding of enterprise deployment constraints on locked-down corporate workstations.
  
• Track record contributing to public benchmarks, publications, or open-source agentic AI projects.
  

No sponsorship.Relocation not available.

Fruition Executive Search is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, veteran disability or genetic information or any other reason prohibited by law in employment.