Software Engineer, Automations

Retool Inc.; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 164,000 - 306,000; Full time

Job summary

Retool Inc. is seeking a Software Engineer to help build the next generation of automation, powering Retool Workflows and Agents. You will work on orchestration engines, execution infrastructure, and AI integrations, collaborating with product and design to shape the platform’s direction.

The role demands strong backend and frontend proficiency, experience with scalable distributed systems, and a customer‑first mindset. Hybrid work in the US is offered with competitive compensation and benefits.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, ideally including time at a high-growth startup.
• Experience building and owning complex, distributed systems or developer platforms.
• Strong full-stack engineering experience, with comfort working across backend services, APIs, and frontend user experiences.
• Experience designing scalable backend systems and cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Ability to navigate ambiguous technical problems and make thoughtful architectural tradeoffs.
• Strong product intuition and a customer-first mindset—you enjoy understanding how people use what you build.
• Excellent collaboration skills and experience partnering closely with product and design.
• A bias toward ownership, iteration, and shipping high-quality software.

Responsibilities

• Design and build the systems powering Retool Workflows and Agents.
• Build scalable systems that enable customers to orchestrate complex workflows, automate business processes, and leverage AI throughout their applications.
• Partner closely with product and design to turn ambiguous product ideas into thoughtful technical solutions.
• Own projects end-to-end—from architecture and implementation to rollout, monitoring, and iteration.
• Work across the stack to improve the developer experience, platform reliability, and execution performance of automation workloads.
• Collaborate directly with customers to understand their automation challenges and build solutions that solve real-world problems.
• Help shape the technical direction of an emerging product area through architecture discussions, technical decision-making, and code reviews.
• Contribute to growing the engineering team through interviewing and mentoring.

Skills

Distributed systems

Full-stack engineering

Cloud infrastructure

Architectural tradeoffs

Customer-first mindset

Collaboration

Ownership & shipping

Node.js

React

TypeScript

JavaScript

PostgreSQL

AWS

GCP

Azure

Tools

Node.js

React

TypeScript

JavaScript

PostgreSQL

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

ABOUT RETOOL

Nearly every company in the world runs on custom software for critical operations like tracking performance metrics, handling support workflows, building admin dashboards, and countless processes you might never have thought of. But most companies don't have the resources to properly invest in these tools, leading to a lot of old, clunky internal software, or worse, teams still stuck in manual and spreadsheet workflows. AI has changed who gets to build software. The definition of "developer" now includes analysts, operators, and domain experts creating solutions directly—and the tools they reach for are multiplying by the week. That's both an opportunity and a challenge: as more people build with more AI tools, the risk of shipping ungoverned software into production grows just as fast. At Retool, we're building the platform that makes all of it safe to ship. Build with any AI tool you want, then deploy into one place that connects to your real business data, enforces enterprise policies automatically, and lets teams create once and reuse everywhere with shared, trusted components. The cost of building software has collapsed. The cost of governing it hasn't—and that's the problem we solve. Developers and domain experts have already automated over 100 million hours of work on our platform, freeing them to focus on creative problem-solving and strategic work that drives real business value. The people closest to the problem can now build the software to solve it, safely, and within enterprise guardrails. Let's build the future together.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

We're looking for a Software Engineer to help build the next generation of automation at Retool. You'll work on the systems powering Retool Workflows and Agents, helping customers automate business processes, orchestrate complex workflows, and build AI-powered applications that integrate across their technology stack. This is a highly technical, product-minded engineering role. You'll partner closely with product and design to shape an emerging area of the platform, translating ambiguous problems into scalable systems and intuitive developer experiences. From orchestration engines and execution infrastructure to AI integrations and developer tooling, you'll help define how automation is built at Retool. You'll own projects end-to-end—from technical design through implementation, launch, and iteration—while helping establish the architecture that will support this product area as it scales.

WHO YOU'LL WORK WITH

You'll join the Automations team, partnering closely with Product, Design, and GTM to build one of Retool's fastest-growing product areas. The team is focused on extending Retool beyond internal applications into backend automation and AI agents, enabling customers to orchestrate mission-critical workflows across their businesses. We're a collaborative team that enjoys solving difficult technical problems, shipping quickly, and working directly with customers to understand how they're building. You'll have significant ownership and influence over both the technical direction of the platform and the customer experience.

IN THIS ROLE, YOU WILL

• Design and build the systems powering Retool Workflows and Agents.
• Build scalable systems that enable customers to orchestrate complex workflows, automate business processes, and leverage AI throughout their applications.
• Partner closely with product and design to turn ambiguous product ideas into thoughtful technical solutions.
• Own projects end-to-end—from architecture and implementation to rollout, monitoring, and iteration.
• Work across the stack to improve the developer experience, platform reliability, and execution performance of automation workloads.
• Collaborate directly with customers to understand their automation challenges and build solutions that solve real-world problems.
• Help shape the technical direction of an emerging product area through architecture discussions, technical decision-making, and code reviews.
• Contribute to growing the engineering team through interviewing and mentoring.

THE SKILLSET YOU'LL BRING

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, ideally including time at a high-growth startup.
• Experience building and owning complex, distributed systems or developer platforms.
• Strong full-stack engineering experience, with comfort working across backend services, APIs, and frontend user experiences.
• Experience designing scalable backend systems and cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Ability to navigate ambiguous technical problems and make thoughtful architectural tradeoffs.
• Strong product intuition and a customer-first mindset—you enjoy understanding how people use what you build.
• Excellent collaboration skills and experience partnering closely with product and design.
• A bias toward ownership, iteration, and shipping high-quality software.

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience with JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js, and React.
• Experience building workflow orchestration, distributed execution systems, or event-driven architectures.
• Experience working with AI infrastructure, LLMs, agents, or developer tools.
• Experience with PostgreSQL or other relational databases.
• Experience mentoring engineers and helping shape technical direction across a team.

For candidates based in the United States, the pay range(s) for this role is listed below and represents base salary range for non-commissionable roles or on-target earnings (OTE) for commissionable roles. This salary range may be inclusive of several career levels at Retool and will be narrowed during the interview process based on a number of factors such as (but not limited to), scope and responsibilities, the candidate’s experience and qualifications, and location. Additional compensation in the form(s) of equity and/or commission are dependent on the position offered. Retool provides a comprehensive benefit plan, including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k). Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefit plans. The base pay range for this role is $163,800 – $306,000 per year.

Retool offers generous benefits to all employees and hybrid work location. For more information, please visit the benefits and perks section of our careers page!

Retool is currently set up to employ all roles in the US and specific roles in the UK. To find roles that can be employed in the UK, please refer to our careers page and review the indicated locations.