Staff Software Engineer

Jobzhr; San Jose, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 147,000 - 339,000; Full time

Job summary

Zoom is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join the Zoom Virtual Agent (ZVA) team, focusing on improving AI-powered agent quality, reliability, and performance at scale.

You will design system prompts, manage contexts, and drive production deployments, collaborating with product managers and engineering leaders across US and China time zones to meet quality goals and delivery timelines.

Qualifications

• Has an advanced degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of software engineering with strong system architecture knowledge.
• 3-5+ years of direct work on AI-powered products, LLM-based systems, or conversational AI in production.
• Strong prompt engineering skills including system prompts, context management, and prompt chain optimization.

Responsibilities

• Diagnose and fix AI agent quality issues across model behavior, prompts, and system design.
• Design and optimize system prompts, few-shot examples, and prompt chains for reliability and accuracy.
• Build and maintain evaluation pipelines to measure agent quality and detect regressions before production.
• Architect scalable, high-performance AI agent systems for production use.
• Collaborate with PMs, model teams, and engineering leadership across US and China time zones.

Skills

LLM systems

Prompt engineering

System architecture

Production deployment

Leadership

Education

Advanced degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

DSPy

APO

GEPA

Job description

What You Can Expect

Zoom is looking for an innovative and skilled Staff Software Engineer to join our Zoom Virtual Agent (ZVA) team. The focus will be on improving the quality, reliability, and performance of Zoom's AI-powered virtual agent - an intelligent system that autonomously resolves customer inquiries before escalating to a human agent.

About The Team

The Zoom Virtual Agent team is committed to transforming customer experience through AI-driven automation. We are passionate about building intelligent, production-grade systems that handle real customer interactions at scale - reducing the need for human escalation and delivering faster, more accurate resolutions. We operate with a startup mentality: fast-moving, high-ownership, and focused on building foundational technology that will define the future of AI-powered customer service.

Responsibilities

• Diagnosing and resolving AI agent quality issues - identifying whether failures stem from model behavior, prompt design, or system architecture, and driving the fix end-to-end.
• Designing and optimizing system prompt architectures, few-shot examples, and prompt chains to improve agent reliability, accuracy, and resolution rates.
• Building and maintaining evaluation pipelines to continuously measure agent quality, detect regressions, and validate improvements before production deployment.
• Architecting scalable, maintainable systems that support high-performance AI agent operation at scale.
• Collaborating with product managers, model teams, and engineering leadership across US and China time zones to align on quality goals and delivery timelines.
• Setting the technical direction for agent quality on the team - mentor engineers, influence the roadmap, and drive measurable improvements in customer-facing outcomes.

What We’re Looking For

• Have an advance degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience with rich system architecture knowledge & skills. With at least 3-5 years working directly on AI-powered products, LLM-based systems, or conversational AI agents in production.
• Have track record of diagnosing and improving AI agent quality - with specific examples of identifying failure modes and driving measurable improvements.
• Have prompt engineering skills, including system prompt design, context management, and prompt chain optimization. Having DSPy/APO/GEPA experience is a plus.
• Have engineering scope - experience leading technical direction for a product area or team, with the ability to both design systems and execute on them.
• Have experience deploying and operating LLM-based systems in production at scale - not just research or prototyping.
• Have experience with ML or model training is a plus - candidates who have transitioned from MLE into SWE roles are strongly welcomed.

Salary Range or On Target Earnings

$146,700.00

Maximum

$339,300.00

In addition to the base salary and/or OTE listed Zoom has a Total Direct Compensation philosophy that takes into consideration; base salary, bonus and equity value.

Note: Starting pay will be based on a number of factors and commensurate with qualifications & experience.

We also have a location based compensation structure; there may be a different range for candidates in this and other locations

Anticipated Position Close Date

08/28/26

Ways of Working

Our structured hybrid approach is centered around our offices and remote work environments. The work style of each role, Hybrid, Remote, or In-Person is indicated in the job description/posting.

Benefits

As part of our award-winning workplace culture and commitment to delivering happiness, our benefits program offers a variety of perks, benefits, and options to help employees maintain their physical, mental, emotional, and financial health; support work-life balance; and contribute to their community in meaningful ways. Click Learn for more information.

About Us

Zoomies help people stay connected so they can get more done together. We set out to build the best collaboration platform for the enterprise, and today help people communicate better with products like Zoom Contact Center, Zoom Phone, Zoom Events, Zoom Apps, Zoom Rooms, and Zoom Webinars.

We’re problem-solvers, working at a fast pace to design solutions with our customers and users in mind. Find room to grow with opportunities to stretch your skills and advance your career in a collaborative, growth-focused environment.

Our Commitment

At Zoom, we believe great work happens when people feel supported and empowered. We’re committed to fair hiring practices that ensure every candidate is evaluated based on skills, experience, and potential. If you require an accommodation during the hiring process, let us know-we’re here to support you at every step.

If you need assistance navigating the interview process due to a medical disability, please submit an Accommodations Request Form and someone from our team will reach out soon. This form is solely for applicants who require an accommodation due to a qualifying medical disability. Non-accommodation-related requests, such as application follow-ups or technical issues, will not be addressed.

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