Staff Software Engineer - AI Platform

Staff Software Engineer - AI Platform Austin, Texas / Toronto / Nashville, Tennessee / Raleigh, North Carolina Engineering - International Software Engineering Team Full-time / Hybrid

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CaptivateIQ is transforming the way companies plan, manage, and optimize sales performance. We started by revolutionizing incentive compensation management, and now were expanding our platform to solve broader sales planning challenges. Recognized by industry analysts like Forrester and G2 and backed by top-tier investors, including Sequoia, ICONIQ, Accel, and Sapphire Ventures, we empower high-growth companies like Netflix, Figma, and Stripe with the flexibility and insights needed to drive revenue performance.

About the Role CaptivateIQ is building AI capabilities that will transform how enterprises manage sales performance. Were looking for a Staff Software Engineer to set the technical strategy for our Agentic SDK team, an internal developer platform that enables product teams across the company to build AI-powered features.

This is a strategic technical leadership role with multi-year, multi-team scope. Youll define the architecture and technical direction for AI at CaptivateIQ, making decisions that have no clear answer and partnering with senior Engineering, Product, and Design leadership to shape our long-term vision. Youll be responsible for technical choices that affect the entire organization, from platform design to engineering-wide quality standards.

As the technical anchor on a small, high-impact team, youll lead by influence across organizational boundaries. Youll drive alignment between product teams consuming the Agentic SDK and the platform capabilities we build. Youll establish the bar for engineering excellence and invest deeply in coaching P4 engineers toward staff-level impact.

This is a rare greenfield opportunity to define how AI gets built at a growing enterprise software company. Youll shape not just the technology, but the culture and practices that scale with the organization.

Job Location The candidate selected for this opportunity must reside near one of the following locations:

• Hybrid (in-office 3 days per week) - Austin, TX
• Remote - Raleigh, NC
• Nashville, TN
• Toronto, Canada

Responsibilities

• Set the multi-year technical strategy for AI platform development, partnering with senior EPD leadership on long-term vision.
• Architect foundational AI systems that serve multiple product teams, including LLM orchestration frameworks, MCP infrastructure, and agent patterns.
• Own technical decisions with organization-wide impact where the right answer is ambiguous or contested.
• Define engineering-wide quality standards and best practices for AI development, establishing patterns that scale across teams.
• Drive technical alignment across the Agentic SDK team and product teams consuming AI capabilities.
• Invest deeply in coaching P4 engineers, helping them develop toward staff-level scope and strategic thinking.
• Represent CaptivateIQs technical perspective in industry discussions, open-source contributions, or technical publications.

Requirements

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with demonstrated progression into staff-level technical leadership.
• Deep expertise in LLM orchestration: production experience building agent frameworks, including agent design patterns, tool integration, and workflow optimization.
• Significant experience designing MCP integrations and knowledge systems at scale, including tool server architecture, embedding pipelines, and context optimization.
• Track record of setting technical strategy that spans multiple teams and multi-year time horizons.
• Experience partnering with senior leadership (Directors, VPs) to align technical direction with business objectives.
• Demonstrated ability to make high-stakes technical decisions under extreme ambiguity.
• Strong mentorship track record, particularly in developing senior engineers toward staff-level impact.
• Demonstrated curiosity and continuous learning in the rapidly evolving AI/LLM space.

Bonus

• Strong proficiency in Python and experience with Django or similar backend frameworks.
• Full-stack capabilities with React and TypeScript.
• Experience building and scaling internal AI/ML platforms or developer experience infrastructure.
• Familiarity with LLM orchestration frameworks (LangChain, LangGraph, or equivalent).
• Deep expertise in advanced agent architectures: multi-agent coordination, autonomous planning, or complex tool ecosystems.
• Experience with AI evaluation, observability, and production monitoring at enterprise scale.
• Published technical writing, conference talks, or significant open-source contributions in AI/ML.
• Background building AI-powered products that shipped to enterprise customers with measurable business impact.
• Experience at a B2B SaaS company during periods of significant growth or platform expansion.
• Familiarity with sales performance management, incentive compensation, or adjacent enterprise domains.

Benefits

• Comprehensive Healthcare: 100% coverage for medical, dental, and vision for all FTEs, with roughly 75% coverage for dependents.
• Flexible Time Off: Flexible vacation days plus quarterly mental health days to ensure you have the space to recharge.
• Annual Stipends: Dedicated funds for your professional development and caretaking needs.
• Work Anniversary Bonuses: Annual bonuses to celebrate your milestones and contributions to the CaptivateIQ team that grow as your tenure does.
• Retirement Savings (US-Only): A 401(k) plan to help you invest in and secure your future.
• Premium Tools: The latest Apple hardware to empower you to do your best work.
• Inclusive Community: Active Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that celebrate shared identities and support our DEI goals by fostering an environment where diverse talent thrives.

Notice to Prospective Candidates Only emails from @captivateiq.com should be trusted. We are aware of active recruitment scams using the CaptivateIQ name, in which individuals pose as our recruiters and post fake remote job openings and make fake job offers on the Internet. Please note, we will never do the following:

• Attempt to correspond with a candidate using a free web-based account, such as an email address that ends in @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, @hotmail.com, etc.
• Make an offer of employment without conducting multiple rounds of interviews face-to-face using secure video-conferencing technology.
• Ask candidates to cash checks to buy equipment on behalf of CaptivateIQ.
• Ask candidates to make a payment in order to be considered for a position.
• Make early requests for candidates personal information such as date of birth, passport details, credit card numbers, bank details and social security number, etc.

Please note that well only ask for more sensitive personal information in connection with background checks after an offer is made.

Participate in an on-call rotation to provide after-hours support, ensuring timely resolution of critical issues and maintaining system uptime.

$181,289 - $285,272 a year The base range represents the minimum and maximum for this position across North America. For candidates in Toronto, Canada the range is $181,289-$242,106. The compensation offered for this position will depend on numerous factors, including individual proficiency, anticipated performance, and the location of the selected candidate. Our OTE is just one component of CaptivateIQs competitive total rewards package.

CaptivateIQ participates in E-Verify, web-based system that allows enrolled employers to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

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