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Member of Technical Staff - Agent Engineer

PhyloSouth San FranciscoTechnical Staff
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Salary
$200K - $300K USD
Job type
Full-time
Posted
22 Jul 2026
Status
Open · checked 7d ago

About this role

Phylo is hiring a full-time Member of Technical Staff - Agent Engineer in South San Francisco to build and evaluate intelligent systems for biomedical research. This position suits an experienced software engineer with a quantitative mindset who wants to advance agentic technology for scientific discovery.

Role Overview

Phylo operates an applied research lab focused on agentic intelligence designed to accelerate discoveries for biomedical scientists. The team seeks an engineer to develop and assess systems that empower agents to operate with reliability, capability, and measurable improvement. Candidates will own these systems in production, focusing on the harness that shapes planning, tool usage, context management, work coordination, and error recovery.

Key Responsibilities

Advance the agent harness by integrating modern research and open-source developments into production while testing fresh approaches to multi-agent coordination, model routing, memory, planning, and tool utilization.
Create rigorous evaluations to track agent quality, latency, reliability, and cost on representative scientific workloads.
Oversee agent quality within production, resolve failures rapidly during ambiguous scenarios, and convert insights into engineering enhancements.
Build dependable infrastructure to support long-running sessions, secure sandboxed execution, background processing, and subagents.
Work alongside scientists and engineers to assess and operationalize novel agent capabilities.

Requirements

Robust software engineering background focused on building production backend systems, infrastructure, or distributed systems.
Practical background or research involvement in machine learning or another quantitative discipline.
Knowledge of LLM APIs, tool calling, workflow orchestration, or agent runtimes.
Strong quantitative judgment required to verify whether performance gains are genuine, reproducible, and impactful.
Capacity to transition fluidly between research inquiries, data analysis, architectural design, and production code deployment.
Familiarity or deep interest in AI for science, scientific agents, computational research, or automated discovery.
Background operating inside AI-native teams utilizing coding agents or extensive automation.
High sense of ownership, transparent communication, and solid engineering decision-making.

Nice to Have

Familiarity with LLM evaluations, human evaluation, model judges, replay testing, benchmark design, or experiment tracking.
Practical application of classical machine learning methods alongside production LLMs.
Exposure to task queues, event streams, Kubernetes, code sandboxes, or durable workflow systems.
An advanced degree or comparable background in machine learning, computational biology, physics, applied mathematics, statistics, or related fields.

Skills and Tools

LLMs
Kubernetes
LLM APIs and Tool Calling
Agent Runtimes and Workflow Orchestration
Distributed Systems and Backend Infrastructure

Salary and Benefits

Annual salary range between $200,000 and $300,000 USD
Equity share in shaping the future of biomedical discovery
Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage featuring free therapy sessions and an eyewear stipend
401(k) plan for long-term financial security available to US employees
Unlimited paid time off (PTO) policy for US staff
Onsite lunch and snacks provided
Regular company events and team offsites

About the Company

Phylo is an applied research lab dedicated to building agentic intelligence that accelerates scientific discovery for biomedical researchers. Bringing together engineers, AI researchers, and scientists, the organization creates systems capable of executing complex scientific workflows.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should visit the official Phylo careers page to submit an application for this position.

Skills and tech stack

KubernetesLLM

Questions candidates ask

What is the salary range for the Agent Engineer role?

The position offers an annual salary between $200,000 and $300,000 USD, along with equity share.

Where is the position located?

The role is based in South San Francisco, California, and is an onsite position.

What qualifications are required for this role?

Candidates need strong software engineering experience in backend or distributed systems, background in machine learning or a quantitative discipline, familiarity with LLM APIs and agent runtimes, strong quantitative judgment, and high ownership.

What benefits does Phylo offer?

Phylo provides competitive salary, equity, full medical, dental, and vision coverage with free therapy sessions, a 401(k), unlimited PTO for US staff, onsite lunch and snacks, and team offsites.

How do I apply for the Member of Technical Staff position?

You can apply directly through the official Phylo careers page.

Ready to apply?

The application is on the official Phylo careers page.

Apply on company site