Staff Software Engineer, AI/Agentic Systems

We are looking for a Senior Staff Engineer to lead the design, build, and adoption of AI-powered agentic systems across our Developer Experience platform. This is a highly technical, high-impact role at the intersection of platform engineering and applied AI - you will be responsible for the agentic execution framework that automates delivery, operations, and policy workflows for hundreds of engineers across the organization.

You will own the end-to-end architecture for how AI agents are built, governed, triggered, and observed on our platform - from the event-driven backbone and human-in-the-loop queues through to the agent registry and policy explainability surfaces. You will also be the internal champion for agentic development practices, partnering with engineering teams to evangelize Claude Code and AI-assisted workflows across the organization.

Responsibilities

Agentic Execution Framework

• Architect and build the event-driven execution framework that enables agent-assisted workflows across delivery, operations, and policy systems (e.g., PR automation agents, CI failure triage, onboarding agents)
• Design and implement human-in-the-loop approval queues, error handling, retry logic, and guardrail enforcement to ensure safe, auditable agent execution in a regulated enterprise environment
• Define the execution contract - how agents are invoked, what permissions they hold, how outcomes are recorded - across all platform integrations

Claude Code Integration & Developer Evangelism

• Lead the platform-native integration of Claude Code into scaffold templates, CI failure triage, PR assist workflows, and the developer portal's 'what should I work on?' agent
• Build and run an internal evangelism and adoption program for agentic development practices - demos, workshops, documentation, and a developer advocate community
• Partner with engineering teams to identify high-value automation opportunities and convert them into governed, reusable agent workflows

Agent Registry & Lifecycle

• Design and build a governed catalog of approved agents - metadata, capabilities, trust boundaries, versioning, and usage policies - ensuring agents are discoverable, auditable, and compliant
• Implement lifecycle management for agent versioning and permissions, including deployment pipeline integration, rollback, and decommissioning with full audit trails

Platform Security & Governance

• Define and enforce the security posture for agent execution: scoped permissions, least-privilege identity models, execution isolation, and immutable audit logging
• Collaborate with security, compliance, and platform governance teams to ensure all agent execution meets enterprise policy requirements, Equinix is committed to ensuring that our employment process is open to all individuals, including those with a disability. If you are a qualified candidate and need assistance or an accommodation, please let us know by completing this form.

• Production experience building LLM-powered agents - not just prototypes. Must have shipped agentic systems that use tool calling, multi-step orchestration, and human-in-the-loop patterns at scale
• Deep fluency with agentic frameworks and APIs: Claude/Bedrock APIs, Amazon Bedrock Agent Core, LangChain, n8n, or equivalent orchestration platforms
• Strong experience with event-driven architectures as the execution backbone for agent triggers: Apache Kafka, AWS EventBridge, or equivalent
• Solid understanding of platform-level security for agent systems: scoped IAM/RBAC, execution sandboxing, blast radius containment, and audit trail design
• Experience integrating AI tooling into CI/CD pipelines, developer portals (e.g., Backstage), and software delivery workflows
• Comfortable across the stack: Python or Go for backend agent services; familiarity with GitHub Actions, ArgoCD, and infrastructure-as-code tooling
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate build vs. buy tradeoffs for AI infrastructure and make architecture decisions that balance velocity with long-term maintainability, * 10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 3 years focused on platform engineering, developer tooling, or applied AI/ML systems
• Track record of leading technically ambiguous, high-impact projects - from architecture through to production adoption - in a large engineering organization
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to translate complex technical concepts for both engineering and leadership audiences
• Experience as a technical anchor on cross-functional teams: comfortable influencing without authority, driving alignment across security, compliance, and product stakeholders
• Prior experience building internal developer platforms, golden-path tooling, or developer experience products is strongly preferred

United States - Redwood City Office GHQ : 186,000 - 280,000 USD / Annual

Our pay ranges reflect the minimum and maximum target for new hire pay for the full-time position determined by role, level, and location.The pay range shown is based on our compensation structure in place at the time of posting and may be updated periodically based on business needs. Individual pay is based on additional factors including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education and/or training.

The targeted pay range listed reflects the base pay only and does not include bonus, equity, or benefits. Employees are eligible for bonus, and equity may be offered depending on the position.

Equinix Benefits

As an employee, you become important to Equinix's success. We ensure all your benefits are in line with our core values: competitive, inclusive, sustainable, connected and efficient. We keep them competitive within the current marketplace to ensure we're providing you with the best package possible. So, wherever you are in your career and life, you'll be able to enhance your experience and bring your whole self to work.

Employee Assistance Program: An Employee Assistance program is available to all employees. US Benefits: - Insurance: You may enroll in health, life, disability and voluntary plans that are designed for you and your eligible family members. - Retirement: You and Equinix may contribute to a retirement plan to help you plan for your financial future. - Paid Time Off (PTO) and Paid Holidays: You will receive an accrued amount of PTO each pay period along with various paid holidays for you to rest and recharge. Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific plan or program terms.

Equinix is the world's digital infrastructure company, shortening the path to connectivity to enable the innovations that enrich our work, life and planet. A place where tech thinkers and future builders turn bold ideas into breakthrough experiences, we welcome your unique perspective. Help us challenge assumptions, uncover bias, and remove barriers-because progress starts with fresh ideas. You'll find belonging, purpose, and a team that welcomes you-because when you feel valued, you're empowered to do your best work.