Roles at frontier labs · Research specialties
AI Agents Engineer
105 open · October 2, 2026
Agent teams make models act: tool use, computer use, coding agents and the environments and evaluations that measure whether an agent finished the job.
- Agents and tool use 94%
- Evals and benchmarks 72%
- Production systems 57%
- How language models work 54%
- Python 53%
- Working with customers 49%
taught here course coming not taught
The numbers
- Open roles now at 20 labs
- 105
- Median base pay middle half $290k to $425k, 52 U.S. bands
- $314k
- State no degree 5% require a PhD outright
- 80%
- Years asked, median of the 42 that state a minimum
- 5
Who is hiring
20 labs are hiring
In the labs' own words
In the labs' own words
“Experience with coding agents, agent harnesses, tool-using LLM systems, model evals, or post-training feedback loops.”
“You have a proven ability to build robust evaluation frameworks, moving well beyond trial and error, to measure agent accuracy, safety, and latency”
“Construct rigorous quantitative benchmarks and automated evaluation frameworks (including LLM-as-a-judge) to measure agent capabilities in reasoning, planning, and tool use.”
Your way in
Three doors to this role
- Door 1
Finishing a degree
10% mention publications
The way in is a program: 44 open now
- Door 2
A software engineer
80% state no degree
What to add
- Door 3
A PhD
13% ask for distributed training
Engineering at scale
Asked often
The short answers
How much does a ai agents engineer at a frontier lab make?
The median U.S. base salary across 52 open ai agents engineer postings that publish a band is $314k; the middle half runs from $290k to $425k. Equity and bonus are not included.
Do you need a PhD to be a ai agents engineer?
80% of the 105 open postings state no degree at all, 14% mention a PhD or master's, and 5% require a PhD outright.
What skills do ai agents engineer postings ask for?
Most often: agents and tool use (94%), evals and benchmarks (72%), production systems (57%), how language models work (54%), python (53%).
Which labs are hiring ai agents engineers?
Right now: OpenAI (41), Cohere (13), Google DeepMind (9), Together AI (6), Anthropic (5), Meta (Superintelligence Labs and FAIR) (4), and 14 more.
Prepare for it here
A free account opens the courses and saves your progress.
Create your free accountNewsletter
One lesson by email each week.
One lesson a week. Free, and it stays free.
The board
Open roles, newest first
The newest 40 of 105. Each title opens the lab's own posting. By family: software engineering at labs · research scientists and engineers · applied ai and forward-deployed · machine learning engineers · fellowships, residencies and internships
- Senior Agent Software Engineer ↗
Cline · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $200k to $300k base
- Engineering Manager, Agent & Product Security ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated
- Software Engineer, Agent Evaluation and Quality ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated
- Software Engineer, Agent Harness ↗
Cursor (Anysphere) · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated
- Research Engineer (Agentic Models) ↗
JetBrains (Junie, Mellum) · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Staff/Lead Software Developer (AI Agents & Integrations) ↗
JetBrains (Junie, Mellum) · Machine learning engineers · No degree stated
- Data Scientist, Agent ↗
Lovable · Machine learning engineers · No degree stated
- Frontend Software Engineer, Codex App ↗
OpenAI · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $230k to $385k base
- AI Agent Security Architect ↗
Replit · Machine learning engineers · No degree stated · $0k to $0k base
- Staff Software Engineer, Agent Platform ↗
Replit · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $250k to $365k base
- Staff Software Engineer, Agentic Ads ↗
Replit · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $250k to $360k base
- Staff Software Engineer, Agentic Commerce & Payments ↗
Replit · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $290k to $360k base
- ML & Agentic Systems Engineer [IC4] ↗
Sourcegraph · Machine learning engineers · No degree stated
- Member of Technical Staff- Research Engineer (Harness Engineering and Agentic Orchestration) ↗
Tessl · Research scientists and engineers · PhD preferred
- DevRel Engineer, Agentic Infrastructure ↗
Vercel (v0) · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $168k to $252k base
- Software Engineer, Agent ↗
Vercel (v0) · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $232k to $348k base
- Software Engineer, Agentic Infrastructure ↗
Vercel (v0) · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated
- Software Engineer, Internal Agent ↗
Vercel (v0) · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $208k to $312k base
- Senior Software Engineer, Agent Frameworks ↗
Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) · Software engineering at labs · Bachelor's degree · $147k to $220k base
- Senior Software Engineer, Agentic Applications ↗
Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) · Software engineering at labs · Bachelor's degree · $147k to $220k base
- DevOps / AgentOps Engineer, GTM Systems ↗
Anthropic · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $320k to $405k base
- Product Engineer, Computer Use ↗
Anthropic · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $300k to $320k base
- Research Engineer, Computer Use ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $500k to $850k base
- Staff+ Research Scientist, Multi-Agent ↗
Anthropic · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated · $500k to $850k base
- Staff+ Software Engineer, Claude Managed Agents ↗
Anthropic · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $405k to $485k base
- Software Engineer, Agent Harness ↗
Cartesia · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $180k to $250k base
- Applied AI Engineer, Agents & Automations ↗
Cohere · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Engineering Manager, FDE Agentic Platform ↗
Cohere · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated
- Forward Deployed Engineer, Agentic Platform ↗
Cohere · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Forward Deployed Engineer, Agentic Platform ↗
Cohere · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Forward Deployed Engineer, Agentic Platform (Europe) ↗
Cohere · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Forward Deployed Engineer, Agentic Platform (Singapore) ↗
Cohere · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Forward Deployed Engineer, Agentic Platform (UK Public Sector) ↗
Cohere · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Forward Deployed Engineer, Agentic Platform (West Coast) ↗
Cohere · Applied AI and forward-deployed · No degree stated
- Member of Technical Staff, Agent Code ↗
Cohere · Software engineering at labs · PhD required
- Member of Technical Staff, Agentic Environments ↗
Cohere · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated
- Senior Member of Technical Staff, Safety and Security for Agents ↗
Cohere · Research scientists and engineers · No degree stated
- Software Engineer, Agents & Automations ↗
Cohere · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $150k to $325k base
- Software Engineer, Security Agents ↗
Cohere · Software engineering at labs · No degree stated · $180k to $385k base
- GDM Staff Software Engineer, Agent Data Quality, DeepMind ↗
Google DeepMind · Software engineering at labs · Bachelor's or equivalent
