About the roleRippling is building the foundational AI infrastructure that powers intelligent, automated experiences across the entire platform. The
Agents, Automations & Plugins team sits within the AI Cloud org and owns everything related to creating, invoking, installing, and orchestrating AI agents - both for Rippling's internal product teams and for customers building their own.
This team is responsible for:
- Plugins & MCP Connectivity - how external tools and services connect to Rippling's AI layer
- Automations - event-driven and scheduled AI-powered workflows that execute autonomously
- Agents - the foundational primitives that allow AI agents to be created, triggered, and composed with skills and tools
- Skills Packaging & Installation - how capabilities are bundled, distributed, and made available to agents
This is greenfield, foundational work. You're not maintaining legacy systems - you're building the platform layer that every AI-powered feature at Rippling will depend on. The team recently transitioned from Talent Engineering into the AI Cloud org under Laks Srini, and is now laser-focused on shipping the core agent infrastructure.
What you will do- Own major AI agent infrastructure initiatives across backend, platform, and AI-enabled systems
- Lead design and execution for systems supporting agent creation, invocation, triggering, skill packaging, plugin connectivity, and automation orchestration
- Build the foundational tools and primitives that enable both internal Rippling teams and external customers to create and deploy their own AI agents
- Act as a technical lead for cross-functional work involving Product, AI Infra, Platform, and Engineering teams across the AI Cloud org
- Break down ambiguous technical problems into clear architecture and execution plans - the roadmap is actively being built, and you'll shape it
- Write code, review critical code paths, debug production issues, and make implementation-level decisions daily
- Build platform systems that are reusable across multiple Rippling product teams
- Raise the engineering bar through design reviews, code reviews, mentoring, and technical guidance
- Balance speed, quality, reliability, and long-term platform maintainability in a fast-moving environment
What you will need- 8+ years of software engineering experience with a proven track record of technical leadership and org-wide impact
- Deep expertise in platform and distributed systems engineering - you've built reliable, observable, large-scale systems
- Strong hands-on coding skills, you are an active contributor in the codebase alongside your leadership responsibilities
- Experience leading complex, cross-functional technical initiatives and driving alignment across multiple teams
- Strong product instincts, you translate ambiguous problems into durable platform capabilities and partner effectively with product teams
- Clear, precise communication to diverse audiences, both written and verbal
- Comfort with ambiguity and high velocity, the roadmap evolves as the technology evolves
- Strong curiosity around AI agents, LLM infrastructure, agentic workflows, automation systems, or plugin/tool-use architectures
- Recent hands-on experience building AI agents is a plus
Additional InformationThis role will receive a competitive salary + benefits + equity. The salary for US-based employees will be aligned with one of the ranges below based on location; see which tier applies to your location here.
A variety of factors are considered when determining someone's compensation-including a candidate's professional background, experience, and location. Final offer amounts may vary from the amounts listed below.
The pay range for this role is:
189,000 - 315,000 USD per year (US Tier 1)
