AI Agent Engineer

Pelago is the leading specialty substance use care provider, built on the belief that effective treatment means matching care intensity to what each member actually needs rather than defaulting to the most expensive intervention. Our programs guide members through every stage of the substance use spectrum, from unhealthy habits to active use disorders, delivering personalized treatment for tobacco, alcohol, opioid, cannabis, and stimulant use based on individual health, habits, genetics, and goals.

With Sona, our voice-first AI Mental Health Specialist, Pelago now applies that same clinically-driven model to mental health, pairing deep clinical expertise with technology to expand access without compromising care quality. We believe technology should make clinical care more precise and more human, not replace the judgment behind it.

Pelago has scaled to helping hundreds of employers and health plans and has already helped more than 750,000 members better manage their substance use. If you're passionate about AI and making an impact on the health of others, join us and make it happen!

About Pelago Engineering:

Our engineering team operates as empowered, outcome-oriented problem solvers, working in close partnership with product, design, and clinical teams to improve member outcomes at scale.

As AI transforms how software is built, we are intentionally evolving our development lifecycle so we spend less time on mechanical implementation and more time on system design, judgment, and impact.
How We Work:

• Outcome-driven: Engineers are given problems to solve, not just features to build. Success is measured by learning, impact, and outcomes-not velocity alone
• AI-native: We use AI across the SDLC to accelerate implementation, testing, and review. Engineers focus on defining intent, validating behavior, and designing resilient systems
• High autonomy, high accountability: Teams have real ownership over their domains. With autonomy comes responsibility for quality, safety, and results
• Cross-functional by default: Engineers partner deeply with Product, Design, Data, and Clinical. Discovery, experimentation, and delivery are shared responsibilities
• Quality and safety matter: We build in a regulated, member-impacting domain. Reliability, observability, and correctness are first-class concerns

What You'll Do:

Instead of task lists, anchor on ownership:

• Own meaningful problem spaces end-to-end, from discovery through delivery and iteration
• Design and evolve systems that support safe, scalable, AI-augmented development
• Use data and experimentation to validate whether solutions actually work
• Collaborate cross-functionally to balance member impact, clinical constraints, and technical tradeoffs
• Shape how we work-our tools, processes, and culture

What We Look For:

We explicitly assess for empowerment:

• You start with "why" before diving into "how"
• You're energized by ambiguity and collaborative problem-shaping
• You use AI to amplify your judgment and move faster on what matters
• You think in systems and anticipate second-order effects
• You want to own outcomes, not just ship features

Overview of the Role:

Pelago is building a small AI Accelerator team to lead one of the most important transformations in our company's evolution: rethinking how work gets done so our teams can focus on the decisions, relationships, and problem-solving that matter most.

As an AI Agent Engineer, you'll identify workflows that are repetitive, manual, or unnecessarily complex and redesign them as AI-powered systems that meaningfully change how we operate. That might mean automating parts of compliance reviews, streamlining member operations, or replacing spreadsheet-heavy analytics handoffs with smarter, more reliable workflows.

This is a hands-on role for someone who wants to be an innovator and change driver, applying AI to real business problems and leaving a visible mark on how the company runs.

This is a hybrid role with a high-collaboration rhythm (3 days/week in our NYC office).
In this role you will:

• Identify high-friction internal workflows and redesign them as AI-powered systems that meaningfully improve how Pelago operates
• Design, build, and deploy production-grade AI agents that connect to internal APIs, databases, and tools (Salesforce, Slack, Notion, and more)
• Integrate LLMs into real operational processes - from compliance reviews and ticket triage to documentation and QA - ensuring systems are reliable, secure, and auditable
• Build observability, guardrails, and evaluation frameworks so agents perform safely and consistently in a regulated healthcare environment
• Partner closely with product, operations, data, and compliance teams to define success metrics, iterate quickly, and continuously improve performance

The background we are looking for:

• Experience building production-grade software systems, ideally in product or operational environments, autonomously
• Strong Python skills and experience designing event-driven or distributed systems
• Hands-on experience building and deploying LLM-powered workflows: tool use, retrieval, structured outputs, orchestration
• Experience integrating systems via APIs, message queues, or workflow engines
• Familiarity with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and deploying containerized services
• Solid understanding of security, privacy, and data controls. especially in regulated environments
• Systems thinker who can translate messy real-world processes into scalable technical solutions
• Pragmatic builder who prototypes quickly but ships responsibly
• A genuine passion for using AI to create measurable operational impact

What you'll love about us:

We have a whole host of perks for our people! From life essentials to nice-to-haves, there are more than a few good reasons to love working with us. We strive to ensure Pelago employees have equitable access to healthcare, wellbeing, time away, and then some.

• Generous and meaningful equity package
• Full Medical, Dental, & Vision coverage
• 401k Plan
• Unlimited PTO Policy, 10 paid holidays, & company wide "Me Time" Days
• Paid maternity, paternity & new parent leave
• Flexible working environment
• Annual Learning and Development stipend to support continued learning and career development
• Wellness Reimbursement Program
• Access to Reproductive & Family Planning Care
• Substance Use Support for employees and family members

At this time, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this position.

Please note that Pelago is dedicated to providing accommodations to candidates upon request. If you need accommodations at any point throughout the interview process, please reach out to your recruiter.
Before you apply, see how we build.

We write about our technical decisions, product philosophy, and the real challenges of scaling behavioral health. Read the blog →

The provided range reflects our US target salary range for this full-time position, which is part of our broader total compensation package, including incentive bonus program, stock options, comprehensive benefits, and incentive pay applicable to eligible roles. Individual pay within the range will vary based on a variety of factors like role-related experience and education, internal pay equity, and other relevant business factors. At Pelago, we are committed to an equitable and fair pay philosophy and review total compensation for our employees at least twice a year.

Base Pay Range

$165,000-$175,000 USD