Software Engineer

Junior Software EngineerCompensation: $50–$70/hour Employment Type: Contract Location: San Jose, CA About the Role We are looking for a Junior Software Engineer to help build production applications powered by agentic AI and large language models (LLMs). In this role, you'll work primarily in Python, designing and integrating APIs and shipping features that incorporate LLM capabilities into real-world software systems. This is a great opportunity for an early-career engineer who has strong software development fundamentals and hands-on exposure to LLMs, AI agents, or Generative AI projects. Professional AI experience is not required—we welcome candidates who have gained relevant experience through internships, coursework, hackathons, open-source contributions, or personal projects.What You'll DoDevelop and maintain production applications primarily using Python.Design, build, and integrate REST APIs.Integrate LLM APIs, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and/or open-source models.Build features involving agentic AI, tool/function calling, prompt chaining, and agent workflows.Write clean, maintainable, testable code.Debug applications and contribute to code reviews.Collaborate with engineers to design and ship new AI-powered features.Handle API authentication, pagination, error handling, and third-party integrations.Participate in a collaborative development workflow using Git and standard software engineering practices.Required QualificationsBachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.0-2 years of software engineering experience. Internships, co-ops, substantial personal projects, and open-source contributions count.Strong fundamentals in Python.Experience building or integrating with REST APIs.Exposure to frameworks such as FastAPI, Flask, or Django.Familiarity with Git, virtual environments, debugging, testing, and code review.Understanding of basic software engineering and application development practices.Familiarity with agentic AI concepts, such as:Tool/function callingPrompt chainingAgent loops/workflowsHands-on experience calling LLM APIs such as OpenAI, Anthropic, or open-source models as part of an application.Preferred QualificationsExperience or exposure to LangGraph, LangChain, or similar agentic AI frameworks.Understanding of RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) concepts.Experience with embeddings, vector databases, or retrieval pipelines.Exposure to SQL or NoSQL databases.Familiarity with caching or message queues.Experience with async or concurrent programming in Python.