Senior Software Engineer - AI Tooling

Plaid•San Francisco, CA

1d•$190,800 - $262,800

About The Position

Plaid is becoming an AI-first company, and Intelligent Tooling builds internal platforms and tools to lead the transformation. Our biggest opportunity isn't just better tools for engineers, it's extending AI-native internal tooling to the rest of Plaid. Tools built for engineers assume things non-engineers don't have: local toolchains, monorepos, engineer credentials, PR-based workflows. That mismatch means Ops, Support, and other teams can't easily inherit what we build for engineering. They need their own path and we're building that path. As a Senior Software Engineer on Intelligent Tooling, you will build and operate internal systems that empower non engineering teams to automate their workflows with AI. You will own the product and platform layer for internal tools, including the constraints and infrastructure that keep those tools safe and maintainable. There's no existing playbook for this at Plaid. You will define what the right non-eng AI surface looks like, ship its first durable versions, and partner closely with internal users to make sure it solves real problems. You will act as the engineering point of contact embedded with non-engineering teams, running discovery and translating their operational needs into shipped software. What you build here becomes how non-engineering teams at Plaid work with AI.

Requirements

5+ years of professional software engineering experience
Strong experience building and operating production systems
Experience building internal tools, platforms, or workflow software
Strong product judgment and communication in ambiguous spaces
Hands-on experience using AI-powered development tools, agents, or automation
Strong builder mindset; comfortable creating the first version of a product surface that does not yet have a clear industry template

Nice To Haves

Experience with developer tooling, internal platforms, or infra-adjacent systems
Experience with auth, service accounts, constrained runtimes, or internal security boundaries
Experience building products for non-engineering users
Exposure to agentic workflows, automation, or AI-enabled internal applications

Responsibilities

Design, build, and operate internal tools and platform capabilities for high-leverage non-engineering workflows
Translate ambiguous internal pain points into simple, durable software products
Define platform constraints for auth, runtime, storage, deployment, and maintenance so internal tools are safe for broader use
Build with strong product judgment, balancing flexibility with clear boundaries between what belongs in Retool, Scaffold, and a new AI-native internal tool surface
Partner with Security, Infrastructure, and internal stakeholder teams to ship systems that are reliable in production
Own systems end-to-end, including implementation, rollout, support, and iterative improvement