Software Engineer

Overview

The GRACE team at ARPA-H is building the next generation of agentic AI to transform how the agency accelerates research, makes decisions, and ships products at scale. GRACE is ARPA-H's production AI assistant, and we are evolving it into an ecosystem of autonomous, multi-agent systems. The team is a small, startup-minded team that ships fast and owns what they build end-to-end. They are looking for an SDE II who is hungry to contribute to a real production system, not a sandbox. The best person for this role communicates clearly, collaborates without ego, and brings genuine empathy for the users whose work they are making better. The person is a self-starter with a high bar and a high sense of urgency. He or She plays well with others and makes the people around him or her better.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Build Agentic AI Systems
• Build LLM-Powered Features
• Own the Backend
• Contribute to Infrastructure

Requirements

• 3+ years of professional software engineering experience building and operating production systems
• Proven experience in high-velocity environments where you contributed to shipping real products end-to-end
• Strong proficiency in Python and at least one other backend language; familiarity with modern backend frameworks and async patterns
• Solid understanding of algorithms, data structures, distributed systems, and software design patterns
• Experience building and operating systems on major cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
• Experience with containerization (Docker) and working within CI/CD pipelines
• Clear, direct communicator who gives and receives feedback well, works with empathy, and makes the people around them better
• Self-starter with a high bar and high sense of urgency; you do not wait to be told what to do next

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience building features on top of LLMs in production: tool-calling, RAG, multi-step reasoning, and context management
• Familiarity with A2A (Agent-to-Agent) communication patterns and multi-agent orchestration frameworks
• Familiarity with MCP at the client/consumer layer: how agents discover and invoke tools via MCP
• Working knowledge of prompt engineering and LLM behavior across model families; you understand why Claude and GPT respond differently to the same prompt
• Experience with LLM evaluation, grounding assessment, or regression testing for AI-powered systems
• Awareness of token economics at the application layer: cost-per-query, context budget management, and prompt efficiency
• Experience on Microsoft Azure: Azure Functions, API Management, Container Apps, or Azure OpenAI Service
• Familiarity with secrets management, least-privilege access, and security-conscious engineering practices
• Experience in startup or early-stage environments: comfort with ambiguity, rapid iteration, and wearing multiple hats
• Experience in healthcare, life sciences, or other regulated domains is a plus but not required

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

Clearance

Ability to obtain HHS Public Trust.

Equal employment opportunity, including veterans and individuals with disabilities.

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