Applied Research Engineer

Salesforce is hiring an Applied Research Engineer in San Francisco, United States. It pays $197k-$314k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Salesforce.

Level's read on this job

Level rates this role Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
The posting mentions Python, Linux and React among its tools and skills.
Level classes it as a mid-level role.
Salesforce has 1,500+ other open roles on Level.

AI in this role

Build and deploy scalable infrastructure, pipelines, and services bridging frontier AI research to production.

pythonlinuxreact

ai-agentssoftware-engineeringmachine-learninggenerative-aicloud-architectureapi-development

To get the best candidate experience, please consider applying for a maximum of 3 roles within 12 months to ensure you are not duplicating efforts.

Job Category

Software Engineering

Job Details

About Salesforce

Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all.

Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You’re in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce.

About the Team

Salesforce AI is looking for talented software and platform engineers to embed in our AI team to bridge the gap between frontier AI technology and customer-facing reality. Do you want to build and deploy the next generation of services leveraging Generative AI and Agentic Systems? Do you thrive in an environment where your engineering skills directly enable world-class research and products used by millions?

At Salesforce, we are driving the development of Generative AI for CRM, focused on delivering AI-created content across every customer interaction at hyper-scale. This role is crucial to transforming our research breakthroughs into stable, secure, and production-ready applications.

The Research Engineering team works directly alongside Research Scientists to bring models to life. This position is dedicated to a high-impact systems role, providing the best of both worlds: deep technical challenge and massive, real-world scale. We believe that building substantive, scalable infrastructure is what enables scientific breakthroughs to spawn entirely new applications.

Learn more about our work at salesforceairesearch.com.

What You'll Do

Work alongside other motivated and talented research
engineers to bring cutting-edge theory into customer-facing practice.
Build tools and pipelines to support ML and AI efforts.
Design, build, deploy, and maintain production services, like APIs, UIs, agentic evaluators, and more.
Roll out scalable cloud architectures.
Help with end-user requirements gathering and executive presentations.

What We're Looking For

Strong abilities with Python and Linux, and some with React.
Experience with production cloud deployments like AWS or GCP. Kubernetes is a plus.
Experience field-debugging full-stack deployments.
Solid understanding of security principles and best practices.
UI and graphic design sensibilities are a plus.
Author high-quality, low-cognitive-load, fully-tested code – with- and without- AI assistance.

Unleash Your Potential

When you join Salesforce, you’ll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance and be your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you can do your best. Together, we’ll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love. Apply today to not only shape the future — but to redefine what’s possible — for yourself, for AI, and the world.

Accommodations

If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form.

Please note that Salesforce uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help our recruiters assess and evaluate candidates’ resumes and qualifications throughout the recruiting process. Humans will always make any candidate selection and hiring decisions. Please see our Candidate Privacy Statement for more information about how we use your personal data and your rights, including with regard to use of AI tools and opt out options.

Posting Statement

Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non-discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education.

In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits to help you live well including: time off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and an employee stock purchasing program. More details about company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.salesforcebenefits.com.Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Salesforce will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

At Salesforce, we believe in equitable compensation practices that reflect the dynamic nature of labor markets across various regions. The typical base salary range for this position is $197,300 - $313,700 annually. In select cities within the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area, the base salary range for this role is $237,700 - $344,700 annually. The range represents base salary only, and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity or benefits, as applicable.

How we rate this

Applied Research Engineer at Salesforce rates 85 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Applied Research Engineer is an open job at Salesforce.
Level rates this role AI Level 4 of 4: Builds AI.
The listed salary is $197k-$314k a year.
The role is based in California - San Francisco.
The job was posted on June 9, 2026.
Seniority: mid.
Applications are handled by Salesforce. Apply on Salesforce

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

AI agentsSoftware EngineeringMachine learningGenerative AICloud ArchitectureAPI DevelopmentPythonLinux

Questions you could be asked

How do you decide when an AI agent can act on its own versus asking for approval first?
Tell me about a project where software engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where machine learning was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where generative ai was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where cloud architecture was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: AI agents, Software Engineering, Machine learning, Generative AI, and Cloud Architecture. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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