Software Engineer II (AI Governance)

About the role AI is changing how companies work, but most enterprises still lack a clear way to govern it. Employees are using AI apps directly. Developers are routing code through agents. Business teams are connecting models to SaaS tools through Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. Companies are spending more on AI every month, often without a reliable view into who is using what, what data is leaving the company, or which agents have access to sensitive systems. The AI Governance team is building Rippling's answer to that problem. This team sits at the intersection of identity, access control, model routing, MCP security, data protection, spend management, and auditability. The goal is to give companies one governed path for AI usage across employees, agents, models, and business tools. As a Software Engineer II on AI Governance, you will help define and build a new product category. You will work on systems that make AI usage attributable, policy-aware, budget-aware, and auditable at runtime. This is a high-ambiguity, high-impact role for someone who wants to build foundational platform technology while staying close to a rapidly evolving customer problem. What you will do Build high-quality, reliable AI governance products with meticulous attention to detail. Ship incremental improvements rapidly, learn from customer feedback, and continuously refine the product. Contribute to the design and implementation of MCP access controls, model gateway policies, runtime authorization, audit pipelines, and usage attribution. Own ambiguous product and engineering problems from initial exploration through production rollout. Use AI-native development practices to increase engineering velocity while maintaining high standards for correctness, security, and quality. Collaborate clearly with Product, Security, Legal, IT, and other engineering teams to make thoughtful trade-offs and deliver customer impact. What you will need 3+ years of software engineering experience building and operating production systems. Experience with Python, Go, Django, React, MongoDB, or AWS is helpful but not required. Strong software engineering fundamentals, with experience building reliable, maintainable, and well-designed systems. High agency and a bias toward shipping, with the ability to turn ambiguous problems into incremental releases and fast feedback loops. An AI-native engineering mindset, including hands-on use of AI tools to increase velocity while maintaining high standards for correctness, security, and quality. Curiosity and a continuous-learning mindset, with the ability to quickly understand emerging technologies, unfamiliar domains, and evolving customer needs. Strong product ownership, with a focus on solving real customer problems and delivering measurable impact. Sound security and systems judgment, particularly around identity, authorization, data movement, policy enforcement, or auditability. Clear written and verbal communication, with the ability to collaborate effectively across engineering and non-engineering teams. Familiarity with AI infrastructure, model gateways, MCP, developer tools, identity systems, or data protection is a plus but not required. Additional Information Rippling is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected characteristics, Rippling is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities who need assistance during the hiring process. To request a reasonable accommodation, please email accomodations@rippling.com Rippling highly values having employees working in-office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. For office-based employees (employees who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office), Rippling considers working in the office, at least three days a week under current policy, to be an essential function of the employee's role.