About this role
Agentic AI Coach
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About Break Through Tech
Break Through Tech transforms how tech talent is discovered, developed, and connected to opportunity in the age of AI. Working across higher education and industry, Break Through Tech delivers programs nationwide and integrates technical training, work-based learning, mentorship, and career readiness with deep employer partnerships to create more effective and scalable routes into early tech careers. Break Through Tech is actively shaping the field of early tech talent development by identifying what works, translating those insights into replicable models, and helping define more consistent approaches to how talent is prepared, assessed, and hired across institutions and employers.
At a moment when AI is reshaping every aspect of work and society, Break Through Tech’s mission is urgent: to ensure that the people who build what comes next — and who are in the room where the most consequential technology decisions of our time get made — look like the world they will shape. Learn more about our work at www.breakthroughtech.org/ .
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Position Summary
We are seeking several subject matter experts to partner with Break Through Tech program staff to deliver our Agentic AI programs for up to 500 undergraduate fellows. Agentic AI is offered at two levels, Beginner and Advanced. Coaches will be matched to a level based on their experience with Agentic AI and staffing needs.
For a long time, chatbots were the biggest thing in AI. Now companies are building them into something more powerful: agents that work together to plan, use tools, hand off work, and take action. That shift is creating fast-growing demand for engineers who can design, evaluate, and deploy these systems.
The new 16-week Agentic AI program builds on fellows' foundation in machine learning and Python. Many have completed our rigorous 9-week Machine Learning Foundations course and a 3-month industry-sponsored AI project. Fellows learn to build agents, extend them with tools and knowledge, measure how well they perform, and ship systems that hold up in production.
With expert guidance and support from their Coaches, fellows will work in teams to build agents from ideation onward. They will build agentic systems in LangGraph, stress-test them with systematic evaluations, trace every decision in LangSmith, and use what they learn to make their systems faster, cheaper, and more reliable. They will then deploy to the cloud and present at a final showcase.
Across 4 units, fellows move from agent fundamentals through architecture, evaluation, and deployment, learning the practices professional AI engineers use. Asynchronous coursework will be completed before monthly virtual Workshops and Maker Days, where teams build and troubleshoot together.
Coaches for this Specialization will each support 8–10 project teams (about 40 fellows). Coaches will be expected to facilitate live virtual events end-to-end, provide technical mentorship and code review, hold regular team check-ins, and grade and give feedback on project deliverables.
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Essential Duties and Responsibilities
The essential duties of this role are grouped into these categories, with the approximate percentage of time spent on each category indicated below.
- Event Facilitation (30%) Facilitate 4 Workshops (1.5 hours each, one per month) from start to finish for your assigned fellows, leading code demos and guided project working sessions.
- Facilitate 4 Maker Days (3 hours each, one per month) from start to finish, leading build-sprint structure, checking milestone progress, and troubleshooting technical issues live.
- Prepare for each Workshop and Maker Day you are facilitating.
- Maintain attendance records for Workshops, Maker Days, and team check-ins.
- Technical Support (25%) Provide technical mentorship on agent design, RAG and tool integration, evaluation and observability (LangSmith), and cloud deployment and containerization. Advanced Agentic AI Coaches will also provide mentorship on multi-agent architecture and coordination patterns.
- Review code and conduct debugging sessions to troubleshoot complex technical issues.
- Find and recommend additional resources to support your teams' projects as needed.
- Attend and actively engage in twice-monthly Community of Practice meetings with other Coaches and program staff, to share ideas and troubleshoot together.
- Team Check-Ins & Progress Monitoring (25%) Hold a recurring check-in at least once a month with each of your 8–10 assigned teams to monitor progress and provide feedback.
- Monitor team progress and intervene to address technical blockers or team dynamics issues.
- Partner with Break Through Tech program staff to manage unresolved issues affecting project success.
- Conduct outreach to at-risk fellows, which may include 1:1s and post-meeting follow-ups.
- Assessment & Feedback (20%) Grade unit and event deliverables for all of your assigned teams using provided rubrics.
- Track deliverable submissions and follow up with teams that have not submitted.
- Provide constructive technical feedback on project milestones and presentations.
- Observe final presentations and provide meaningful feedback.
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Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Solid knowledge of agent architecture, including tool calling, RAG, and memory. Advanced Agentic AI Coaches will also need solid knowledge of multi-agent coordination patterns, including supervisor/orchestrator workflows, agent handoffs, and agents-as-tools.
- Comfortable reading, writing, and debugging Python code.
- Ability to troubleshoot code and debug complex systems.
- Excellent communication and facilitation skills (including evaluating and giving feedback on technical work).
- Comfort facilitating a live session for a group of about 40 fellows.
- Ability to thrive in a virtual work environment.
- Commitment to developing inclusive and equitable working relationships with fellows from a variety of backgrounds, volunteers, other Coaches, and program staff.
Education and/or Experience
- Bachelor’s or Associate’s degree in computer science, data science, or a related field. An advanced degree is a plus.
- Strong background in AI/ML with hands-on experience in agent development.
- Experience personally building an agent with tools and/or RAG, and evaluating its performance. Advanced Agentic AI Coaches will also need experience building a multi-agent system or a single-agent system with advanced tool routing, and running systematic evaluations on agent performance.
- Hands-on experience with LangChain and LangGraph. Advanced Agentic AI Coaches will also need hands-on experience with LangGraph subgraphs, parallel execution, and multi-agent coordination patterns.
- Hands-on experience with RAG systems, API integrations, and deploying applications to cloud platforms.
- Experience with evaluation and observability/tracing tools, particularly LangSmith.
- Experience with deployment and containerization (Docker, cloud platforms).
- Prior teaching, tutoring, or mentoring experience, including coaching or leading a team through an ambiguous, open-ended technical project.
- Experience giving feedback on presentations or public speaking coaching.
- Prior Break Through Tech and/or Machine Learning Foundations experience is a plus.
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Important Notes
- This is a part-time, remote, temporary position beginning on Monday, January 4th, 2027 and ending on Monday, May 20th, 2027.
- Estimated time commitment: 15-20 hours/week. Actual weekly hours will vary depending on program activities.
- This role is not eligible for benefits.
- This role is open to any eligible candidate across the US.
- Visa sponsorship (including H-1B) is not available. Candidates authorized to work through F-1 CPT or OPT are welcome to apply.
- Pay rate: $35 per hour.
- Coaches will be required to participate in about 10 hours of pre-program training in early January 2027.
- Coaches will be required to be available to facilitate 8 events (four 90-minute Workshops and four 4-hour Maker Days, including Final Presentations) on to-be-determined dates, from January-May, 2027.
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Break Through Tech believes in creating a more equitable playing field for applicants and values the depth of relevant skills built through successful education, work, and life experiences. If your background and skills are a close match for this position, you are strongly encouraged to apply. Break Through Tech is committed to further building and maintaining a staff that reflects the full range of communities we serve and is an equal opportunity employer. We value a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. Break Through Tech is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
Employment at Break Through Tech is contingent upon successful completion of references and a background check, which may include verification of employment history, education, criminal record, and other relevant screenings as permitted by law. Background checks are conducted after a conditional offer of employment and in compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local laws.