Founding Engineer - Full Stack
Listed on 2026-06-10
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Engineering
AI Engineer (Applied/Software), Software Engineer, Systems Engineer
About the Role
A Y Combinator-backed AI startup is looking for a Founding Engineer – Full Stack to join a small founding team at the ground floor. The company operates at the intersection of AI research, product, and engineering — building tools that help brands understand and shape how large language models perceive and represent them. This is a rare opportunity to co-define engineering culture and practices from day one in a fast-moving, high-impact environment.
WhatYou'll Do
Own problems end-to-end — from customer insight and product requirements all the way through research and infrastructure.
Maintain a tight feedback loop with customers and the founding team; ship features quickly and iteratively.
Help define and shape the engineering team's culture, patterns, and best practices.
Continuously explore and reinvent how engineering teams work effectively alongside AI agents.
Required
1+ years of experience on engineering teams (2+ preferred), including at least one stint longer than 18 months in a strong startup or scale-up environment.
Full-stack proficiency — comfortable owning customer-facing UI through to infrastructure.
Hands‑on experience with React, Python, Terraform, and AWS
.Experience building agentic systems or working with LLMs in production.
Strong product sense and design instincts; able to translate customer needs into shippable features.
Startup experience or self‑driven personal projects that demonstrate initiative and high agency.
Must be a US citizen or have US work authorization (no visa sponsorship for candidates outside the US).
Nice to Have
Scientific or academic research background.
Direct customer‑facing experience in a technical role.
Enthusiasm for adopting AI‑powered coding and productivity tools.
Salary: $150,000 – $250,000 USD annually (depending on experience)
Early‑stage equity
Visa sponsorship available for eligible candidates
This role is on‑site in San Francisco, CA
. Candidates must be based in or willing to relocate to San Francisco.
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