Senior Software Engineer

Who is Recruiting from Scratch: Recruiting from Scratch is a premier talent firm that focuses on placing the best product managers, software, and hardware talent at innovative companies. Our team is 100% remote and we work with teams across the United States to help them hire. Senior Software Engineer Location New York City, NY On-site role requiring five days per week in the office in Brooklyn. Occasional work-from-home flexibility may be available for life events or specific needs. Compensation $180,000 - $280,000 Base + Competitive Equity Visa Open to visa transfers, including H-1B and TN. Existing visa transfers are supported. Company Stage Early-Stage / High-Growth AI Technology Company Industry Artificial Intelligence, Legal Technology, Enterprise SaaS, Contract Intelligence, AI Agents, B2B Software About the Company Our client is building AI-powered technology that transforms how enterprises manage, analyze, and act on complex contracts. The company is developing intelligent contract workflows powered by AI agents that can understand documents, reason over enterprise data, interact with business systems, and automate complex legal and operational processes. The engineering team operates within a highly focused, entrepreneurial environment where engineers work closely with the founding team and have significant ownership over product and technical decisions. The organization is combining advanced AI agent technology with enterprise-grade software infrastructure to build the next generation of contract intelligence and enterprise workflow automation. This is an opportunity to join an early-stage product and engineering team where engineers are expected to operate with high autonomy, solve ambiguous technical problems, and ship production systems directly used by enterprise customers. The ideal candidate combines strong backend engineering fundamentals with hands-on experience building AI-powered or agentic systems, excellent Python skills, startup experience, and a strong ownership mentality. What You'll Do Architect and build core software features from scratch Design and develop scalable backend systems for AI-powered enterprise applications Build and deploy AI-powered agents and systems using Python Develop robust agent workflows integrating LLMs, APIs, databases, business systems, and external tools Build production-grade applications powered by agentic AI systems Design reliable infrastructure for AI agents and intelligent workflows Translate ambiguous product requirements into concrete technical systems Own features end-to-end from concept and design through deployment and ongoing operation Work directly with founders and senior leadership on high-priority technical initiatives Collaborate closely with Product, Engineering, Design, and other cross-functional stakeholders Work directly with customers and internal stakeholders to understand technical requirements Translate customer and business requirements into scalable technical solutions Build APIs and services that support AI-powered workflows Design data models and integrations for enterprise applications Integrate LLMs with internal systems, external APIs, databases, and enterprise tools Build systems that prioritize reliability, scalability, security, and maintainability Contribute to architecture and system design decisions Establish engineering best practices, development processes, and technical standards Improve developer tooling and engineering workflows Build and maintain cloud infrastructure supporting production AI systems Work with AWS and/or Azure environments Contribute to DevOps and deployment infrastructure Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines Build secure systems involving authentication, authorization, encryption, and enterprise data Help support security requirements for enterprise customers Contribute to SOC 2 and other security-related engineering initiatives Build customer-facing AI features that solve complex enterprise problems Work across backend systems and, when necessary, production frontend components Collaborate with AI/ML engineers and researchers on agentic systems Evaluate and improve AI system performance, reliability, and observability Help define technical strategy and engineering roadmaps Drive technical projects independently with minimal direction Identify engineering problems and proactively develop solutions Operate as a generalist engineer in a small, high-impact environment Help establish engineering culture and technical standards as an early member of the team Ideal Candidate Background Experience Requirements 5+ years of professional software engineering experience 5+ years of building and shipping production backend systems preferred Experience working in a startup or high-ownership engineering environment Experience working at an early-stage startup strongly preferred Experience as a founding engineer, early engineer, or early technical hire is highly valued Experience building and shipping production software used by real customers Experience building AI-powered applications or systems Experience building or deploying LLM-powered agents in production Experience designing and implementing backend infrastructure Experience owning projects from initial concept through production deployment Experience working in small engineering teams with significant individual ownership Experience working directly with founders or senior technical leadership Experience translating ambiguous business requirements into technical solutions Experience working with enterprise customers or enterprise software environments Experience building reliable and scalable production systems Experience working with security-sensitive or enterprise-grade systems preferred Technical Requirements Strong Python engineering skills Production-level Python development experience Strong backend engineering fundamentals Strong understanding of APIs and distributed systems Experience designing scalable backend architectures Experience with databases and SQL Strong experience with PostgreSQL or relational databases preferred Experience building LLM-powered applications Experience with AI agents and agentic workflows Experience with agent orchestration frameworks such as LangGraph, LangChain, CrewAI, AutoGen, or similar technologies Understanding of MCP and modern agent infrastructure preferred Experience integrating LLMs with APIs, databases, and external systems Experience designing production AI applications Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS or Azure Experience with Docker and containerized applications preferred Experience with CI/CD and modern software development practices Strong Git experience Understanding of production monitoring and observability Experience with AI/ML infrastructure preferred Experience with distributed systems Strong system design skills Strong debugging and technical problem-solving ability Understanding of software security fundamentals Experience with authentication, authorization, encryption, or access control preferred Experience building enterprise-grade software preferred Production JavaScript or TypeScript experience is a plus Full-stack experience is a plus Familiarity with frontend technologies such as React is a plus Experience with ML infrastructure or AI agent infrastructure is highly preferred Ability to evaluate technical tradeoffs across performance, reliability, scalability, and cost Ability to write clean, maintainable, production-quality code Education Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline preferred Equivalent practical engineering experience is acceptable Strong technical education or engineering background is a plus Soft Skills High agency Strong ownership mentality Comfortable operating independently with minimal direction Strong product mindset Strong technical judgment Strong problem-solving ability Comfortable working through ambiguity Able to turn unclear requirements into concrete technical solutions Strong communication skills Comfortable communicating directly with founders and leadership Comfortable working directly with customers Strong cross-functional collaboration Ability to explain technical concepts clearly Strong business and product intuition Customer empathy Bias toward action Comfortable moving quickly without sacrificing engineering quality Strong attention to detail High standards for code quality Comfortable taking responsibility for outcomes Entrepreneurial mindset Comfortable working in a small, fast-moving team Strong sense of urgency Self-directed and resourceful Comfortable learning unfamiliar technologies quickly Low-ego and collaborative working style Comfortable giving and receiving direct feedback Excited by early-stage startup environments Motivated by meaningful technical ownership Comfortable working five days per week in New York City Compensation & Benefits Base Salary: $180,000 - $280,000 Competitive equity package Opportunity to work directly with the founding team Significant technical and product ownership Opportunity to build greenfield AI systems from scratch Exposure to cutting-edge AI agent technology Opportunity to work on enterprise AI applications Hands-on experience building production LLM-powered systems Opportunity to shape engineering architecture and technical strategy High-impact role within a focused product and engineering team Opportunity to work at the intersection of AI, enterprise software, and legal technology Strong autonomy and influence over technical decisions Opportunity to establish engineering best practices and culture Visa transfer support, including H-1B and TN Flexible understanding around occasional work-from-home needs Why Join This is an opportunity to join a highly focused engineering team building the next generation of AI-powered enterprise software. You'll work directly with the founding team and have meaningful ownership over core technical systems rather than operating inside a large engineering organization with layers of management. The role sits at the intersection of backend engineering, AI agents, enterprise software, and intelligent workflow automation . You'll build systems that combine LLMs, APIs, databases, business systems, and external tools to automate complex enterprise processes. The company is operating in a rapidly evolving AI market where agentic systems are changing how enterprises interact with software and data. You'll have the opportunity to work on greenfield systems, make significant architecture decisions, work directly with customers, and see your work move quickly from concept to production. If you enjoy building production software, solving ambiguous problems, working with AI agents, operating with high autonomy, and having direct influence over product and technical direction, this role offers significant scope and impact. Recruiting from Scratch