Sign up to access all features of our service.
  • Job search
  • Favorites
  • Create a CV
    New
  • Salaries
  • Subscriptions

Founding AI Engineer

$160k - $250k

Aimhire

Title: Founding AI Engineer (Research & Systems)

Target: PhDs & Research Masters from Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, CMU focused on AI, ML, NLP, Agents.

Location: San Francisco, CA | On-Site

Compensation: $160K - $250K | 0.8% - 2.0% Equity

Visa Sponsorship: Available (H1B, OPT, F1, TN, O1)

About Us

We are a seed-stage startup, backed by Khosla Ventures and leading AI researchers , building the next generation of reasoning systems for AI agents. Our mission is to move beyond simple RAG and chain-of-thought, creating models that can dynamically plan, execute, and learn in complex environments. Our technical founder is a former Research Lead from Google DeepMind .

The Role

We are looking for our first AI hire to own the research and implementation of our core agentic models. You will be responsible for turning groundbreaking research papers into robust, scalable systems. This is a rare opportunity to work on cutting-edge problems like long-horizon planning, tool-use optimization, and self-improving agents, with the compute resources to test your ideas at scale.

Ideal Profile

  • Currently pursuing or recently completed a PhD/MSc in Computer Science, AI, or a related field.
  • Publication record at top conferences (NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL) is a huge plus.
  • Deep, hands-on experience with PyTorch, transformer architectures, and reinforcement learning.
  • Experience with frameworks like LangChain, LangGraph, or AutoGen is preferred, but a strong fundamental understanding of what they abstract is more important.
  • You read ML papers and immediately think about the implementation details and edge cases.
  • You are passionate about both theoretical rigor and shipping code that works.

Apply if you've done research in: Multi-agent systems, RLHF, reasoning, planning, memory architectures, or program synthesis.

Vacancy posted 3 days ago
Similar jobs that could be interesting for youBased on the Founding AI Engineer in San Jose, CA vacancy
  • $160k - $250k

     ...Title: Founding AI Engineer (Research & Systems) Target: PhDs & Research Masters from Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, CMU focused on AI, ML, NLP, Agents. Location: San Francisco, CA | On-Site Compensation: $160K - $250K | 0.8% - 2.0% Equity Visa Sponsorship: Available... 
    Suggested
    H1b
    Immediate start
    Visa sponsorship

    Aimhire

    Sunnyvale, CA
    3 days ago
  • $150k - $230k

     ...building the evidence infrastructure layer for safety-critical AI. The core problem: regulated AI vendors spend significant time...  ...of reactive, starting with diagnostic medical imaging.As a founding engineer, you'll work directly with customers preparing FDA submissions... 
    Suggested
    Relocation
    Visa sponsorship
    Shift work

    Torrey Holistics

    Sunnyvale, CA
    3 days ago
  • $50k - $120k

    Who are we? Altimate AI, founded in 2022 in San Francisco, is revolutionizing enterprise data operations through the power of AI. Our...  ...investors, we're positioned at the forefront of the AI-powered data engineering revolution. You can read more about us in a recently... 
    Suggested
    Worldwide

    EarlyStage Partners

    Sunnyvale, CA
    1 day ago
  • ThinkingData is seeking a Founding Engineer (AI & Product) in Sunnyvale, California, to act as the primary technical bridge between the Shanghai R&D team and US customers. This role involves contributing to global AI product engineering, delivering US-specific features,... 
    Suggested

    ThinkingData

    Sunnyvale, CA
    2 days ago
  • About Tessel Tessel is building the evidence infrastructure for safety‑critical AI — the system that proves a model works, and keeps proving it. The hard part in safety‑critical sectors isn’t building models — it’s proving to stakeholders that they’re safe and effective... 
    Suggested

    Getclera

    Sunnyvale, CA
    5 days ago
  •  ...seeking a candidate to work directly with medical imaging companies on preparing FDA 510(k) or De Novo submissions related to imaging AI. This role emphasizes evidence generation through investigations into models and data, directly impacting regulatory decisions and... 

    Getclera

    Sunnyvale, CA
    5 days ago
  • $176.8k - $265.2k

     ...Digital is building an enterprise-scale Agentic AI platform to enable secure, observable, and...  ...seeking a Principal Software Development Engineer to serve as the technical authority and...  .... More details about F5's benefits can be found at the following link: F5 reserves the... 
    Local area

    F5

    San Jose, CA
    3 days ago
  • $75k - $85k

     ...Description Job Description True Classic is looking for an AI Engineer to design, build, and deploy AI-powered applications and...  ...purpose is simple: empower everyone to look good and feel good. Founded in 2019, we're a fast-growing apparel brand obsessed with fit,... 
    Work at office
    Worldwide
    Relocation
    Relocation package

    True Classic

    San Jose, CA
    20 days ago
  • $3,000 - $4,000 per month

    A SaaS talent startup is seeking a Senior Full Stack MERN Developer to join as a founding engineer in a remote role. Responsibilities include launching a new product, refining backend APIs, and improving frontend usability. Candidates should have over 5 years of experience... 
    Remote work

    Breakout Tools

    San Jose, CA
    7 hours ago
  • $124k - $201.5k

     ...Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and...  ...are seeking a dynamic Staff IT Software Engineer to lead the design and delivery of our next...  ...description of our employee benefits may be found here ( . $124,000.00 - $201,500.00/yr... 
    Full time
    Work at office
    Visa sponsorship
    Work visa

    Palo Alto Networks

    Santa Clara, CA
    4 days ago
  • $167k - $270.5k

     ...Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and...  ...validation. Partner with data engineering to design high-quality datasets and synthetic...  ...description of our employee benefits may be found here ( . $167,000.00 - $270,500.00/yr... 
    Full time
    Work at office

    Palo Alto Networks

    Santa Clara, CA
    1 day ago
  • $123.24k - $200k

     ...Senior / Principal AI Engineer for Business Intelligence Overview of Role As a Sr./Principal AI Engineer within TSMC's Artificial Intelligence...  ...pioneered the pure-play foundry business model when it was founded in 1987 and has been the world's leading dedicated... 
    Work at office

    TSMC

    San Jose, CA
    2 days ago
  • $180k - $225k

     ...About FlexAI Build and Deploy AI the right way, anywhere. The FlexAI Compute...  ..., and automation" under the hood. Founded by Brijesh Tripathi, who bring experience...  ...inference workloads. As a Staff AI Runtime Engineer , you'll play a pivotal role in the design... 
    Work at office

    FlexAI

    Santa Clara, CA
    7 hours ago
  •  ...Backed by Foundation Capital and led by a world-class founding team, we build multi-agent AI systems that can automate complex business workflows across...  ...to the next level, we're looking for a top-quality AI engineer with a strong focus on AI agents - someone who knows... 

    Tessera Labs

    San Jose, CA
    1 day ago
  • $163.5k - $212.4k

     ...company in the premium smart electric vehicle market. Founded in November 2014, NIO's mission is to shape a joyful lifestyle...  ...About the Position We are looking for a senior AI Inference Infrastructure Software Engineer with strong hands-on experience building, optimizing,... 
    Full time
    Temporary work
    Immediate start
    Flexible hours

    NIO

    San Jose, CA
    4 days ago
  • $223k - $306.5k

     ...Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and...  .... Job Summary As a Sr Principal AI Engineer, you will join a dynamic team to pioneer our...  ...of our employee benefits may be found here ( . $223,000.00 - $306,500.00/yr... 
    Full time
    Work at office

    Palo Alto Networks

    Santa Clara, CA
    3 days ago
  • $185.2k - $299.48k

     ...Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and...  ...work. Your Career As a Principal AI Engineer for the Enterprise AI Platform, you will...  ...description of our employee benefits may be found here ( . $185,200.00 - $299,475.00/yr... 
    Full time
    Work at office

    Palo Alto Networks

    Santa Clara, CA
    4 days ago
  • $122.57k - $316.8k

     ...propose more efficient HW/SW co-design for AI accelerator. - Collaborate with the x-...  ...Development, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline. - Experience...  ...sound judgment. About Pico Founded in April 2015, Pico is a VR company committed... 
    Temporary work
    Local area

    ByteDance

    San Jose, CA
    1 day ago
  • $163.5k - $212.4k

     ...the premium smart electric vehicle market. Founded in November 2014, NIO's mission is to...  ...security, and dependability. Partner with engineering teams to understand real-world...  ...experience in software design and development for AI model training, and/or inference optimization... 
    Full time
    Temporary work
    Flexible hours

    NIO

    San Jose, CA
    1 day ago
  • $157.2k - $254.1k

     ...Execution, Integrity, and Inclusion. We weave AI into the fabric of everything we do and...  ...Your Career As a Staff/Sr. Staff AI Engineer for Enterprise AI Solutions, you will be a...  ...description of our employee benefits may be found here ( . $157,200.00 - $254,100.00/yr... 
    Full time
    Work at office

    Palo Alto Networks

    Santa Clara, CA
    4 days ago
  • $156k - $387.6k

     ...Design and build security capabilities for AI-native systems, covering LLM/Agent abuse...  ...Qualifications - 3+ years of software engineering experience in security, networking, AI, or...  ...Exercising sound judgment. About U Founded in 2012, ByteDance's mission is to inspire... 
    Temporary work
    Local area

    ByteDance

    San Jose, CA
    7 hours ago
  • $136.5k - $276.5k

     ...AI/ML Engineer - Agentic This role has been designed as ‘Hybrid’ with an expectation that you will work on average 2 days per week from...  ...Information about employee benefits offered in the US can be found at HPE is an Equal Employment Opportunity/ Veterans/Disabled... 
    Work experience placement
    Work at office
    2 days per week

    HPE

    San Jose, CA
    4 days ago
  •  ...software, real-time data and imaging pipelines, AI/ML integration, developer tooling, and...  ...information, and helping establish the engineering patterns that a future software team will...  .../ firmware teams. Prior experience as a founding engineer, tech lead, or first software... 

    Cambridge Terahertz

    Santa Clara, CA
    7 hours ago
  • $188k - $275k

     ...Staff AI Security Engineer Livingston, NJ / New York, NY / Sunnyvale, CA / Bellevue, WA CoreWeave is The Essential Cloud for AI™. Built for...  ...accelerate breakthroughs and turn compute into capability. Founded in 2017, CoreWeave became a publicly traded company (Nasdaq:... 
    Permanent employment
    Temporary work
    Casual work
    Work at office
    Remote work
    Flexible hours

    CoreWeave

    Sunnyvale, CA
    7 hours ago
  •  ...Role: AI Engineer Type: Remote role. Duration: Long term Needed exp. in creative agency and martech experience. Requirement: Proficient with core services (EC2, S3, Lambda, IAM, CloudFormation) and AI/ML tools (SageMaker, Bedrock) ||... 
    Local area
    Remote work

    E-Solutions

    San Jose, CA
    7 hours ago
  •  ...Job Title: AI Engineer Location: Cupertino, CA FULLTIME ONLY Job Description Required • 3-6 years of experience in ML, AI engineering, or a related applied role • Strong Python skills - pipelines, model training, API development... 
    Full time

    AceStack LLC

    Cupertino, CA
    1 day ago
  •  ...About the Role  Teserac is building neuron™ , a unified AI-native platform for data center observability, intelligence, and workflow...  ...recommendations 24/7. We are seeking a motivated AI/ML Engineer to design, build, and deploy intelligent systems that power Teserac... 

    Teserac, Inc.

    Sunnyvale, CA
    3 days ago
  •  ...AI Engineer  Key Responsibilities: Software Engineering & System Design • Write, test, and deploy production-quality code with a strong focus on scalability and performance. • Design and implement end-to-end systems including API, database, and... 

    Sparktek

    San Jose, CA
    3 days ago
  •  ...AI Engineer (Python Specialist with Ray and ML Expertise) We are looking for an experienced AI Engineer with strong Python skills and hands-on experience in distributed computing using Ray. This role involves designing, developing, and deploying advanced AI solutions... 

    Kasmo Global

    Sunnyvale, CA
    2 days ago
  •  ...total 8+ yrs of IT experience. 5+ years of exp in ML, Gen AI, Agentic AI, Agent Space Strong hands on exp on Python/Java...  ...in data manipulation, preprocessing, and analysis. ~ Prompt Engineering and Tool Orchestration: Expertise in crafting effective... 

    ECHO IT SOLUTIONS INC .

    Santa Clara, CA
    2 days ago

Do you want to receive more vacancies?

Subscribe and receive similar vacancies to Founding AI Engineer. Be the first to apply!