Member of Technical Staff

Job Description

Job Description

Member of Technical Staff

Global Placement Firm is conducting a confidential search for a high-performing Member of Technical Staff to join a rapidly growing AI and financial technology company building intelligent compliance systems for banks and fintechs.

This is a high-ownership, hands-on engineering opportunity for an exceptional software engineer who thrives in early-stage environments, moves quickly, communicates effectively, and takes ownership from concept through production.

The ideal candidate is more than a traditional software engineer. We are specifically seeking a builder with startup leadership experience , strong technical agency, and a demonstrated ability to build and scale products in rapidly growing environments.

Position Overview

As a Member of Technical Staff, you will play a critical role in scaling AI-powered compliance products used by financial institutions and fintech companies.

You will work across browser automation, AI agents, backend systems, compliance workflows, and core product logic , helping build systems that automate complex operational processes such as KYB, KYC, AML, and transaction monitoring.

This role offers significant technical ownership and direct exposure to customers and prospects. You will help shape the product, architecture, engineering practices, and technical culture as the company rapidly expands.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and deploy end-to-end software systems from concept through production.
• Develop sophisticated browser automation agents capable of interacting with customer systems.
• Build and optimize AI-powered workflows for KYB, KYC, AML, and compliance processes .
• Design and implement novel agentic workflows using the latest AI models.
• Experiment rapidly with emerging AI technologies and determine how they can be applied to real-world customer problems.
• Optimize core product logic for performance, reliability, and scalability.
• Build highly integrated systems that interact with third-party and customer environments.
• Take ownership of critical engineering initiatives as the company scales.
• Work directly with customers and prospects to understand their needs and gather product feedback.
• Translate customer problems into practical technical solutions.
• Collaborate closely with founders and engineering leadership on architecture, product direction, and technical strategy.
• Help establish engineering standards, technical practices, and product culture as the team grows.
• Move quickly from experimentation to production while maintaining high engineering standards.

Required Qualifications

• 6+ years of professional software engineering experience .
• Exceptional software engineering fundamentals and technical judgment.
• Demonstrated experience building and deploying production software end-to-end .
• Strong experience working in early-stage startups or high-growth technology environments .
• Proven ability to take significant ownership of products, systems, or engineering initiatives.
• Experience working with AI/LLMs, AI agents, automation, or intelligent software systems .
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work directly with customers and senior stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to operate with a high degree of agency, autonomy, and ownership .
• Experience building systems that integrate with external platforms, APIs, or complex customer environments.
• Willingness to work on-site in San Francisco five days per week .
• Ability to relocate to San Francisco if not currently local.

Leadership & Startup Experience

This search is specifically focused on candidates who have demonstrated technical leadership and founder-level ownership .

Strongly Preferred:

• Former CTO
• Head of Engineering
• Engineering Lead
• Technical Co-Founder
• Startup Founder
• Founding Engineer
• Early engineering leader at a venture-backed startup

Candidates whose backgrounds consist primarily of large-company individual contributor roles without meaningful startup-building experience should generally not be prioritized.

We are looking for candidates who have demonstrated that they can build, ship, scale, and make high-impact technical decisions with limited resources and minimal process .

GitHub & Technical Portfolio Requirement

Candidates must demonstrate active GitHub contributions or comparable evidence of hands-on technical work .

Recruiters should prioritize candidates who can demonstrate:

• Active or recent GitHub contributions.
• Published software projects.
• End-to-end applications they personally built and deployed.
• Open-source contributions where applicable.
• Technical projects demonstrating ownership beyond assigned enterprise tickets.
• Evidence of building and shipping products independently.

GitHub activity should be reviewed as part of the candidate screening process.

Candidates with no visible evidence of hands-on building should generally not be prioritized unless they can provide another strong, verifiable demonstration of equivalent technical ownership.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a senior-level builder and technical problem solver who thrives in ambiguity and wants significant ownership.

You should be comfortable working directly with founders, customers, and prospects while simultaneously writing production code and making architectural decisions.

We're Looking For Someone Who:

• Has a strong builder mentality .
• Takes ownership without waiting for detailed instructions.
• Has helped build and scale products in an early-stage environment.
• Has experience operating at a startup's inflection point.
• Can move from idea prototype production quickly.
• Enjoys experimenting with emerging AI technologies.
• Has hands-on experience with AI agents, LLMs, automation, or related technologies.
• Is comfortable working directly with customers.
• Can translate ambiguous customer problems into technical solutions.
• Has strong product instincts in addition to strong engineering skills.
• Is comfortable making decisions with incomplete information.
• Has demonstrated leadership beyond their formal job title.
• Is entrepreneurial and highly self-directed.
• Has a track record of shipping meaningful products rather than simply contributing to isolated components.
• Enjoys working in a fast-moving environment where priorities can change quickly.

Work Environment

This is a high-velocity, early-stage AI and fintech environment where engineers have significant influence over the product, architecture, and company culture.

The engineering team works closely with founders and customers, creating short feedback loops between technical development and real-world customer needs.

This role requires a strong in-person presence and is five days per week in the San Francisco office .

Candidates should be prepared to relocate to San Francisco if they are not already based in the area.

The company values hard work, high ownership, collaboration, and building strong relationships across the team.

Compensation & Benefits

Base Salary: $240,000 – $300,000 annually
Equity: Competitive equity package
Employment Type: Full-Time
Open Positions: 4–6
Experience: 6+ years
Work Arrangement: Fully On-Site

Location & Schedule

Location: San Francisco, California

Work Arrangement: On-Site

In-Office Requirement: 5 days per week

Candidates must be willing and able to relocate to San Francisco and work in the office five days per week.

Visa Sponsorship

The company is open to visa transfers , including qualified candidates currently on OPT or H-1B who are eligible for transfer .

Why Join

This is an opportunity to join a rapidly growing AI company operating at the intersection of artificial intelligence, fintech, financial services, and compliance automation .

The platform is designed to automate highly manual compliance workflows for banks and fintech companies, including business onboarding, KYC, KYB, AML, and transaction monitoring.

As an early technical team member, you will have the opportunity to:

• Build AI-powered browser automation agents from the ground up.
• Design novel agentic workflows using emerging AI models.
• Work directly with customers and influence product direction.
• Build systems that automate complex financial compliance processes.
• Help scale the engineering organization during a period of rapid growth.
• Work directly with founders and technical leadership.
• Influence architecture, engineering standards, and company culture.
• Take ownership of projects with direct customer and business impact.
• Work at the intersection of AI, fintech, automation, and financial compliance .

Candidate Profile: What We're Not Looking For

This opportunity is specifically designed for technical builders with startup leadership experience .

Candidates may not be the right fit if their experience consists primarily of:

• Large-company individual contributor roles without meaningful startup experience.
• Limited evidence of building products independently.
• No demonstrated startup, founder, or engineering leadership experience.
• Primarily maintenance-focused engineering work.
• Highly specialized roles with limited product or systems ownership.
• Minimal experience with AI, automation, or modern intelligent software systems.
• Little or no customer-facing experience.
• No active GitHub contributions or other demonstrable evidence of hands-on technical projects.
• Candidates unwilling or unable to relocate to San Francisco.
• Candidates unwilling to work five days per week in the office .

Recruiter Screening Priorities

Recruiters should prioritize candidates in the following order:

1. Founder / CTO / Head of Engineering experience
2. Founding Engineer or early engineering leadership experience
3. Demonstrated startup growth and product-scaling experience
4. Active GitHub contributions and deployed technical projects
5. AI/LLM/agentic workflow experience
6. Proven end-to-end product ownership
7. Customer-facing technical experience
8. Ability and willingness to relocate to San Francisco

The candidate submission should clearly explain what the candidate personally built, their level of ownership, the size and stage of the companies they helped scale, their leadership responsibilities, and evidence of hands-on technical work .

Confidential Search

This position is being presented by Global Placement Firm on behalf of a confidential client. Additional client and company information will be shared with qualified candidates during the recruitment process.