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

Senior AI Engineer - LLMs & Backend Systems

$200k - $400k
Full-time

Heaven and Hire Recruiting

Job Title: Founding AI Engineer

Location: San Francisco, CA (On-site; relocation assistance available)
Compensation: $200,000–$400,000 + 0.5%–3% equity
Visa: Sponsorship available for most types

About the Role

We’re hiring a Founding AI Engineer to join our startup’s core team. We are seeking a Founding AI Engineer to help design, build, and launch a multi-agent AI system that will redefine the future of talent evaluation. You’ll join at a pivotal growth stage — our AI-powered platform already serves millions of users and generates strong recurring revenue. This is an opportunity to make a massive impact on both the product and company trajectory from day one.

We’re looking for a builder at heart who thrives in fast-moving environments, takes ownership, and can ship production-ready AI products. You should be equally skilled at architecting large-scale backend systems, fine-tuning LLM-driven workflows, and delivering features that impact millions of users.

Key Responsibilities

  • Build and scale production AI agents and workflows from 0 → 1 .
  • Architect large-scale backend systems using Python and TypeScript .
  • Ship high-impact features quickly, with full ownership of your work.
  • Leverage AI coding tools (e.g., Cursor , Cloud Code ) to accelerate delivery.
  • Collaborate directly with founders to shape technical and product direction.

Requirements

  • 2–8 years of software engineering experience, including shipped large-scale LLM/agent systems .
  • Experience as a founder, founding engineer, or early engineer at a Seed–Series B startup.
  • Some large-tech experience working on complex, scalable systems.
  • Strong skills in Python, TypeScript, infrastructure , and LLM/agent system design .
  • Strong communication skills to explain technical trade-offs.
  • Proven builder DNA — hackathon wins, notable open-source contributions, or personal projects.

Preferred Qualifications

  • Degree in Computer Science, AI, or a related technical field from a top-tier institution .
  • Track record of successfully delivering products at scale in AI or related fields.
  • Demonstrated experience using AI developer tools to enhance productivity.

Benefits

  • Competitive base salary ($200k–$400k) + generous equity (0.5%–3%).
  • Visa sponsorship available for most types.
  • Relocation assistance to San Francisco.
  • Opportunity to define technical strategy and shape a product used by millions.
  • Work in a high-growth, venture-backed environment with a culture of rapid innovation.

Apply today by filling out the application. Please contact Imani Tolbér t at View email address on careerspage.io for immediate consideration.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $200,000.00 - $400,000.00 per year

Benefits:

  • 401(k)
  • Dental insurance
  • Flexible schedule
  • Health insurance
  • Paid time off
  • Vision insurance

 

Education:

  • Bachelor's (Required)

 

Experience:

  • software engineering: 2 years (Required)
  • Python: 2 years (Required)
  • TypeScript: 2 years (Required)
  • System design: 2 years (Required)

 

Ability to Commute:

  • San Francisco, CA 94114 (Required)

 

Ability to Relocate:

  • San Francisco, CA 94114: Relocate before starting work (Required)

 

Work Location: In person

Vacancy posted more than 2 months ago
Similar jobs that could be interesting for youBased on the Senior AI Engineer - LLMs & Backend Systems in San Francisco, CA vacancy
  • A fast-growing SaaS company in San Francisco is looking for a Senior AI Engineer to design and build scalable, production-grade AI systems. You will develop LLM-powered solutions and architect optimized AI systems. The role demands extensive software engineering experience... 
    Senior

    Harnham

    San Francisco, CA
    2 days ago
  • A leading technology firm in San Francisco is seeking a Senior AI Software Engineer to build and deploy AI-powered solutions. You will design intelligent systems, mentor teammates, and collaborate closely with stakeholders to deliver impactful tools. The ideal candidate... 
    Senior

    The Trade Desk, Inc.

    San Francisco, CA
    3 days ago
  • $167.2k - $209k

    AppFolio, Inc is looking for a Software Engineer specializing in AI to define and drive the technical vision and architecture within the Realm-X...  ...requires extensive experience in developing and deploying ML/AI systems and a Master's or Ph.D. in a relevant field. You will... 
    Senior

    AppFolio, Inc

    San Francisco, CA
    1 day ago
  • $180k - $220k

    A leading telecommunications firm in San Francisco seeks a Senior Backend & AI Engineer to design and develop critical AI features. The role requires strong experience with LLMs, solid back-end development skills, and the ability to propose innovative solutions. The compensation... 
    Senior

    Aircall

    San Francisco, CA
    4 days ago
  • Requirements Experienced backend engineer. 5-7+ years of professional software...  ...on backend and distributed systems; you’ve led complex projects...  ...on with generative & agentic AI in production. You’ve built and...  ...and orchestrate AI models (LLMs, tools, evaluators, retrieval... 
    Suggested
    Work at office
    Local area

    Klaviyo

    San Francisco, CA
    5 days ago
  •  ...Sciforium AI Infrastructure Role Sciforium is an AI infrastructure company developing...  ...from AMD with hands-on support from AMD engineers the team is scaling rapidly to build the...  ...a unique opportunity to work on the core systems that power Sciforium's multimodal AI... 
    Senior
    Work at office
    Flexible hours

    Sciforium

    San Francisco, CA
    3 days ago
  • $124k - $280k

     ...Competency: Data, Analytics & AI Industry/Sector:...  ...in data and analytics engineering focus on leveraging...  ...algorithms, models, and systems to enable intelligent decision...  ...and health plans. As a Senior Manager, you will drive...  ...appropriate models, LLMs, and approaches for AI/... 
    Senior
    Full time
    H1b

    PwC

    San Francisco, CA
    5 days ago
  •  ...Senior / Principal Backend Engineer (Graph and AI Systems) Duration is 6-12 months, with extensions - candidate must be in PST or CST only Summary...  ...ontology-driven systems ~ Experience integrating LLMs or AI into backend systems in production ~... 
    Senior

    3B Staffing LLC

    San Francisco, CA
    5 days ago
  • $175k - $285k

    Plaud is seeking a Software Engineer in San Francisco to develop and deliver vertical...  ...workflows and production-grade systems. The ideal candidate has 3-5 years of experience, strong expertise in backend systems, and a passion for AI Agent productization. The position offers... 

    Plaud

    San Francisco, CA
    3 days ago
  •  ...the support of caring nurses while AI agents handle the tedious backend work - all covered by Medicare....  ...history deeply, navigates the healthcare system on your behalf, and propels you to become...  ...For We're looking for an AI engineer to own the loop that turns real-... 
    Senior
    Full time

    Mira Mace

    San Francisco, CA
    5 days ago
  • Acceler8 Talent is looking for a Senior Distributed Systems Engineer with over 7 years of experience in software...  ...focuses on building systems for AI-powered clinical environments, impacting...  ...care directly. The role requires strong backend skills in Python, Go, or TypeScript,... 
    Senior

    Acceler8 Talent

    San Francisco, CA
    5 days ago
  • A pioneering AI company in San Francisco is looking for a Support Engineer to bridge customers and the engineering team. The ideal candidate will have 3+ years in production-grade software systems, a strong focus on backend development with Node.js, and expertise in cloud... 
    Senior

    King River Capital Group

    San Francisco, CA
    1 day ago
  • $170k - $200k

    A healthcare-focused technology company in San Francisco seeks a Senior AI Engineer to design and build AI systems that enhance care delivery. You will create solutions that engage patients and streamline care workflows, ensuring reliable, production-grade results. Ideal... 
    Senior
    Remote work
    Flexible hours

    Pair Team

    San Francisco, CA
    7 days ago
  • $170k - $220k

    Kindo is seeking a Senior AI Systems Engineer to design and operate core systems enabling autonomous agents in production. You will build production...  ...in a small, high-autonomy team. Strong experience in backend and distributed systems is required, alongside proficiency... 
    Senior

    Kindo

    San Francisco, CA
    1 day ago
  •  ...developer to join their San Francisco team, focusing on building and optimizing features for an AI runtime and SaaS platform. The role requires over 5 years of experience in backend systems, proficiency in Python and C++, and a record of leading collaborative teams. You will... 
    Senior

    Valid8 Financial, Inc.

    San Francisco, CA
    5 days ago
  • $170k - $220k

     ...Senior AI Systems Engineer — Agentic Platforms Venice, CA, San Francisco, Hybrid, Remote The Moment The role of the software engineer...  ...your resume. You: Have built and operated complex backend or distributed systems in production Have built LLM-powered... 
    Senior
    Remote work
    Shift work

    Kindo

    San Francisco, CA
    3 days ago
  • A technology firm based in San Francisco is seeking an AI Research Engineer to join their AI Engineering team. In this role, you'll design systems to enhance model performance and orchestration, impacting competitive edge. The ideal candidate has strong programming skills... 
    Senior

    TRM Labs

    San Francisco, CA
    4 days ago
  • A leading AI company in San Francisco seeks a Member of Technical Staff focusing on Multimodal...  ...include designing multimodal systems, conducting cutting-edge research, and collaborating...  ...should have exceptional software engineering skills, experience in multimodal applications... 
    Senior
    Remote job

    Cohere

    San Francisco, CA
    1 day ago
  • $160k - $230k

    A leading AI-driven company in San Francisco is seeking a Senior Engineer to take ownership of core AI systems and drive their architectural decisions. The ideal candidate will have 3-6 years of experience in software engineering, particularly with LLM applications and... 
    Senior

    Harper

    San Francisco, CA
    2 days ago
  • $325k

    Anthropic is seeking a Reliability Engineer to enhance the resilience of AI systems. The successful candidate will develop Service Level Objectives and design observability systems while leading incident responses for critical services. The ideal candidate has a strong... 
    Senior

    Menlo Ventures

    San Francisco, CA
    5 days ago
  • Natera is hiring a Senior Agentic Systems Engineer in San Carlos, CA. This on-site position focuses on designing and deploying advanced Artificial Intelligence orchestration platforms. The successful candidate will collaborate with product teams and ML engineers, utilizing... 
    Senior

    ChatGPT Jobs

    San Francisco, CA
    2 days ago
  • Orum is seeking experienced software engineers to lead AI-powered product features from concept to production. You will develop LLM-based systems to provide real-time insights and coaching during calls, shaping the future of sales technology. The ideal candidate has over... 
    Senior

    Orum

    San Francisco, CA
    5 days ago
  • A cutting-edge health technology company in California is seeking an engineer to build AI agents for doctor’s offices. The ideal candidate will work on full-stack systems that handle real money and patient data. Responsibilities include diagnosing production incidents and... 
    Senior

    Lassie

    San Francisco, CA
    4 days ago
  • Amplitude is looking for a Senior AI Software Engineer to lead the design and development of AI-powered applications for HR systems. This role involves creating custom applications that optimize workflows and requires proficiency in Python or Node.js, along with 5+ years... 
    Senior
    Flexible hours

    Amplitude

    San Francisco, CA
    2 days ago
  • A leading AI CRM company in San Francisco is seeking a Software Engineer to design and implement innovative AI systems. You will collaborate with engineers and product managers to create solutions that impact customers positively. Ideal candidates will have strong programming... 
    Senior

    Salesforce

    San Francisco, CA
    4 days ago
  • Sail is the foundation of useful, agentic AI. We are here to take a big swing at the most ambitious engineering challenge of our careers. Everyone working at Sail will...  ...agent. Let's design and build the rest of the system, that turns billions of tokens into the best possible... 
    Senior
    Work at office
    Immediate start

    Sail Research

    San Francisco, CA
    5 days ago
  •  ...Global, Inc. is seeking a highly skilled Software Engineer to join its expanding team. This role focuses on building AI-enabled enterprise solutions, leveraging Large...  ...Responsibilities include designing intelligent systems and optimizing AI performance across various platforms... 
    Senior

    ManpowerGroup Global, Inc.

    San Francisco, CA
    5 days ago
  • $124k - $280k

     ...Competency: Data, Analytics & AI Industry/Sector: Health...  ...people in data and analytics engineering focus on leveraging advanced technologies...  ...algorithms, models, and systems to enable intelligent decision...  ...for health systems. As a Senior Manager, you will serve as a strategic... 
    Senior
    Full time
    H1b

    PwC

    San Francisco, CA
    3 days ago
  •  ...Senior AI Engineer SF Bay Area (Hybrid) Parasail is redefining AI infrastructure...  ...and tools, incorporating LLMs, embeddings, real-time audio...  ...prototypes into production systems Navigate open-ended...  ...on AI infrastructure or backend systems, such as LLM pipelines... 
    Senior

    Parasail

    San Francisco, CA
    4 days ago
  • $190k - $250k

     ...About Unify Unify is building the first AI-powered system of action for revenue teams, helping...  ...transform outbound into a top-performing growth engine by making go-to-market execution...  ...PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, Pulsar, ClickHouse, LLMs, and more Experiment, assess and... 
    Senior

    Unify

    San Francisco, CA
    4 days ago

Do you want to receive more vacancies?

Subscribe and receive similar vacancies to Senior AI Engineer - LLMs & Backend Systems. Be the first to apply!