Founding Engineer

Job Description

Groundbreaking AI Commercialisation Platform | Founding Engineer | New York / San Francisco | USD 250,000 + 0.5-1% Equity

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About the Company:

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Our partner, an innovative early-stage start-up, is building the essential commercial layer between information owners and AI agents. They are dedicated to enabling content creators to effectively price, license, and securely deliver their valuable data to the burgeoning AI ecosystem. Their platform offers sophisticated features such as usage-based dynamic pricing, granular access rights per agent, and comprehensive usage visibility, ensuring fair compensation and controlled distribution. With a six-figure paid pilot already underway with a major content owner and a second enterprise customer secured, they are poised for rapid growth with a seed round planned. They are now seeking a visionary Founding Engineer to join their team in either San Francisco or New York.

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About the Role:

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This is a pivotal opportunity for an exceptional engineer to become the very first in-house technical hire, taking ownership of critical architectural decisions and driving the core product development from the ground up. You will be instrumental in building out the commercial infrastructure that empowers AI agents to securely access and utilise proprietary information. This role is ideal for a hands-on engineer with a strong bias for action, who thrives in ambiguous environments and is eager to shape the technical foundation of a truly disruptive platform. You will be writing code daily, contributing across the stack, and directly impacting the strategic direction and success of the company.

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Responsibilities:

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• Define and implement major architectural decisions for the core commercial platform.
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• Design and develop robust APIs, search, and retrieval systems for content delivery.
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• Build and deploy production-grade AI agents, particularly leveraging Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG).
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• Construct scalable data pipelines for metering, usage tracking, and analytics.
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• Develop critical infrastructure for metering, permissions, and payment processing.
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• Contribute across the full stack, from backend services to front-end integrations.
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• Collaborate closely with founders to translate product vision into technical execution.
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Requirements:

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• 4-6 years of professional software engineering experience, with daily coding involvement.
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• Proven track record of joining an early-stage start-up (pre-seed to Series A) and building from zero-to-one.
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• Hands-on experience building and deploying AI agents in production, specifically RAG systems.
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• Strong expertise in designing and implementing data pipelines.
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• Excellent technical fundamentals, backed by a rigorous degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or Physics.
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• Demonstrable full-stack development capabilities and a hands-on approach.
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• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and making critical decisions in a fast-paced environment.
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Compensation and benefits:

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• Highly competitive base salary of USD 250,000.
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• Significant equity ownership ranging from 0.5% to 1%.
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• Opportunity to be the first in-house engineer, shaping the technical direction.
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• Direct impact on product and business strategy from day one.
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• Exposure to cutting-edge AI commercialisation and marketplace dynamics.
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• Work in a dynamic, fast-moving start-up environment.
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• Located in San Francisco (preferred) or New York.
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