Senior Software Engineer

SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER - SAN FRANCISCO

Job Title: Senior Software Engineer - AI & Real-Time Systems

Location: San Francisco, CA (Onsite)

Salary: $190,000 - $230,000 + 0.5-0.7% equity

We're partnering with a well-funded AI startup in San Francisco - Series A/B, founder-led, small and deliberately so - who are building something genuinely new in the customer support space.

They're using AI, generative tech, and real-time simulation to solve a problem most companies haven't cracked yet: how do you scale human customer support without losing what makes humans brilliant at it?

They need a Senior Software Engineer who wants to own something, not just contribute to it.

This is a hands-on, full-stack role. You'll architect real decisions, ship real features, and work directly with founders who have done this before.

The tech: Next.js, OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Vapi, real-time distributed systems, Docker/Kubernetes, CI/CD.

What makes this different:

• 0.5-0.7% equity - meaningful, not ceremonial
• Direct founder access from day one
• You shape how the product feels, works, and scales
• Small team that takes craft seriously

This won't suit everyone.

You need 4+ years of hands-on engineering experience, ideally from a startup (Series A-C).

You need to be comfortable making architectural calls without waiting for permission.

You need to be genuinely excited about AI integrations - not just familiar with them.

And you need to be able to work fully onsite in San Francisco five days a week.

If you've shipped 0-to-1 products, led technical decisions in small teams, and want your next role to genuinely stretch you - this is worth a conversation.

HFBAC is proud to be partnering on this search.

This is new headcount - a newly created role at a company scaling fast.

Interested? Apply here or connect with Helen Wingrove-Sanders directly at hfbac.com.