Founding Engineer
$150k - $220kClera
Job Description
Job Description
About the Role
A seed-funded B2B SaaS startup in the people-data and AI agents space is looking for a high-agency Founding Engineer to build core agent infrastructure and help scale the platform toward a Series A milestone. You'll work directly with the founding team — including the CEO and CTO — owning critical systems that power a people-data and agent platform used by developers and enterprises alike. This is a rare opportunity to shape technical strategy from the ground up at a fast-growing, well-backed startup.
What You'll DoDesign, build, and operate core infrastructure including APIs, LLM-powered workflows, web scraping systems, and large-scale knowledge graph architecture.
Architect and maintain production-grade systems capable of handling millions of API requests, with a strong focus on performance, cost efficiency, and reliability across cloud and Linux server environments.
Own projects end-to-end — from ambiguous problem definition through deployment and iteration — shipping quickly without sacrificing system integrity.
Collaborate directly with the CEO and CTO on technical decisions, roadmap priorities, and foundational architectural choices that define long-term direction.
Contribute broadly across the stack, including developer documentation, technical tutorials, internal tooling, and experimental builds that showcase and stress-test APIs.
Required:
2+ years of experience in full-stack or backend software engineering.
Proficiency in JavaScript and TypeScript.
Experience with agent orchestration, LLMs, or web scraping.
Experience working with Linux servers in a production environment.
Proven track record of shipping code to production supporting a large user base.
Experience building entire products end-to-end, not just isolated features.
Strong computer science fundamentals.
Must be authorized to work in the United States — visa sponsorship is not available.
Must be available to work on-site in San Francisco 5 days per week; relocation is required.
Nice to Have:
Previous experience as a founder or early-stage engineer at a startup.
Familiarity with distributed systems, microservices, data pipelines, or cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP).
Salary: $150,000 – $220,000 USD annually, depending on experience.
Equity participation as a founding team member.
San Francisco, CA — fully on-site, 5 days per week.
Relocation to San Francisco is required for this role.
No visa sponsorship available; must be authorized to work in the United States.
- ...data, automation, and AI to move from insight to execution. Our founding team is led by a visionary leader who successfully built and... ...opportunities in AI. We are looking for a Founding QA / Testing Engineer who thrives in fast-moving, high-ownership environments and is...SuggestedWork at office
- A technology company in San Francisco is seeking a Founding Design Engineer to create intuitive user interfaces. In this role, you'll design in Figma, build reusable components, and develop UI using TypeScript and React. Ideal candidates should have 2-5 years' experience...Suggested
- Gravity Engineering Services Pvt Ltd. is seeking a founding hire for a customer-facing technical role at their AI SaaS startup in San Francisco. This position involves managing customer relationships and building automation workflows to scale operations effectively. The...Suggested
$150k - $250k
Charta Health, Inc. is seeking a Founding Security Reliability Engineer to design and implement robust security frameworks for our innovative AI healthcare solutions. This role is key to ensuring security through automation, threat mitigation, and incident response in...Suggested$150k - $250k
As our Founding Security Reliability Engineer at Charta Health, you'll pioneer the application of Site Reliability Engineering principles to ensure the unwavering security, resilience, and operational excellence of our cutting‑edge generative AI platform. This is a unique...Suggested- Jack & Jill is seeking a Founding Engineer to join a founding team building AI-driven construction tools in San Francisco. You will own the platform end-to-end, architect high-scale Node/TypeScript services, and ship an Electron-based desktop application. You will integrate...
- Turing is seeking a Senior Field Engineer to drive technical sales in STEM. You will lead discoveries, create demos, and manage pilots... ...opportunities into revenue. This role focuses on building processes in a founding team environment, working closely with AI labs. Ideal...
$250k - $380k
Base pay range $250-380k Needl Owner - Helping tech startups scale Founding Hardware Engineer (Stealth Robotics Startup) About Us We’re a tiny, fast-moving team building autonomous systems for heavy industrial machines. We retrofit existing equipment with a plug-and-...Full timeLive outRemote workVisa sponsorshipRelocation package$200k - $250k
Storm2 is looking for a Founding Engineer to join a stealth startup in the Wealth Tech space, specializing in AI Native Portfolio Management tools. The ideal candidate will have deep experience in FinTech, particularly in wealth management, and a proven track record in...- Mentum (Acquired by Nuvocargo) is seeking a Founding Engineer in San Francisco, CA to build AI-driven solutions for supply chain automation. This role offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of the product and tackle complex challenges in AI. You will be responsible...
$130k - $170k
A tech-driven event planning company seeks a Founding Engineer to manage full-stack development and enhance their AI platform. The ideal candidate has experience in modern frameworks and exhibits adaptability in dynamic settings. Responsibilities include expanding the venue...- Hatched Recruitment Group is seeking a Founding Mechatronics Engineer for a robotics startup in San Francisco. You will lead the design and development of advanced robotic platforms, driving productivity at scale. Ideal candidates will have 2-4 years of experience in top...
$130k - $200k
Join us to apply for the Founding Engineer (Systems + ML) role at Partcl . Get AI-powered advice on this job and more exclusive features. This range is provided by Partcl. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more...Full time- Goblin Labs is hiring a Founding Engineer to design, build, and optimise core systems powering real-time AI personas. You will work on low-latency rendering pipelines, multi-modal context handling, and robust integrations with user interfaces. You’ll architect production...Remote jobFull time
- A tech startup is seeking a Founding ML Engineer to build machine learning systems aimed at improving how software engineers operate. The ideal candidate should have experience in ML production processes and strong engineering capabilities. You will collaborate with a...
- Apera is seeking a founding engineer in San Francisco to develop personal eVTOL aircraft, focusing on the flight control architecture from prototyping to full-scale production. You will design flight control systems, lead transition analyses, and ensure safety-critical...
- ...seat aircraft and beyond. The small, high-calibre team includes engineers from leading aerospace and hardware programs, backed by... ...focus on solving hard, meaningful problems in aviation. As a founding engineer, you’ll own the flight control architecture from early...
- Turing in San Francisco is seeking the founding Field Engineering hire reporting to the CRO. You will lead technical discovery and build production-grade code-generation demos for the world’s leading AI labs, bridging frontier research and commercial impact. You’ll define...
- A cutting-edge AI startup in San Francisco is seeking a Founding Engineer with 4+ years of backend experience. You will design and scale backend systems, mentor junior engineers, and tackle technical challenges in the food-tech space. Ideal candidates will have deep expertise...
- A growing tech company in San Francisco is seeking a Founding C++ Systems Engineer to enhance their virtualization stack. This entry-level role focuses on performance optimization and debugging, offering the opportunity to assume leadership responsibilities as the team...
- Stealth AI Startup in San Francisco is looking for a Founding QA / Testing Engineer to build their testing systems from the ground up. You will collaborate closely with engineering and product teams to ensure high product quality in a fast-paced startup environment. The...
- AI Talent Now is looking for a Founding Engineer in San Francisco to develop wearable AI systems for industrial settings. The role is full stack-oriented with responsibilities in core model development, backend work, and customer-facing products. The ideal candidate will...
$120k - $200k
Red Cedar Ventures seeks a Founding Engineer to build the core intelligence behind AutoSitu’s review agents. This role offers a unique opportunity to shape product direction and work closely with founders. You will develop multimodal systems that enhance construction documentation...$180k - $250k
A leading AI language learning platform is hiring a Founding AI Systems Engineer in San Francisco. You will lead the architecture of AI systems that enhance language learning through personalized dialogue. The role requires a systems-thinking background and experience...- Founding AI Engineer | LLM Systems | $500k+ & Equity | SF / Seattle / LA Due to regulatory constraints this role is only open to US citizens. Only a tiny % of AI engineers can build systems where failure actually matters. A venture-backed frontier AI company is hiring...Relocation
- Casa is seeking a founding Senior Backend Engineer in San Francisco to lead the development of robust backend systems and define the culture of our engineering team. You will design and optimize APIs, ensuring scalability and reliability as we grow our member base. If...
$150k - $230k
Triage is seeking a Founding Research Engineer in San Francisco to drive research for AI safety. You'll handle adversarial research, build training data infrastructure, and work on delivering effective detection systems. The role requires strong experience in LLM post-...- A technology company in San Francisco is seeking a Founding Fullstack Engineer to build scalable systems that automate complex decisions in manufacturing. Ideal candidates will have experience with data-driven agents, strong product sense, and the ability to ship production...Relocation
- Syndesus, Inc. is looking for a founding engineer in San Francisco, CA or New York City, NY to shape their AI backbone. You'll process vast datasets and manage end-to-end features from data design to production deployment in secure environments. The ideal candidate has...
$200k
Founding DevOps / Systems / ML Ops Engineer - Physical AI Startup Location: San Francisco, CA (you could work from home up to 2x/week) The company’s product involves physical AI, spatial intelligence, and multimodal LLMs. It is making real world infrastructure (like airplanes...Work from home
Do you want to receive more vacancies?
Subscribe and receive similar vacancies to Founding Engineer. Be the first to apply!
