A Y Combinator-backed AI startup is looking for a Founding Engineer – Full Stack to join a small founding team at the ground floor. The company operates at the intersection of AI research, product, and engineering — building tools that help brands understand and shape how large language models perceive and represent them. This is a rare opportunity to co-define engineering culture and practices from day one in a fast-moving, high-impact environment.
What You’ll Do
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Own problems end-to-end — from customer insight and product requirements all the way through research and infrastructure.
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Maintain a tight feedback loop with customers and the founding team; ship features quickly and iteratively.
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Help define and shape the engineering team’s culture, patterns, and best practices.
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Continuously explore and reinvent how engineering teams work effectively alongside AI agents.
What We’re Looking For
Required
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1+ years of experience on engineering teams (2+ preferred), including at least one stint longer than 18 months in a strong startup or scale-up environment.
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Full-stack proficiency — comfortable owning customer-facing UI through to infrastructure.
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Hands-on experience with React, Python, Terraform, and AWS.
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Experience building agentic systems or working with LLMs in production.
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Strong product sense and design instincts; able to translate customer needs into shippable features.
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Startup experience or self-driven personal projects that demonstrate initiative and high agency.
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Must be a US citizen or have US work authorization (no visa sponsorship for candidates outside the US).
Nice to Have
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Scientific or academic research background.
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Direct customer-facing experience in a technical role.
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Enthusiasm for adopting AI-powered coding and productivity tools.
Compensation & Benefits
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Salary: $150,000 – $250,000 USD annually (depending on experience)
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Early-stage equity
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Visa sponsorship available for eligible candidates
Location
This role is on-site in San Francisco, CA. Candidates must be based in or willing to relocate to San Francisco.