Founding Engineer
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Before you apply
LocationSan Francisco, United States
Work modeon-site
Typefull-time
SenioritySenior
Experience3+ yrs
DepartmentEngineering
EquityIncluded
Company size1–10 people
PostedDec 16, 2025 · 10mo ago
Verified live3d ago
May no longer be actively hiring
Posted by the company on Dec 16, 2025
At a glanceSummarised by Seekless from the posting.
3+ years experience, excluding internships, with 1+ year senior responsibilities
Use AI gen to move faster in all aspects of development, but developed deep technical taste before, with strong opinions on systems, code quality, and the craft of software development
Proficiency in one or more backend languages (e.g., Python, Go, Rust, Typescript or similar) and distributed systems concepts, work with databases, etc. You've built apps full stack
Proven ability to thrive in fast-growing, product-driven companies by effectively navigating loosely defined tasks and managing competing priorities
Frontend proficiency and design taste
Excited about working at the earliest stage! Former founder, or early engineer at a startup who has built a product from scratch
Skills
Python
Go
Rust
Typescript
Databases
Gen AI
Benefits
Health insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
401(k)
Equity
Free meals
About the role
tl;dr: This is a 1 of 1 role. We’re looking for a founding engineer to work alongside a Thiel Fellow founder as employee #1 - with 5X more equity than most “founding engineers”
About Empathic
“…but I tell you all today, I would rather die a man than live for all eternity a machine.”
-Bicentennial Man (Asimov, 1976)
The world is trending towards fewer, shallower friendships, meaning more lonely people and less social contact than ever before. Empathic is creating a great friend for everyone on Earth, by digitizing connection, in what we think could be the biggest cultural transition of our lifetime.
Most AI “conversation” today is a robotic, sterile, turn-based interface. We’re building towards a realistic real-time video call medium where AI can be present and proactive, to connect with users. Users will connect not on a new destination, but the iMessage, Facetime, and other native apps they already love.
We’ve raised $2.7M led by BoxGroup and the founder is a Thiel Fellow, YC alum, Stanford dropout who recently sold his last company. We intend to build a engineering-first organization of the highest quality, fully in-person in San Francisco. Think a room full of only the smartest people you’ve met, doing the best work of your life.
Who you are
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3+ years experience, excluding internships, with 1+ year senior responsibilities
•
You use AI gen to move faster in all aspects of development, but you developed deep technical taste before, with strong opinions on systems, code quality, and the craft of software development.
•
Proficiency in one or more backend languages (e.g., Python, Go, Rust, Typescript or similar) and distributed systems concepts, work with databases, etc. You’ve built apps full stack.
•
Frontend proficiency and design taste is a massive plus.
•
You are excited about working at the earliest stage! Former founder, or early engineer at a startup who has built a product from scratch is a plus
•
Proven ability to thrive in fast-growing, product-driven companies by effectively navigating loosely defined tasks and managing competing priorities.
What you’ll do
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Shape the next generation of human-AI interaction with our founder, design, and other engineers.
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Build new systems for memory, retrieval, proactivity, responsiveness, and more
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Work on and integrate the latest internal and external real-time video generation and audio synthesis models
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Build user facing interfaces and features
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Create the bar for engineering quality and help recruit world-class talent.
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Report directly to the founder: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike21/
Interview process
Our interview process is simple, and we can go start to finish in less than one week at fastest:
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20-minute screening call
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2 technical interviews
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Onsite
•
Offer
We always perform reference checks.
Benefits
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Extremely generous equity ownership
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Generous medical/dental/vision, covering most Gold and Platinum plans (via employer ICHRA)
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Free lunch and dinner every day
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Monthly bonus if you live or move close to the office
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401k plus match
•
Obvious things (work computer, things you need to get things done)
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