A cutting-edge technology startup in San Francisco is seeking a first engineer to collaborate with founders in building innovative AI products. This role requires strong full-stack development skills ...
A cutting-edge technology startup in San Francisco is seeking a first engineer to collaborate with founders in building innovative AI products. This role requires strong full-stack development skills ...
Second Engineer ER
San Diego, CA · On-site
$150 - $200/hr
Immediately informing the Chief Engineer and First Engineer ER of any condition or incident affecting vessel safety, operations, or personnel. * Supervising planned maintenance, fault finding, and ...
Second Engineer ER
San Diego, CA · On-site
$150 - $200/hr
Immediately informing the Chief Engineer and First Engineer ER of any condition or incident affecting vessel safety, operations, or personnel. * Supervising planned maintenance, fault finding, and ...
Senior Software Engineer
Concord, CA · On-site
$134K - $177K/yr
You will join the CTO and our first engineer to build and scale the systems powering order management, warehouse operations, fulfillment, and customer-facing workflows. This is a backend-leaning full ...
Quick apply
Senior Software Engineer
Concord, CA · On-site
$134K - $177K/yr
You will join the CTO and our first engineer to build and scale the systems powering order management, warehouse operations, fulfillment, and customer-facing workflows. This is a backend-leaning full ...
Senior Software Engineer
Concord, CA · On-site
$134K - $177K/yr
You will join the CTO and our first engineer to build and scale the systems powering order management, warehouse operations, fulfillment, and customer-facing workflows. This is a backend-leaning full ...
Senior Software Engineer
Concord, CA · On-site
$134K - $177K/yr
You will join the CTO and our first engineer to build and scale the systems powering order management, warehouse operations, fulfillment, and customer-facing workflows. This is a backend-leaning full ...
Product Engineer - New Product, First Owner
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$150K - $400K/yr
Product Engineer - New Product, First Owner Location: San Francisco, CA Compensation: $150,000 - $400,000 + 0.1%-1% Equity Type: Full-Time Visa Sponsorship: H-1B, O-1, OPT Priority: High --- About ...
Product Engineer - New Product, First Owner
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$150K - $400K/yr
Product Engineer - New Product, First Owner Location: San Francisco, CA Compensation: $150,000 - $400,000 + 0.1%-1% Equity Type: Full-Time Visa Sponsorship: H-1B, O-1, OPT Priority: High --- About ...
Product Engineer - New Product, First Owner
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$150K - $400K/yr
Product Engineer - New Product, First Owner Location: San Francisco, CA Compensation: $150,000 - $400,000 + 0.1%-1% Equity Type: Full-Time Visa Sponsorship: H-1B, O-1, OPT Priority: High About ...
Product Engineer - New Product, First Owner
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$150K - $400K/yr
Product Engineer - New Product, First Owner Location: San Francisco, CA Compensation: $150,000 - $400,000 + 0.1%-1% Equity Type: Full-Time Visa Sponsorship: H-1B, O-1, OPT Priority: High About ...
Founding SW Engineer
San Francisco, CA · On-site +1
As the first hire, the work this person does will become core infrastructure and strongly influence our engineering for years to come. This person will likely lead a team as we scale. Expected ...
Founding SW Engineer
San Francisco, CA · On-site +1
As the first hire, the work this person does will become core infrastructure and strongly influence our engineering for years to come. This person will likely lead a team as we scale. Expected ...
Fleet Response Engineer
Mountain View, CA · On-site
$150 - $200/hr
The Role You'll be the first engineer in the loop when something goes wrong on a deployed robot. When the field or operations team hits an issue they can't resolve, they come to you. You'll triage ...
Fleet Response Engineer
Mountain View, CA · On-site
$150 - $200/hr
The Role You'll be the first engineer in the loop when something goes wrong on a deployed robot. When the field or operations team hits an issue they can't resolve, they come to you. You'll triage ...
Preferred : • Prior experience at an early-stage or seed-stage startup, particularly in a founding or first-engineer role. • Knowledge of NLP pipelines, prompt engineering, or frameworks for LLM ...
Preferred : • Prior experience at an early-stage or seed-stage startup, particularly in a founding or first-engineer role. • Knowledge of NLP pipelines, prompt engineering, or frameworks for LLM ...
Floot is a startup looking for their first engineer to work closely with the founders in building their product and shaping the company culture. The role involves developing full-stack features ...
Floot is a startup looking for their first engineer to work closely with the founders in building their product and shaping the company culture. The role involves developing full-stack features ...
iOS Product Engineer
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$200K - $300K/yr
Who We're Looking For * iOS-first engineer. You primarily work as an iOS engineer, even if you've spent time on other platforms or up and down the stack. * Audio/video experience. You've built ...
iOS Product Engineer
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$200K - $300K/yr
Who We're Looking For * iOS-first engineer. You primarily work as an iOS engineer, even if you've spent time on other platforms or up and down the stack. * Audio/video experience. You've built ...
Founding Engineer
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$300K/yr
Think: wearable memory, voice-first interface, the reverse iPhone. * In the past 10 months, we've ... the first engineer , you'll: * Own the full stack (Flutter/React Native, Python, firmware, BLE ...
Founding Engineer
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$300K/yr
Think: wearable memory, voice-first interface, the reverse iPhone. * In the past 10 months, we've ... the first engineer , you'll: * Own the full stack (Flutter/React Native, Python, firmware, BLE ...
Software Engineer
San Francisco, CA · On-site
... engineer at Facebook, Duke grad ... In 2023, Assort became the first voice AI to answer phone calls for patients. Since then, we've ...
Software Engineer
San Francisco, CA · On-site
... engineer at Facebook, Duke grad ... In 2023, Assort became the first voice AI to answer phone calls for patients. Since then, we've ...
The product is built, the first customer relationship is deep, and the pipeline is building. Now we need the engineering foundation to match the ambition. The Role You will be Vindexa's first ...
The product is built, the first customer relationship is deep, and the pipeline is building. Now we need the engineering foundation to match the ambition. The Role You will be Vindexa's first ...
The product is built, the first customer relationship is deep, and the pipeline is building. Now we need the engineering foundation to match the ambition. The Role You will be Vindexa's first ...
The product is built, the first customer relationship is deep, and the pipeline is building. Now we need the engineering foundation to match the ambition. The Role You will be Vindexa's first ...
The product is built, the first customer relationship is deep, and the pipeline is building. Now we need the engineering foundation to match the ambition. The Role You will be Vindexa's first ...
Quick apply
The product is built, the first customer relationship is deep, and the pipeline is building. Now we need the engineering foundation to match the ambition. The Role You will be Vindexa's first ...
Founding Engineer (San Francisco)
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$120K - $220K/yr
Base pay range $120,000.00/yr - $220,000.00/yr As the first engineer at TraceRoot, you'll work side‑by‑side with the founders to build the product and shape our engineering culture from the ...
Founding Engineer (San Francisco)
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$120K - $220K/yr
Base pay range $120,000.00/yr - $220,000.00/yr As the first engineer at TraceRoot, you'll work side‑by‑side with the founders to build the product and shape our engineering culture from the ...
Senior DevOps Engineer
El Segundo, CA · On-site
$150 - $200/hr
As we scale toward hundreds of thousands of monitored patients, that substrate is ready for dedicated ownership, and you will be the first engineer whose full attention is on it. What you'll own
Senior DevOps Engineer
El Segundo, CA · On-site
$150 - $200/hr
As we scale toward hundreds of thousands of monitored patients, that substrate is ready for dedicated ownership, and you will be the first engineer whose full attention is on it. What you'll own
Senior Software Engineer (Experiment)
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$125 - $150/hr
You think like a product builder first, engineer second * You're constantly reinventing how you work, using cutting‑edge tools and workflows to achieve outsized results * You're energized by ...
Senior Software Engineer (Experiment)
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$125 - $150/hr
You think like a product builder first, engineer second * You're constantly reinventing how you work, using cutting‑edge tools and workflows to achieve outsized results * You're energized by ...
Software Engineer, Product
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$250/hr
You'll frequently be the first engineer on a given idea, which means real ownership over both the technical direction and the product itself. We're looking for someone who is energized by ambiguity ...
Software Engineer, Product
San Francisco, CA · On-site
$250/hr
You'll frequently be the first engineer on a given idea, which means real ownership over both the technical direction and the product itself. We're looking for someone who is energized by ambiguity ...
First Engineer information
See California salary details
$38.5K - $47.3K
3% of jobs
$47.3K - $56.2K
3% of jobs
$56.2K - $65K
4% of jobs
$65K - $73.8K
7% of jobs
$73.8K - $82.7K
6% of jobs
$83.4K is the 25th percentile. Wages below this are outliers.
$82.7K - $91.5K
6% of jobs
The median wage is $99.5K / yr.
$91.5K - $100.3K
21% of jobs
$100.3K - $109.2K
4% of jobs
$114.9K is the 75th percentile. Wages above this are outliers.
$109.2K - $118K
29% of jobs
$118K - $126.9K
2% of jobs
$126.9K - $135.7K
13% of jobs
$38.5K
$100.4K
$135.7K
How much do first engineer jobs pay per year?
What is the difference between First Engineer vs Mechanical Engineer?
| Aspect | First Engineer | Mechanical Engineer |
|---|---|---|
| Required Credentials | Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field; often requires experience in project management | Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering; may require licensure or certification |
| Work Environment | Construction sites, industrial plants, or project sites; often involved in overseeing initial phases of projects | Design offices, manufacturing plants, or R&D labs; focused on design, analysis, and testing |
| Employer & Industry Usage | Construction, oil & gas, or heavy industry; used for lead or senior roles in project initiation | Manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, and energy sectors; common for design and development roles |
First Engineers typically oversee early project phases and require experience in project management, while Mechanical Engineers focus on design, analysis, and testing within manufacturing or R&D environments. Both roles require engineering degrees but differ in responsibilities and work settings.
How to get a first engineer job?
What do beginner first engineers do?
What does a first engineer do?
What cities in California are hiring for First Engineer jobs?
Cities in California with the most First Engineer job openings:

First Engineer -- Build AI Platform & Open‑Source Tools (San Francisco)
San Francisco, CA • On-site
Full-time
This job post has expired today. Applications are no longer accepted.
Job description
A cutting-edge technology startup in San Francisco is seeking a first engineer to collaborate with founders in building innovative AI products. This role requires strong full-stack development skills, particularly with React, TypeScript, and Node.js. Candidates should have a builder mindset and be able to work quickly within a startup environment. You will engage with users, ship new features rapidly, and maintain open-source projects as part of a dynamic team culture.
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