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Founder Founding Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

The ideal candidate has built and shipped agentic AI systems as a founder, as a founding engineer, or as part of an industry research lab. You are high agency, know how to attack a problem, and can ...

Product Engineer

New York, NY · On-site

$200K - $300K/yr

Prior experience as a founder/founding engineer, tech-lead, or product manager. Who you are: * Identify as a builder. * Are excited to work in-person from our new and spacious office in New York.

Founding AI Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $250K/yr

The ideal candidate has built and shipped agentic AI systems as a founder, as a founding engineer, or as part of an industry research lab. You are high agency, know how to attack a problem, and can ...

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$140K - $225K/yr

... years of software engineering experience (new grads encouraged since pet projects count ... As a founding member of our team, you'll get to experience all the great parts of being a founder ...

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How much do founder founding engineer jobs pay per hour?

As of Jun 11, 2026, the average hourly pay for founder founding engineer in the United States is $37.14, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $28.61 and $44.47 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What engineers make $300,000 a year?

Senior software engineers, especially those with expertise in areas like machine learning, cloud computing, or cybersecurity, can earn $300,000 or more annually. High-level engineering roles often require advanced skills, extensive experience, and sometimes leadership responsibilities or stock options in tech companies.

Can a founder be a founding engineer?

Yes, a founder can also serve as a founding engineer, especially in early-stage startups where the founder often takes on technical roles. This dual role allows the founder to directly contribute to product development and technical decisions while establishing the company's foundation.

What are Founder Founding Engineers?

Founder Founding Engineers are technical professionals who join a startup at its earliest stages, often as co-founders or first hires, and play a critical role in building the company's initial product and technical foundation. They are responsible for designing, developing, and scaling the core technology while also contributing to the overall business strategy. These roles require a mix of technical expertise, entrepreneurial spirit, and adaptability, as they help shape the company's direction and culture from the ground up.

How much do startup founding engineers make?

Startup founding engineers often receive a combination of salary, equity, and bonuses, with salaries typically ranging from $80,000 to $150,000 annually depending on experience and funding stage. Equity stakes can significantly increase total compensation if the startup succeeds. Early-stage founders may accept lower salaries in exchange for larger equity shares and the opportunity to shape the company's growth.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Founder or Founding Engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Founder or Founding Engineer, you need a strong background in software development, product architecture, and startup operations, often supported by experience in launching or scaling technology products. Familiarity with cloud platforms, version control systems, programming frameworks, and sometimes startup accelerators or entrepreneurial coursework is highly beneficial. Exceptional problem-solving, adaptability, resilience, and leadership set standout candidates apart in this position. These skills and qualities are crucial for building innovative products, driving early-stage growth, and navigating the uncertainty of startup environments.

What is the difference between Founder Founding Engineer vs CTO?

AspectFounder Founding EngineerCTO
Required credentialsTechnical expertise, startup experienceTechnical background, leadership skills
Work environmentEarly-stage startup, hands-on roleGrowing company, strategic leadership
Employer and industry usageStartup founders, tech companiesEstablished companies, tech industry
Common search intentUnderstanding startup technical rolesLeadership in tech companies

The Founder Founding Engineer is typically a technical co-founder involved in building the product from the ground up in a startup environment. In contrast, a CTO often holds a leadership role overseeing technology strategy in more established or growing companies. While both roles require strong technical skills, the Founding Engineer is more hands-on and involved in daily development, whereas the CTO focuses on strategic planning and team management.

What engineer makes $500,000 a year?

Highly experienced senior engineers, such as principal or staff engineers in specialized fields like software or systems engineering, can earn $500,000 or more annually, especially in large tech companies or with significant stock options and bonuses. Achieving this level typically requires advanced skills, leadership responsibilities, and a strong track record of impact.

What are some common challenges faced by Founder Founding Engineers when balancing technical development with strategic business goals?

Founder Founding Engineers often juggle building the core product while shaping the startup’s overall vision and direction. One of the main challenges is allocating time between hands-on coding, setting up scalable systems, and addressing business priorities like fundraising or customer acquisition. It requires clear communication with co-founders, adaptability to shifting priorities, and the ability to make technical decisions that support long-term business objectives. Successful Founding Engineers thrive by being proactive, embracing ambiguity, and collaborating closely with both technical and non-technical team members.
Infographic showing various Founder Founding Engineer job openings in the United States as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 100% Full Time. Highlights an 100% In-person job distribution, with an average salary of $77,249 per year, or $37.1 per hour.

Senior Founding Engineer

Firstchoicedrivers

San Francisco, CA

$200K - $250K/yr

Full-time

Medical

Posted 20 days ago


Job description

About the Role

We're hiring a Senior Founding Engineer to help architect and scale the systems behind one of the fastest-growing platforms in conversational AI infrastructure.

This is a deeply technical, architecture-heavy full stack engineering role focused on building systems that operate reliably at massive scale. The platform already handles millions of real-time conversations every month, and the engineering team is looking for someone who has built and optimized production systems operating at that level of complexity.

You'll work directly with the founding team in a highly collaborative onsite environment, owning problems across the stack — from backend infrastructure and database optimization to frontend performance and real-time communication systems.

This role is ideal for engineers who thrive in fast-moving startup environments, enjoy solving large-scale systems challenges, and bring exceptional craftsmanship and intensity to both work and personal pursuits.

About the Company

The company is building the world's first quality assurance and observability platform for conversational AI agents.

Founded by former AI engineers from Microsoft and AWS, the platform enables organizations to simulate, evaluate, monitor, and improve AI voice and text agents before they interact with real customers.

Backed by Y Combinator, Floodgate, and PeakXV, the company has experienced explosive growth since launch:

  • Surpassed $100K ARR within the first month during YC
  • Doubled growth every three months since inception
  • Surpassed $1M in revenue
  • Currently processing millions of calls monthly

Customers include major organizations such as Google, DoorDash, Sallie Mae, and other rapidly growing enterprise customers.

What You'll DoArchitecture & Systems Engineering
  • Architect and develop systems for simulating, analyzing, and evaluating conversational AI agents
  • Build scalable infrastructure capable of handling millions of real-time conversations
  • Design resilient distributed systems using AWS services including Lambda, EC2, WebSockets, and SIP
  • Optimize performance across the stack including database queries, APIs, and frontend rendering performance
  • Reduce bottlenecks and improve platform responsiveness at scale
AI Infrastructure & Product Development
  • Develop pipelines and algorithms that surface insights, detect failures, and evaluate AI behavior
  • Build systems that improve AI reliability, safety, and observability
  • Develop full stack product experiences spanning backend services and frontend applications
  • Work directly with customers to deploy and improve products in real-world environments
Engineering Leadership
  • Establish strong engineering practices across architecture, system design, and code review
  • Contribute to technical direction and long-term scalability planning
  • Collaborate closely with founders in a highly iterative product environment
Required Qualifications
  • 6+ years of full stack software engineering experience
  • Deep expertise across both frontend and backend engineering
  • Strong proficiency in:
    • TypeScript
    • Python
    • SQL
    • AWS infrastructure
  • Strong systems architecture and distributed systems thinking
  • Experience building and optimizing production systems operating at significant scale
  • Experience handling high-throughput systems, large datasets, or millions of requests
  • Strong communication skills and collaborative working style
  • Comfortable operating in fast-paced startup environments
  • Demonstrated obsession/mastery outside of work requiring long-term deliberate practice and discipline
Preferred Visa Status
  • US Citizenship or Permanent Residency strongly preferred
  • H-1B transfers considered
Tech StackFrontend
  • React
  • Next.js
  • Tailwind CSS
  • TypeScript
Backend & Infrastructure
  • Python
  • FastAPI
  • Supabase
  • Redis
  • AWS (Lambda, EC2, WebSockets, SIP)
Voice AI & Real-Time Systems
  • LiveKit
  • Deepgram
  • Cartesia
  • ElevenLabs
  • Gemini
  • WebSockets
DevOps & Tooling
  • CI/CD pipelines
Preferred Qualifications
  • Previous experience as a founding engineer at a YC-backed startup
  • Experience building voice AI or conversational AI systems
  • Strong frontend product design and UI craftsmanship
  • Experience as a technical founder or startup operator
  • Background at high-performance AI or infrastructure companies
Compensation & BenefitsCompensation
  • Base Salary: $200,000 – $250,000 USD
Benefits & Perks
  • Health insurance
  • Gym membership reimbursement
  • $500 desk and workspace stipend
Work Environment
  • Location: San Francisco, California
  • Fully onsite with the founding team
  • Office expansion underway as the company scales rapidly
  • High-intensity, high-ownership startup culture
Why This Role Stands OutMassive Scale Challenges

The platform is already operating at production scale with millions of real-time conversations each month, creating meaningful distributed systems and performance engineering challenges.

Foundational Ownership

You'll directly influence architecture, infrastructure, engineering standards, and product direction alongside the founding team.

Elite Technical Environment

Work with experienced AI and infrastructure leaders from Microsoft, AWS, and top-tier startup ecosystems.

Real Product & Customer Impact

Your systems directly shape the reliability and performance of AI agents deployed into real-world customer environments.

High-Performance Culture

The company values craftsmanship, intensity, curiosity, and people who pursue mastery both inside and outside of engineering.