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Founding Ai Engineer Jobs in Arizona (NOW HIRING)

EQL Tech

AI Engineer

Phoenix, AZ · On-site

$125K - $175K/yr

You will work alongside top talent, including a founding engineer who did AI research at MILA and at Elon Musk's SpaceX school, a Head of Risk from Mercury, Stripe, and Circle, and a Payments ...

EQL Tech

AI Engineer

Phoenix, AZ · On-site

$125K - $175K/yr

You will work alongside top talent, including a founding engineer who did AI research at MILA and at Elon Musk's SpaceX school, a Head of Risk from Mercury, Stripe, and Circle, and a Payments ...

EQL Tech

AI Engineer

Phoenix, AZ · On-site

$125K - $175K/yr

You will work alongside top talent, including a founding engineer who did AI research at MILA and at Elon Musk's SpaceX school, a Head of Risk from Mercury, Stripe, and Circle, and a Payments ...

Inficare Technologies

Lead AI Engineer

Phoenix, AZ · On-site

$99K - $131K/yr

Experience as a founding engineer or early technical leader in AI-driven products. * Demonstrated success delivering technically complex autonomous systems that customers actively rely on.

American Express

Sr AI Engineer I

Phoenix, AZ

$103K - $142K/yr

As a Senior AI Engineer - Agentic AI, you will be a core builder responsible for turning complex ... Experience as a founding engineer or early technical contributor in high-growth environments.

American Express

Sr AI Engineer I - Agentic AI

Phoenix, AZ · On-site

$103K - $142K/yr

Experience as a founding engineer or early technical contributor in high-growth environments ... Build agentic AI systems that reason over context, invoke tools, take real actions, and recover ...

American Express

Sr AI Engineer II - Agentic AI

Phoenix, AZ · On-site

$103K - $142K/yr

Experience as a founding engineer or early technical contributor in high-growth environments ... Build agentic AI systems that reason over context, invoke tools, take real actions, and recover ...

EQL Tech

Founding GTM Engineer

Phoenix, AZ

$120K - $170K/yr

Founding GTM Engineer (Series A Fintech / EdTech) Location: San Francisco, CA or Phoenix, AZ (In ... Engineering & Risk: Former leads and AI researchers from Stripe, Mercury, SpaceX (Ad Astra ...

EQL Tech

Founding GTM Engineer

Phoenix, AZ · On-site

$120K - $170K/yr

Founding GTM Engineer (Series A Fintech / EdTech) Location: San Francisco, CA or Phoenix, AZ (In ... Engineering & Risk: Former leads and AI researchers from Stripe, Mercury, SpaceX (Ad Astra ...

HomeHero Alliance, Inc.

Be Seen First

Co-Founder & Founding CTO -- HomeHero Alliance

Phoenix, AZ · On-site

$80K - $120K/yr

Our proprietary Y-ScoreTM and LendHero Score (LHS) systems deliver AI-driven creditworthiness and ... Recruiting, managing, and leading a growing engineering team (5+ direct reports as we scale)

EQL Tech

Infrastructure Engineer

Phoenix, AZ · On-site

$125K - $175K/yr

You will work alongside top talent, including a founding engineer who did AI research at MILA and at Elon Musk's SpaceX school, a Head of Risk from Mercury, Stripe, and Circle, and a Payments ...

EQL Tech

Infrastructure Engineer

Phoenix, AZ · On-site

$125K - $175K/yr

You will work alongside top talent, including a founding engineer who did AI research at MILA and at Elon Musk's SpaceX school, a Head of Risk from Mercury, Stripe, and Circle, and a Payments ...

EQL Tech

Infrastructure Engineer

Phoenix, AZ · On-site

$106K - $140K/yr

You will work alongside top talent, including a founding engineer who did AI research at MILA and at Elon Musk's SpaceX school, a Head of Risk from Mercury, Stripe, and Circle, and a Payments ...

Carvana

Senior Software Engineer

Tempe, AZ · On-site

$117K - $154K/yr

... our founding, driving us to become the 3rd fastest company in history to organically reach the ... AI-driven customer support across chat, email, SMS, and voice, as well as a proprietary CRM ...

EQL Tech

Infrastructure Engineer

Phoenix, AZ · On-site

$106K - $140K/yr

You will work alongside top talent, including a founding engineer who did AI research at MILA and at Elon Musk's SpaceX school, a Head of Risk from Mercury, Stripe, and Circle, and a Payments ...

Carvana

Senior Software Engineer

Tempe, AZ

$117K - $154K/yr

... our founding, driving us to become the 3rd fastest company in history to organically reach the ... AI-driven customer support across chat, email, SMS, and voice, as well as a proprietary CRM ...

Carvana

Senior Software Engineer

Tempe, AZ · On-site

$117K - $154K/yr

... our founding, driving us to become the 3rd fastest company in history to organically reach the ... AI-driven customer support across chat, email, SMS, and voice, as well as a proprietary CRM ...

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All JobsFounding Ai Engineer JobsFounding Ai Engineer Jobs in Arizona

Founding Ai Engineer information

See Arizona salary details

$23

$49

$71

How much do founding ai engineer jobs pay per hour?

As of Aug 31, 2026, the average hourly pay for founding ai engineer in Arizona is $49.98, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $40.34 and $58.03 per hour, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a founding AI engineer?

A Founding AI Engineer is an early member of a startup's technical team, responsible for designing, building, and implementing artificial intelligence systems that form the core of the company's product or service. This role often involves working closely with company founders to set technical direction, make key architectural decisions, and develop scalable machine learning solutions from the ground up. Founding AI Engineers are expected to wear multiple hats, contribute to both research and engineering efforts, and help establish best practices as the company grows. They play a crucial role in shaping the company's technology culture and long-term vision.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a founding AI engineer?

To thrive as a Founding AI Engineer, you need deep expertise in machine learning, software engineering, and algorithm development, typically supported by an advanced degree in computer science or a related field. Proficiency with frameworks like TensorFlow or PyTorch, cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP), and version control systems is essential, along with experience deploying AI models to production. Strong problem-solving, adaptability, and entrepreneurial mindset distinguish top performers in this role. These skills are vital for building innovative AI solutions from the ground up, shaping product direction, and driving early-stage company success.

What are some unique challenges a founding AI engineer might face in an early-stage startup environment?

As a Founding AI Engineer in a startup, you'll often be responsible for both building core AI systems and setting up foundational engineering practices. Unique challenges include balancing rapid prototyping with long-term scalability, working with limited resources, and defining the technical roadmap alongside product priorities. You'll likely collaborate closely with founders, product managers, and sometimes even customers, making adaptability and strong communication essential. This role offers significant autonomy but also requires comfort with ambiguity and frequent shifts in direction as the company grows.

What is the difference between Founding Ai Engineer vs AI Engineer?

AspectFounding Ai EngineerAI Engineer
Required CredentialsBachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, AI, or related fields; experience in AI developmentBachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, AI, or related fields; experience in AI development
Work EnvironmentStartup or early-stage company, often in a founding or core team roleEstablished companies, tech firms, or startups with ongoing AI projects
Employer & Industry UsageFounding AI roles are common in startups and new venturesWidely used across industries including tech, finance, healthcare, and more

The main difference is that a Founding AI Engineer is typically an early team member in a startup, often involved in shaping the company's AI strategy from the ground up, whereas an AI Engineer generally works within established organizations on ongoing AI projects. Both roles require similar technical credentials but differ in scope, environment, and level of responsibility.

What are popular job titles related to Founding Ai Engineer jobs in Arizona?

For Founding Ai Engineer jobs in Arizona, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Founding Ai Engineer jobs in Arizona look for?

The top searched job categories for Founding Ai Engineer jobs in Arizona are:

What cities in Arizona are hiring for Founding Ai Engineer jobs?

Cities in Arizona with the most Founding Ai Engineer job openings:

Founding Ai Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Founding Ai Engineer job openings in Arizona as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 78% Full Time, 18% Part Time, 2% Temporary, and 2% Contract. Highlights an 63% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 33% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $103,954 per year, or $50 per hour.

AI Engineer

Phoenix, AZ • On-site

EQL Tech
See more jobs at EQL Techexternal

$125K - $175K/yr

Full-time

Re-posted 20 days ago

Job description

AI Engineer
Location: San Francisco, CA or Phoenix, AZ (In-Office)
Partnership: EQL Tech has been exclusively retained by a high-growth technology startup to appoint a mission-critical AI Engineer to own the brand feel of the company and the movement they're building.
About the Company & The Mission
EQL Tech is proud to represent a highly ambitious, well-funded startup that has raised $16M from top-tier VCs and angels. The company is building the financial rails to help families access new State education funds (known as ESAs or School Choice Funds).
The $900B US Public Education budget is being opened up for parents to take control of their portion, which averages $7.5k per kid per year. Ambitious homeschool parents are already using these funds to piece together their dream education experience. Helping them access these funds is Step 1 in the journey to build the next-gen education system. The company treats this as their life's work and has already rejected an acquisition offer because they care about this being done right.
The Team
You will be joining an in-person company, working together in the office.
  • The Founders: The founders are engineers who have run their own alternative school together. One previously worked as a Quant at Goldman Sachs, and the other built the computer vision system for the largest smart warehousing company globally, serving 1M customers/day at age 19.
  • The Core Team: You will work alongside top talent, including a founding engineer who did AI research at MILA and at Elon Musk's SpaceX school, a Head of Risk from Mercury, Stripe, and Circle, and a Payments Engineer from Microsoft and Goldman Sachs. The team also includes the former Deputy Director at Arizona's ESA department and leading school choice advocates.
The Role: AI Engineer
As AI Engineer, you will work directly under the Head of AI - a researcher with experience at one of the world's leading ML research labs - to build and ship the intelligence layer that powers the product. AI is not a feature here; it is the core of how families get instant eligibility decisions, and how the company scales compliance without scaling headcount. You will own AI products end-to-end, from first prototype to production.
As AI Engineer, you will:
  • Build MVPs from scratch: take new AI products from zero to real users - both consumer-facing and internal tooling - with minimal hand-holding and a high bar for quality
  • Optimise accuracy and latency: tune LLM and VLM pipelines, and classical ML models where appropriate, to meet the standards a regulated fintech product demands
  • Create robust evals: build evaluation frameworks that make AI behaviour measurable, reproducible, and improvable over time - so regressions are caught before users feel them
  • Read data and fix mistakes: diagnose real-world AI failures by going directly into the data, making ad-hoc corrections, and closing the loop fast
  • Build endpoints and tooling: surface AI capabilities to teammates in reliable, well-documented ways so the whole team can move faster without depending on you for every query
  • Work across the full AI stack: primarily LLM and VLM-based in early stages, with scope to fine-tune or train models from scratch as individual products mature and optimisation demands it

Requirements
Your Profile
  • Biased toward simplicity: you know that managing many AIs gets complex fast - you resist unnecessary abstraction and build systems that are easy to reason about and maintain
  • Values old and new AI equally: you recognise the tradeoffs between prompting, fine-tuning, and training from scratch - and you pick the right tool for the job rather than defaulting to the latest trend
  • User-obsessed: AI is the blocker to a good number of AHA moments in the product - you keep the end-user in mind in every technical decision, not just the benchmark
  • No task beneath you: reading data, making database edits to correct AI mistakes, writing evals for edge cases - you treat this as essential product work, not a distraction from "real" engineering
  • Comfortable with ambiguity: you can scope your own work, define your own quality bar, and ship without waiting to be unblocked
  • Able to work in-person with the team in San Francisco, CA or Phoenix, AZ (visa support available)
  • Experience with LLM APIs, vector databases, fine-tuning pipelines, or evaluation frameworks is a strong plus

Benefits
Commitment, Compensation & Benefits
This will be a big commitment, and we're aiming high. It needs to be something you are energised about taking on, or this isn't the team for you.
  • Competitive Salary: $125,000 - $175,000 per year, commensurate with experience.
  • Generous Founding Equity: We compensate you well with equity.
  • Top-Tier Backing: We've raised $16M from top-tier VCs and angels.
  • Relocation Support: You are willing to relocate to San Francisco, CA, or Phoenix, AZ, and travel to visit customers. We're an in-person company and are in the office together.
  • Comprehensive Visa Sponsorship: If you do not have a visa, we can support you.
  • Unmatched Impact: The rare opportunity to directly shape how the $900B US Public Education budget is being opened up for parents to take control of their portion (avg. $7.5k/kid/year).

Apply