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Founding Ai Engineer Jobs in San Ramon, CA (NOW HIRING)

Pear

Founding AI Engineer - Manhattan Labs

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$123K - $169K/yr

Learn more at ;br> Description of the role This is a true founding engineer role . You won't just ship features - you'll define the system. You'll architect and build an AI-native platform that ...

RoboForce

Lead AI Native Engineer

Milpitas, CA · On-site

$116K - $153K/yr

We are hiring a Lead AI Native Engineer to build RoboForce's vertical agents and shared agent foundation. Reporting to the co-founder, you will turn frontier models into systems for strategy and ...

Embedding VC

Founding AI Native Lead

Milpitas, CA · On-site

We are hiring a Founding AI Native Lead, reporting directly to the co-founder and working closely ... Requirements • 5-8+ years across product, engineering, AI workflows, founder office, or Chief of ...

Revic AI

Founding GTM AI Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

As Revic's Founding GTM AI Engineer, you will work directly with Revic's CEO, Head of Revenue, and Head of Engineering to design and build the systems that translate real customer conversations and ...

Navi AI

ML/AI Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

About the role This is a founding AI/ML role. You'll own the intelligence layer that sits at the ... Strong engineering fundamentals - you can build the infrastructure your models need, not just the ...

Clera

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$120K - $250K/yr

About the Role This is a founding engineering role at a YC-backed (Seed stage) enterprise AI company building the agentic operating system for businesses. The platform enables companies to deploy ...

Clera

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$120K - $250K/yr

About the Role This is a founding engineering role at a YC-backed (Seed stage) enterprise AI company building the agentic operating system for businesses. The platform enables companies to deploy ...

Clera

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$120K - $250K/yr

About the Role A YC-backed enterprise AI SaaS startup is looking for a Founding Engineer to join their small, high-output team in San Francisco. The company is building an agentic operating system ...

Clera

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$120K - $250K/yr

About the Role A YC-backed enterprise AI SaaS startup is looking for a Founding Engineer to join their small, high-output team in San Francisco. The company is building an agentic operating system ...

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All JobsFounding Ai Engineer JobsFounding Ai Engineer Jobs in San Ramon, CA

Founding Ai Engineer information

See San Ramon, CA salary details

$28

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How much do founding ai engineer jobs pay per hour?

As of Aug 18, 2026, the average hourly pay for founding ai engineer in San Ramon, CA is $59.93, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $48.37 and $69.57 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.

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Founding Ai Engineer jobs near you

Founding AI Engineer

Thomas Talent Network

San Francisco, CA • On-site

Full-time

Medical

Posted 7 days ago

Job description

About the Company

A seed-stage company (founded 2025) on the frontier of agentic AI for the built world, building the technical leader in AI that checks whether construction blueprints are buildable and safe. Its multimodal agents review blueprints for building-code compliance, becoming domain experts on things like ADA and Wildland-Urban Interface rules — work that directly affects California's built environment within a new hire's first month.

The company grew out of a pro-housing organization in San Francisco, and its mission is to solve the housing crisis: if it wins, the cost of building housing drops meaningfully and rents get more affordable. It's one of very few places in tech where an engineer can work directly on housing, and that mission — shared by its investors — is the single strongest draw. It has raised $4.3M, is the technical leader in its space, and its product demo reliably gets strong engineers excited.

About the Role

A deeply self-directed founding engineering role at a tiny company (three people, moving to two as the CTO transitions out). The bulk of the work is running experiments end to end on the company's eval framework: generating hypotheses, implementing experiments, and analyzing results to improve the accuracy of multimodal agents that check blueprints for code compliance. Demands someone independent and self-unblocking with strong research taste.

Two profiles have worked here: an exceptional software engineer who wants to break into AI research, and an AI/ML engineer already established in the space. The work is heads-down and technical, with only ~2 hours/week talking to users (not a forward-deployed role). Expectations are high: roughly 55 hours/week with weekend availability, in person in SF every day, in exchange for a large chunk of ownership.

What You'll Own
  • Improving the accuracy of the multimodal blueprint-compliance agents — building autoresearch, improving evals, running sweeps on experimental features you design
  • The full experiment loop: ideas, implementation, and rigorous analysis on the eval framework
  • Becoming a domain expert on the parts of the building code that matter (ADA, Wildland-Urban Interfaces, structural and fire safety)
  • Wearing hats as needed: computer-vision experiments, lightweight data engineering, internal tooling, webapp improvements
  • Weekly user contact and product dogfooding (~2 hours/week)
Must-Have
  1. Independent and self-unblocking, able to direct your own work with minimal oversight
  2. High velocity — fast at prototyping and shipping experiments
  3. Rigorous about evaluation, with genuine research taste to steer high-risk, high-reward work
  4. Either a strong SWE eager to grow into ML/AI, or an ML/AI engineer already fast at prototyping
  5. Genuine mission alignment with solving the housing crisis
  6. Able to work in person in San Francisco, ~55 hours/week with weekend availability
Nice-to-Have
  • Background at a self-driving car company (e.g., Waymo, Zoox), where evaluation rigor is life-or-death
  • Experience at highly regulated application-layer AI startups (medical, legal)
  • Experience at climate-tech startups
  • Strong academic background
  • The curiosity of a policy wonk to digest building codes and architectural diagrams
Details

Employment: Full-Time | Location: San Francisco, CA — In-person (daily) | Experience: 2–8 years
Compensation: $160,000–$200,000 base + 0.5–2% equity. Free lunch/dinner, fully paid health with $1,000+/yr employer HSA, commuter ($100/mo) and wellness ($50/mo) benefits. No visa sponsorship.