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Founding Ai Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Clera

Founding AI Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$225K - $255K/yr

About the Role This is a founding-level AI engineering role at an early-stage B2B SaaS pricing intelligence startup based in San Francisco. You'll be one of the first engineers on a small, product ...

Hera (YC S25)

Founding AI Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

The Founding AI Engineer will be responsible for building and optimizing AI systems for generating high-quality animations, collaborating with motion designers to inform AI training data, and ...

Hera (YC S25)

Founding AI Engineer

Manhattan, NY · On-site

The Founding AI Engineer will build and optimize AI systems for generating high-quality animations, develop evaluation frameworks, and partner with motion designers to create training data.

Mercator

Founding AI Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$160K - $250K/yr

Role Description As Mercator's first AI/Data Systems engineer, you'll build the core pipelines that transform messy, unstructured inputs into clean, structured, reliable data that powers our entire ...

Kinro (YC P26)

Founding AI Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

Preferred : • Experience with evals, model routing, prompt injection defenses, sandboxing, or other AI systems safety work. • Experience in high-ownership product environments where engineers ...

Readdy

Founding AI PM

Sonoma, CA · On-site

$200K - $250K/yr

Be a strong thought partner to engineering -- not just a ticket writer * Drive quality improvements ... Experience as a founding PM, Head of Product, or equivalent at a startup * Shipped AI-native ...

New

Readdy

Founding AI PM

San Mateo, CA · On-site

$200K - $250K/yr

Be a strong thought partner to engineering -- not just a ticket writer * Drive quality improvements ... Experience as a founding PM, Head of Product, or equivalent at a startup * Shipped AI-native ...

New

Readdy

Founding AI PM

Fremont, CA · On-site

$200K - $250K/yr

Be a strong thought partner to engineering -- not just a ticket writer * Drive quality improvements ... Experience as a founding PM, Head of Product, or equivalent at a startup * Shipped AI-native ...

New

Readdy

Founding AI PM

Santa Clara, CA · On-site

$200K - $250K/yr

Be a strong thought partner to engineering -- not just a ticket writer * Drive quality improvements ... Experience as a founding PM, Head of Product, or equivalent at a startup * Shipped AI-native ...

New

Readdy

Founding AI PM

Hayward, CA · On-site

$200K - $250K/yr

Be a strong thought partner to engineering -- not just a ticket writer * Drive quality improvements ... Experience as a founding PM, Head of Product, or equivalent at a startup * Shipped AI-native ...

New

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Founding Ai Engineer information

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How much do founding ai engineer jobs pay per hour?

As of Aug 6, 2026, the average hourly pay for founding ai engineer in the United States is $53.63, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $43.27 and $62.26 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 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 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 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.

More about Founding Ai Engineer jobs
What cities are hiring for Founding Ai Engineer jobs? Cities with the most Founding Ai Engineer job openings:
What states have the most Founding Ai Engineer jobs? States with the most job openings for Founding Ai Engineer jobs include:
What job categories do people searching Founding Ai Engineer jobs look for? The top searched job categories for Founding Ai Engineer jobs are:
Founding Ai Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Founding Ai Engineer job openings in the United States as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 75% Full Time, 21% Part Time, and 4% Contract. Highlights an 67% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 30% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $111,552 per year, or $53.6 per hour.

Founding AI Engineer

Clera

San Francisco, CA • On-site

$225K - $255K/yr

Full-time

Re-posted 11 days ago

Job description

About the Role
This is a founding-level AI engineering role at an early-stage B2B SaaS pricing intelligence startup based in San Francisco. You'll be one of the first engineers on a small, product-focused team - joining at a formative moment to shape the technical direction of an AI-powered pricing platform used in high-stakes B2B deals.
Your work sits at the intersection of LLM infrastructure, evaluation systems, and revenue-critical product outcomes. You'll build the feedback loops, eval harnesses, and agent tooling that allow a pricing AI to earn trust, remain auditable, and drive measurable business impact for customers.
What You'll Do
  • Design and build eval harnesses and benchmarks that use tracked pricing outcomes as ground truth, supporting release gating against a typed ontology of pricing entities.
  • Systematize and automate expert review workflows currently performed manually.
  • Develop AI personas that simulate B2B buying committees and behavioral effects, leveraging usage data and call transcripts.
  • Automate persona training pipelines that are today manual processes.
  • Own LLM routing across providers (e.g., Anthropic, Google) with explicit cost, latency, and quality tradeoffs.
  • Maintain infrastructure and data residency boundaries (e.g., ensuring EU model calls remain within the EU; SOC2/GDPR compliance).
  • Extend the MCP server used by LLM agents - including customer-facing agents - so that features are agent-driven, not just UI-rendered.
  • Work within a typed ontology of pricing entities (e.g., Pydantic models for SKU, Proposition, Persona, Quote) so model outputs are structured and auditable.
  • Identify and remediate systemic latency, data drift, and cold-start issues in the pricing loop.
What We're Looking For
Dealbreakers
  • 8+ years of engineering experience with strong, recent production LLM depth - including shipping and owning LLM-powered features end-to-end after launch.
  • Must be authorized to work in the United States; visa sponsorship is not available.
  • Hands-on experience building evals and observability for LLM systems - creating eval harnesses, baselining prompts, and supporting release gating.

Required
  • Experience owning LLM infrastructure, including routing across multiple model providers with cost, latency, and quality tradeoffs.
  • Proficiency with structured data models and typed ontologies (e.g., Pydantic) to ensure model outputs are structured and auditable.
  • Full end-to-end ownership of LLM-powered features - from development through production monitoring.
  • Strong communication skills to explain non-deterministic systems to non-technical clients and stakeholders.
  • Product-engineer instincts: ability to scope and deliver pragmatic solutions in a fast-moving environment.

Nice to Have
  • Experience with MCP or building tools/integrations for LLM agents.
  • Familiarity with platforms such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, Braintrust, or OpenRouter.
  • Experience in domains where pricing, billing, or payments accuracy and auditability are required.
  • Familiarity with data residency or compliance controls (SOC2, GDPR).
Compensation & Benefits
  • Salary: $225,000 - $255,000 USD annually
  • Founding-team equity opportunity at an early-stage, high-growth startup
Location
This role is on-site in San Francisco, CA. Candidates must be based in or willing to relocate to the San Francisco Bay Area.

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