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Founding Backend Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Fuku

Founding Backend Engineer

New York, NY · On-site

$160K - $200K/yr

*Founding Backend Engineer* *Company Overview* Client is a fast-growing social shopping platform co-founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni. The platform currently serves over 350,000 users and ...

Fuku

Founding Backend Engineer

New York, NY

$160K - $200K/yr

Founding Backend Engineer Company Overview Client is a fast-growing social shopping platform co-founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni. The platform currently serves over 350,000 users and boasts ...

Unsiloed AI

Founding Backend Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $300K/yr

We are hiring a Founding Software Engineer in San Francisco. We are building a small, talent-dense ... Architect, build, and scale core backend systems powering document intelligence and VLM-based ...

NxT Level

Founding Backend Engineer

Manhattan, NY

Founding Senior Backend Engineer (Data Platform / Integrations) Location: New York City -- In-Person The Opportunity Our client is hiring a Founding Senior Backend Engineer to own the data platform ...

NxT Level

Founding Backend Engineer

Manhattan, NY

Founding Senior Backend Engineer (Data Platform / Integrations) Location: New York City -- In-Person The Opportunity Our client is hiring a Founding Senior Backend Engineer to own the data platform ...

NxT Level

Founding Backend Engineer

Manhattan, NY · On-site

Founding Senior Backend Engineer (Data Platform / Integrations) Location: New York City - In-Person The Opportunity Our client is hiring a Founding Senior Backend Engineer to own the data platform ...

Hire Hangar

Founding Backend Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$6.0K - $8.0K/mo

Founding Infrastructure & Reliability Engineer Location | On-Site -- San Francisco, CA Time Zone ... backend systems - Strong debugging ability across services, networking, storage, and cloud ...

Hera

Founding Backend Engineer

New York, NY · On-site

The role We are hiring for a founding backend software engineer to build the systems that power Hera's care platform with rigor, reliability, and long-term scalability. This role is for an engineer ...

Falconer AI

Founding Engineer, Backend

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $250K/yr

We're looking for a Founding Backend Engineer to help us build an AI-powered knowledge platform that companies love. As a founding engineer, you'll have a major impact on our product development ...

SLR Search

Hybrid Senior Backend Engineer

New York, NY · Hybrid

$200K - $250K/yr

... founding or early engineer at a Seed or Series A company. -- Advanced systems expertise including PostgreSQL, async processing, and building agentic LLM-powered automation workflows.

Clera

Backend Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$70K - $100K/yr

About the Role As one of the first backend engineers, you will own core services powering AI voice ... Founding-team equity included * Work Arrangement: Remote, LATAM-based (with US Pacific timezone ...

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Founding Backend Engineer information

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How much do founding backend engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Jul 21, 2026, the average yearly pay for founding backend engineer in the United States is $147,662.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $124,000.00 and $172,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.
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Founding Backend Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Founding Backend Engineer job openings in the United States as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 92% Full Time, 2% Part Time, and 5% Contract. Highlights an 79% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 17% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $147,662 per year, or $71 per hour.
Founding Backend Engineer

Founding Backend Engineer

Fuku

New York, NY • On-site

$160K - $200K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Vision, Life, Retirement

Re-posted 15 days ago

Job description

*Founding Backend Engineer*
*Company Overview*
Client is a fast-growing social shopping platform co-founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni. The platform currently serves over 350,000 users and boasts a 90% retention rate. Phia combines community, personalization, and AI-driven recommendations to revolutionize online shopping. Backed by early investors, Phia offers the opportunity to join a small, mission-driven founding team and help shape the future of social commerce.
*Key Job Information*
- Location: San Francisco or New York City (must relocate to NYC within a few months)
- Work Type: In-person, full-time
- Experience Required: 3+ years
- Salary Range: $160,000 - $200,000 per year
- Visa Sponsorship: H-1B, O-1, OPT
*Role Summary*
As the Founding Backend Engineer, you will own and scale Client's data infrastructure, which powers search, personalization, and recommendations. You will work closely with the CTO and ML engineers to design robust pipelines, architect backend systems, and establish best practices for backend engineering. This is a founding-level opportunity with significant product and technical ownership.
*Responsibilities*
- Architect and implement backend systems for Client's recommendation engine and shopping experience.
- Design and maintain data pipelines for ingesting and processing large-scale datasets from multiple sources.
- Build reusable APIs and microservices for core product features.
- Integrate machine learning models into production in collaboration with the ML team.
- Ensure system reliability, scalability, and maintainability across the backend stack.
- Define and enforce backend engineering standards and technical best practices.
*Requirements*
- Minimum of 3+ years of backend engineering experience.
- Strong proficiency in Python and cloud platforms (AWS/GCP).
- Hands-on experience building data pipelines and microservices architectures.
- Familiarity with Airflow, gRPC, GraphQL.
- Deep understanding of search and vector database technologies, including:
- HNSW (Hierarchical Navigable Small World)
- OpenSearch / Elasticsearch
- Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) frameworks
- Excellent system design and problem-solving skills.
- Must be willing to work in-person in New York City (relocation support provided).
*Benefits & Perks*
- Competitive salary plus founding equity package.
- Comprehensive health, vision, and life insurance.
- 401(k) with company matching.
- Free daily lunches, snacks, and late-night Ubers.
- Opportunity to work directly with founders and early team members, shaping product and technical direction.
*Interview Process*
1. Intro Chat with Head of Recruiting
2. Technical Interview / Intro Chat
3. Coding Interview
4. CTO Interview
5. Onsite Interview (technical + cultural)
6. Offer Extended
7. Hired
*Green Flags (Preferred Qualifications)*
- Experience at large tech companies (Meta, Google, Pinterest, etc.) and scrappy startups.
- Familiarity with Ray, Dask, and Kubernetes.
- Background in machine learning or handling large datasets.
- Proven ability to establish technical best practices and standards.
- Passion for building reliable, high-performance systems that drive business impact.
*Red Flags (Disqualifiers)*
- Only worked at large tech companies (Meta, Google, etc.) with no startup experience.
- Frequent job hopping (tenures less than 6 months).
- Primarily management or non-hands-on engineering roles.
- Unwilling to relocate to New York City within a reasonable timeframe.
*Ideal Companies*
Apple, Meta, Amazon, Pinterest, Google, Robinhood, Ramp, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Spotify
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About Fuku

Sourced by ZipRecruiter

Industry

Food services and drinking places

Company size

51 - 200 Employees

Headquarters location

New York, NY, US

Year founded

2015

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