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Founding Engineer Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $220K/yr

About the Role A seed-funded B2B SaaS startup in the people-data and AI agents space is looking for a high-agency Founding Engineer to build core agent infrastructure and help scale the platform ...

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $220K/yr

About the Role A seed-funded B2B SaaS startup in the people-data and AI agents space is looking for a high-agency Founding Engineer to build core agent infrastructure and help scale the platform ...

Apply Early

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$140K - $200K/yr

You'll be our founding engineer, with an outsized role in how the product, company, and engineering culture evolve. You'll write code, but you'll also: * Talk to customers and join pilot calls * Turn ...

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $250K/yr

This is a true founding engineer role: you'll own core systems end-to-end, set the technical patterns every future hire builds on, and work shoulder-to-shoulder with the founders to ship reliable ...

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This is a founding engineer role on a zero-to-one product with meaningful distribution, regulatory complexity, and infrastructure leverage. You'll work closely with product, design, compliance, and ...

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Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $220K/yr

About the Role A seed-stage AI data infrastructure startup in San Francisco is looking for a Founding Engineer with 1+ years of professional experience shipping to production. This is a foundational ...

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Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $250K/yr

As a Founding Engineer , you'll own problems end-to-end, work directly with founders, and make architectural decisions that shape the core system. This is a high-ownership, high-impact role for ...

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Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $250K/yr

As a Founding Engineer , you'll own problems end-to-end, work directly with founders, and make architectural decisions that shape the core system. This is a high-ownership, high-impact role for ...

Role Description As a Founding Engineer, you'll help shape both our product and our company. You'll work closely with the founders to design architecture, ship features, and define the product vision.

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$175K - $225K/yr

About the Role Join a fast-moving, early-stage consumer AI startup as a Founding Engineer -- a rare, high-impact position working directly alongside the founder. This is a true 1-of-1 opportunity to ...

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Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $220K/yr

About the Role A seed-stage AI data infrastructure startup in San Francisco is looking for a Founding Engineer with 1+ years of professional experience shipping to production. This is a foundational ...

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$175K - $225K/yr

About the Role Join a fast-moving, early-stage consumer AI startup as a Founding Engineer - a rare, high-impact position working directly alongside the founder. This is a true 1-of-1 opportunity to ...

They are seeking a Founding Engineer to architect and scale their core platform, working closely with the CTO to define system architecture and establish engineering standards. Responsibilities : • ...

Interface is looking for generalist founding engineers (ml, data, full-stack) who are scrappy, push boundaries and have a need to win. We need to work hard and build quick to win. We want people to ...

This is a founding engineer role on a zero-to-one product with meaningful distribution, regulatory complexity, and infrastructure leverage. You'll work closely with product, design, compliance, and ...

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$130K - $230K/yr

The opportunity As our Founding Engineer , you will define, build, and maintain the technical foundation of our platform. You will join us in-person in a fast-paced, high-ownership environment where ...

As a Founding Engineer Intern , you'll work directly alongside the CTO to ship features daily and help build a fully agentic system that automates headhunting end-to-end. This role puts you at the ...

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Showing results 1-20

Founding Engineer information

See California salary details

$29.6K

$68.5K

$116.5K

How much do founding engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Jul 1, 2026, the average yearly pay for founding engineer in California is $68,454.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $50,800.00 and $77,500.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the biggest challenges a Founding Engineer typically faces at an early-stage startup?

As a Founding Engineer, you’ll often be tasked with building a product from the ground up while balancing rapid development with long-term technical vision. Resource constraints and evolving product requirements can require creative problem-solving and the ability to prioritize effectively. You’ll work closely with the founding team, making pivotal decisions that shape both technology and culture, so adaptability and a hands-on approach are important. While the environment can be demanding and ambiguous, it also offers unique opportunities to learn, take ownership, and have a major impact on the success of the company.

What is a Founding Engineer job?

A Founding Engineer is one of the first technical hires at a startup, responsible for building the company's core products and setting the foundation for its technology stack. They work closely with the founders, making key architectural decisions, writing production-ready code, and often wearing multiple hats across engineering, product, and strategy. This role requires a mix of deep technical expertise, problem-solving skills, and adaptability to thrive in a fast-paced, early-stage environment.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive in the Founding Engineer position, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Founding Engineer, you need deep expertise in software development, system architecture, and product design, typically backed by experience with startups or building products from scratch. Familiarity with modern programming languages, cloud platforms, and agile tools such as Git, AWS, and Jira is often essential. Exceptional problem-solving, strong ownership mentality, and the ability to communicate clearly in fast-paced, unstructured environments set standout candidates apart. These skills are crucial because Founding Engineers must quickly turn vision into reality, adapt to changing needs, and help establish the technical foundation of a new company.

What are the most commonly searched types of Founding Engineer jobs in California? The most popular types of Founding Engineer jobs in California are:
What cities in California are hiring for Founding Engineer jobs? Cities in California with the most Founding Engineer job openings:
Infographic showing various Founding Engineer job openings in California as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% Internship, 81% Full Time, 14% Part Time, 3% Temporary, and 1% Contract. Highlights an 88% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 8% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $68,454 per year, or $32.9 per hour.

Founding Engineer

Clera

San Francisco, CA • On-site

$150K - $220K/yr

Full-time

Posted 9 days ago


Job description

About the Role
A seed-funded B2B SaaS startup in the people-data and AI agents space is looking for a high-agency Founding Engineer to build core agent infrastructure and help scale the platform toward a Series A milestone. You'll work directly with the founding team - including the CEO and CTO - owning critical systems that power a people-data and agent platform used by developers and enterprises alike. This is a rare opportunity to shape technical strategy from the ground up at a fast-growing, well-backed startup.
What You'll Do
  • Design, build, and operate core infrastructure including APIs, LLM-powered workflows, web scraping systems, and large-scale knowledge graph architecture.
  • Architect and maintain production-grade systems capable of handling millions of API requests, with a strong focus on performance, cost efficiency, and reliability across cloud and Linux server environments.
  • Own projects end-to-end - from ambiguous problem definition through deployment and iteration - shipping quickly without sacrificing system integrity.
  • Collaborate directly with the CEO and CTO on technical decisions, roadmap priorities, and foundational architectural choices that define long-term direction.
  • Contribute broadly across the stack, including developer documentation, technical tutorials, internal tooling, and experimental builds that showcase and stress-test APIs.
What We're Looking For
Required:
  • 2+ years of experience in full-stack or backend software engineering.
  • Proficiency in JavaScript and TypeScript.
  • Experience with agent orchestration, LLMs, or web scraping.
  • Experience working with Linux servers in a production environment.
  • Proven track record of shipping code to production supporting a large user base.
  • Experience building entire products end-to-end, not just isolated features.
  • Strong computer science fundamentals.
  • Must be authorized to work in the United States - visa sponsorship is not available.
  • Must be available to work on-site in San Francisco 5 days per week; relocation is required.

Nice to Have:
  • Previous experience as a founder or early-stage engineer at a startup.
  • Familiarity with distributed systems, microservices, data pipelines, or cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP).
Compensation & Benefits
  • Salary: $150,000 - $220,000 USD annually, depending on experience.
  • Equity participation as a founding team member.
Location
  • San Francisco, CA - fully on-site, 5 days per week.
  • Relocation to San Francisco is required for this role.
  • No visa sponsorship available; must be authorized to work in the United States.