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Founding Engineer Jobs in Houston, TX (NOW HIRING)

Clera

Founding Engineer ($3M pre-seed)

Houston, TX · Remote

We're building the future of recruiting with AI - and we need an exceptional engineer to join our founding team in our San Francisco hackerhouse. We just raised a $3M pre-seed from top-tier investors ...

Career Launch

Founding Applied ML Engineer

Houston, TX · On-site

$120 - $180/hr

THE ROLE As a Founding Applied ML Engineer, you may work on projects that require strong execution, communication, analytical judgment, and the ability to move quickly in ambiguous environments. This ...

Persona AI, Inc.

Welding Engineer

Houston, TX · On-site

$80 - $100/hr

Persona's founding team has a decades-long history in humanoid robotics, bionics, and product ... We are looking for a Welding Engineer to join our Applications team who has a strong understanding ...

LangChain, Inc

Deployed Engineer (Houston)

Houston, TX · On-site

$150K - $250K/yr

Travel to customers up to 40% of the time What You'll Bring * 6+ years in a relevant technical role (software engineering, customer engineering, solutions engineering, founding/product engineering ...

Persona AI

Process Engineer

Houston, TX · On-site

Senior Process Engineer Department: Manufacturing Reports To: Head of Global Manufacturing ... Persona's founding team has a decades-long history in humanoid robotics, bionics, and product ...

Persona AI, Inc.

Robotics Simulation Engineer

Houston, TX · On-site

$85 - $120/hr

Persona's founding team has a decades‑long history in humanoid robotics, bionics, and product ... We're looking for a Simulation Engineer to own and expand our NVIDIA Isaac Sim and Omniverse ...

Calpine

Senior Engineer - Rotating Equipment

Pasadena, TX · On-site

$109K - $139K/yr

Since its founding in 1984, Calpine has led the power industry in its unwavering commitment to ... Provide engineering services for troubleshooting, maintenance, design, and configuration management ...

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Founding Engineer information

See Houston, TX salary details

$28.6K

$66.2K

$112.7K

How much do founding engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 30, 2026, the average yearly pay for founding engineer in Houston, TX is $66,239.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $49,200.00 and $75,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a founding engineer?

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 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 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 popular job titles related to Founding Engineer jobs in Houston, TX?

For Founding Engineer jobs in Houston, TX, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Founding Engineer jobs in Houston, TX look for?

The top searched job categories for Founding Engineer jobs in Houston, TX are:

Founding Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Founding Engineer job openings in Houston, TX as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 100% Full Time. Highlights an 85% In-person, and 15% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $66,239 per year, or $31.8 per hour.

Founding Engineer ($3M pre-seed)

Clera

Houston, TX • Remote

Full-time

Re-posted 15 days ago

Job description

We're building the future of recruiting with AI – and we need an exceptional engineer to join our founding team in our San Francisco hackerhouse.

We just raised a $3M pre-seed from top-tier investors and are looking for someone to be one of our first engineering hires. This is the real deal: meaningful equity, direct impact on product direction, and the chance to build something massive in a $600B industry ripe for disruption.

What We're Building:

Clera is reimagining how top talent finds their dream jobs. We're already working with leading VC-backed startups like Mintlify, Luminai, and Windsurf – automating the entire headhunting process end-to-end with AI agents.

Thousands of talents engage with Clera every week. We've helped many land roles at companies they're genuinely excited about. Traditional recruiting is broken – we're fixing it with AI-first automation that delivers better outcomes for both candidates and companies.

We're at the perfect inflection point: early enough that you'll have massive ownership and impact, but far enough that we have a working product, paying customers, and strong traction.

The Role:

You'll be engineer #4 on the founding team, working directly with our CTO and the other founding engineers. You'll ship features to production daily and own entire product areas from concept to deployment.

We're building fully agentic systems that automate complex workflows. It's technically challenging, fast-paced, and high-impact.

Your Experience:

  • Very strong software engineering background: Experience in TypeScript and React

  • Strong practical experience working with AI: We work 24/7 in Cursor - ideally you have experience coding with AI. Bonus if you have an experience working with LLM APIs

  • Startup mindset - high agency, resourceful, and obsessed with creating value

Who You Are:

  • Take full ownership of projects, from concept to deployment and do whatever it takes to get the job done.

  • Write code fast and scrap it even faster, but know when to transition to building for scale and quality.

  • Enjoy talking to customers and iterating based on feedback.

  • Are willing to work hard, to create something new with a lot of impact, changing how millions of talents find their jobs in the future.

Tech Stack: TypeScript, React, Cursor, Supabase, Prisma, Typesense, LLM APIs, Trigger.dev

The SF Hackerhouse Setup:

We're living and building together in SF. Zero commute, 10× faster feedback loops, constant collaboration.

It's intense, but it's also incredibly productive and fun. You'll be surrounded by A-players who are all-in on building something great.

Why Join Now:

  • Be engineer #4 – your decisions will shape the entire product

  • True ownership, no micromanagement, shipping to production every day

  • Experienced founders and a team of A Players

  • Meaningful equity in a fast-growing startup

  • Join before we scale 10-100×

  • We can support with visa processes

Compensation: Competitive salary + significant equity

If you're the kind of engineer who wants to build fast, own outcomes, and create something that matters – let's talk.