Founding Full-Stack Product Engineer (AI-Native)
On-Site | San Francisco | Full-Time
$160K–$220K base + meaningful equity
H-1B transfers supported
The Bar
This is a founding engineer seat at an early-stage AI company building core infrastructure for LLM-powered systems.
If you need tight requirements, stable roadmaps, or a slow ramp, this is not the role.
If you ship fast, think clearly, and believe AI-native development changes how software should be built — keep reading.
What Youll Own
End-to-end product engineering: backend, frontend, infrastructure
AI-driven product features (context engineering, internal GenAI tooling)
Telemetry, observability, and system intelligence
Direct interaction with founders and early customers
Fast iteration under incomplete information
You will regularly switch between products, systems, and customer realities. That's the job.
Non-Negotiables
5+ years building and shipping real products as a full-stack engineer
Strong backend bias (60/40 backend/frontend)
Production experience with TypeScript, Node, Next.js
Startup experience where priorities changed weekly — and you still shipped
You actively use AI tools in your daily workflow (not interested in learning)
Clear, concise communicator — in writing and conversation
Strong Signals
Seed to Series A startup experience
Experience with developer tooling, telemetry, or infra-adjacent systems
Public technical thinking (blog, GitHub, X, talks)
Evidence of learning velocity over pedigree
Red Flags (We Will Screen Out)
Long resumes with vague impact
Pure big-tech backgrounds without recent startup experience
Engineers are optimized for promotion cycles instead of ownership
Low-intensity, low-urgency working styles
Candidates who talk about AI but don't use it
Environment
In-person, 5 days/week in San Francisco
High-trust, high-expectation culture
Not a 9–5 shop — consistency and output matter
Small senior team, direct founder access
Interview Process
Founder screen (~15 minutes)
Final on-site loop (up to 4 hours)
Outcome
Best case: you help define a category and build systems that scale with AI.
Worst case: you leave with elite experience, a powerful network, and accelerated growth.