Founding Engineer Confidential

Founding Engineer — Confidential (AI Startup, YC/a16z-Backed)Location: San Francisco, CA (Onsite, 5 days/week)Compensation: $180,000 – $225,000 base + 1.0% – 1.5% equityVisa Sponsorship: Available — visa transfers supported | Relocation support availableEmployment Type: Full-TimeAbout the CompanyA well-funded AI startup building a new paradigm for software creation — using AI agents to autonomously create and operate specialized software products at scale. Founded in 2026, the company has raised $5.5M from a16z and other top-tier investors and is building out its founding engineering team of 5–7 engineers. The founding team has previously scaled companies to $20M ARR.The RoleThis is a founding engineering role for a generalist full-stack engineer who loves building from zero. You will ship micro apps weekly to real users, encode your processes into increasingly automated workflows, and run rapid experiments with the founding team. All engineers report directly to the founder and CEO.What You'll OwnBuild and ship micro apps every week with real users, encoding your processes into increasingly automated workflowsWork in close collaboration with the founding teamRun rapid experiments and decisively double down on what works while cutting what doesn'tTech stack: Full-stack, AI — Python, JavaScript, Kotlin, Go (flexible on language)Requirements1–5 years of software engineering experience building AI-driven productsExperience shipping products or features from ideation to real users with significant tractionProficiency in agentic development — designing and building orchestration pipelines across multiple agents, tools, and servicesFull-stack proficiency with a backend focusActive user of modern AI tooling (e.g. Claude Code, Cursor, or similar)At least one clear signal of excellence — hackathon wins, side projects with significant traction, impressive fellowships, YC founder background, etc.Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical fieldMust be based in or willing to relocate to San FranciscoPreferredPrevious founder or early-stage startup experience — YC or a16z alum backgrounds a strong plusDegree from a top-tier university (Berkeley, Stanford, CMU, or equivalent)This Role Is NOT ForPretraining or fine-tuning ML researchers — this is applied agentic engineering, not model trainingPure Big Tech careers with no side project, startup, or scrappy chapterCandidates with a pattern of short tenures across multiple companiesInterview ProcessApplication reviewIntro screen (45 min) — technical depth, past projects, judgment, and founder fitPair coding session (60 min) — live coding, no AI tools; CS fundamentals and algorithmic reasoningOnsite (~4 hours) — agentic coding session, system design, and behavioral/founder-fit conversationOfferLogisticsRole is fully onsite in San Francisco (SoMa) — 5 days/weekRelocation support availableVisa sponsorship available#J-18808-Ljbffr

Founding Engineer — Confidential (AI Startup, YC/a16z-Backed)Location: San Francisco, CA (Onsite, 5 days/week)Compensation: $180,000 – $225,000 base + 1.0% – 1.5% equityVisa Sponsorship: Available — visa transfers supported | Relocation support availableEmployment Type: Full-TimeAbout the CompanyA well-funded AI startup building a new paradigm for software creation — using AI agents to autonomously create and operate specialized software products at scale. Founded in 2026, the company has raised $5.5M from a16z and other top-tier investors and is building out its founding engineering team of 5–7 engineers. The founding team has previously scaled companies to $20M ARR.The RoleThis is a founding engineering role for a generalist full-stack engineer who loves building from zero. You will ship micro apps weekly to real users, encode your processes into increasingly automated workflows, and run rapid experiments with the founding team. All engineers report directly to the founder and CEO.What You'll OwnBuild and ship micro apps every week with real users, encoding your processes into increasingly automated workflowsWork in close collaboration with the founding teamRun rapid experiments and decisively double down on what works while cutting what doesn'tTech stack: Full-stack, AI — Python, JavaScript, Kotlin, Go (flexible on language)Requirements1–5 years of software engineering experience building AI-driven productsExperience shipping products or features from ideation to real users with significant tractionProficiency in agentic development — designing and building orchestration pipelines across multiple agents, tools, and servicesFull-stack proficiency with a backend focusActive user of modern AI tooling (e.g. Claude Code, Cursor, or similar)At least one clear signal of excellence — hackathon wins, side projects with significant traction, impressive fellowships, YC founder background, etc.Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical fieldMust be based in or willing to relocate to San FranciscoPreferredPrevious founder or early-stage startup experience — YC or a16z alum backgrounds a strong plusDegree from a top-tier university (Berkeley, Stanford, CMU, or equivalent)This Role Is NOT ForPretraining or fine-tuning ML researchers — this is applied agentic engineering, not model trainingPure Big Tech careers with no side project, startup, or scrappy chapterCandidates with a pattern of short tenures across multiple companiesInterview ProcessApplication reviewIntro screen (45 min) — technical depth, past projects, judgment, and founder fitPair coding session (60 min) — live coding, no AI tools; CS fundamentals and algorithmic reasoningOnsite (~4 hours) — agentic coding session, system design, and behavioral/founder-fit conversationOfferLogisticsRole is fully onsite in San Francisco (SoMa) — 5 days/weekRelocation support availableVisa sponsorship available#J-18808-Ljbffr

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