Founding Engineer

  • San Francisco, California, United States
  • Full-Time
  • On-Site
  • 160,000-200,000 USD / Year

Job Description:

San Francisco, CA · On-site · Full-time Compensation: $160,000–$200,000 + competitive founding equity

About the Company

Our client is the AI-SEO platform that helps retail and e-commerce brands win at AI shopping. As AI replaces traditional search, it gives brands the tools to track how their products appear across AI engines, optimize product data and on-site content for AI recommendations, and enable instant checkout directly inside AI shopping assistants through emerging agentic-commerce protocols. It was founded by a former engineering manager at a leading data company, where they built product-data pipelines for major retailers and marketplaces.

Founded 2025 · 1–10 people (Seed) · Industry: AI Tools

The Role

Founding Engineer — engineer number one, helping shape both the product and the company from an early stage. A high-ownership role: you help decide what gets built, how, and what gets prioritized as the market evolves.

Tech stack: TypeScript, Node.js, Express, React, Next.js; Postgres, Redis, queues / async jobs; browser automation & retrieval infrastructure; LLM APIs, AI agents, MCP servers.

Requirements

  • 3 to 7 years of software engineering at a high-signal company
  • TypeScript and Node.js proficiency
  • AI-agent and LLM-API experience in production
  • Full-stack product-development capability
  • A founding-engineer mindset — high agency and high ownership
  • In person in San Francisco

Nice to Haves

  • A background at a high-signal YC Series A–B company (e.g., Profound, Browserbase, Ramp, Triple Whale, or similar)
  • Has worked at a top data company, a top YC company, or a fast-moving early-stage startup with real ownership and shipped product
  • Has built AI agents or LLM-powered workflows in production, not just experimented locally
  • The profile of someone who would be, or has been, a founder — owns outcomes, not just tasks
  • A top school or exceptional engineering pedigree signaling deep technical ability
  • An active user of AI-native development tools, moving faster because of them

Why Join

  • Engineer #1: a genuine founding seat — not joining a team but building one, shaping architecture, culture, and what gets built from day one
  • A market at an inflection point: AI commerce is moving fast and nobody has fully figured it out — that ambiguity is the opportunity
  • Real ownership and runway: a high-agency role with 2.5 years of runway behind it, direct daily work with the founder, and founding equity

Details

  • Location — San Francisco, CA
  • Work policy — On-site
  • Compensation — $160,000–$200,000 + competitive founding equity
  • Visa sponsorship — Not available
  • Employment type — Full-time