Founding Engineer Full Stack (Applied AI)

San Francisco CA Full-time On-site $160K - $260K Equity (0.5% - 1.5%)

About the Role

We are redefining the future of voice-based interactions by building highly realistic AI-powered voice agents that enhance customer support order intake and lead qualification across industries. Backed by top investors our AI is already handling millions of calls for leading companies across sales support and logistics.

With $2.7 million in funding and a lean elite team of three we were positioned for rapid expansion. If you thrive in high-growth talent-dense environments and want to shape the technical foundation of an AI-first company this is your opportunity.

Role Overview

As a Founding Engineer youll shape the technical architecture product roadmap and long-term vision. Youll work with cutting-edge LLMs voice systems and scalable infrastructure while interfacing directly with customers and influencing product design.

This role demands an entrepreneurial mindset: we want someone who can move fast solve complex technical challenges and build with ownership.

What Youll Do

• Design and implement scalable full-stack systems (backend-heavy) that power millions of real-time interactions.

• Collaborate with product and design to turn customer insights into elegant technical solutions.

• Contribute to the development of prompt engineering and AI/LLM integrations for production-ready platforms.

• Take ownership of technical decisions infrastructure and reliability at an early stage.

• Act as a core partner in shaping company culture hiring and long-term strategy.

Who were they Looking For

Seniority & Experience

• 36 years as a full-stack engineer ideally spiking on the backend.

• 13 years of experience at high-calibre startups (e.g. Scale AI Figma Notion Databricks).

• Bonus: founder or founding engineer experience.

Education

• Technical degree from a top 20 CS school (or equivalent exceptional background).

Hard Skills

• Proficiency with TypeScript React Python Ruby on Rails PostgreSQL AWS.

• Experience with applied AI and/or prompt engineering for LLM platforms.

Soft Skills

• Creative problem solver with enthusiasm for tough technical challenges.

• Self-motivated independent and proactive in a startup setting.

Other

• Passion for AI innovation constantly learning and experimenting.

• Willingness to work 5.5 days per week in-person in San Francisco (Mon-Fri plus half-day Sundays).

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: $160K $260K

• Equity: 0.5% 1.5%

• Visa sponsorship May Be Possible for exceptional candidates.

• Work directly with world-class founders early customers and cutting-edge AI systems.

Interview Process

1. Intro coding interview (45 minutes)

2. Take-home assignment (23 hours)

3. On-site work trial (full day)

You wont just be writing code youll be shaping the foundation of an AI company from day one.

Apply now to join the journey.

Intake Call Summary

AI Summary

• The company has not announced any new funding and currently has three employees: Catheryn Li her co-founder and one founding engineer.
• They are looking to hire a senior founding engineer with at least three years of experience and a forward-deployed engineer who can be a new graduate.
• The desired candidate for the senior role should ideally have experience at elite tech startups and a strong educational background in computer science or math.
• The compensation range for the founding engineer role is $150000 to $230000 with an equity component of 0.5% to 1.5% going up to 2% for stellar candidates.
• The forward-deployed engineer role involves working closely with customers defining project timelines and building agents with a compensation range of $120000 to $180000 and 0.3% to 1% equity.
• The company values candidates from top schools and those with experience at top tech companies but they are open to candidates from other high work-hour industries like consulting or banking.
• The company operates onsite five days a week with additional half days on Sundays similar to their partners.
• The job postings will be adjusted to a salary range of $160000 to $230000 to attract suitable candidates.
• Simple AI achieved $1 million in ARR in six months with just two team members indicating strong market demand and growth potential.
• They plan to hire up to four new roles focusing initially on two software engineers and one forward-deployed engineer.

Base hire reward$22400 - $36400(2x) 14% first year salary