Founding Engineer
Full-Stack — Build the platform. Own the stack.
Confidential · AI Logistics Platform · San Francisco, CA (10th & Market)
This company is building the unified AI operations platform for the physical economy — field services, transportation, retail, and manufacturing. These industries drive $10 trillion in annual economic activity and are finally at an AI inflection point. Its agents replace the manual coordination layer running on emails, spreadsheets, and phone calls at companies that move, make, and deliver physical goods.
Launched in late 2025. Already live with enterprise customers and multi-million-dollar deals in late-stage close. The physical economy operates on razor-thin margins — this platform turns executive AI mandates into measurable revenue and cost impact.
Leadership Pedigree Worth Knowing
The CEO previously co-founded a company in the same vertical and scaled it from $0 to $500M ARR — then left to tackle an even larger opportunity. Investors backed this new venture before there was a product or a single customer. The CTO built engineering teams at multiple top-tier consumer tech companies.
Greenfield Ownership
4 engineers today scaling to ~10. Founding engineers set the technical direction and own the hardest problems end to end — this is not a backlog ticket role.
Real Customer Impact from Day One
Every engineer owns a customer relationship (5–20% of time), gathers requirements directly, and ships platform capabilities that go live in production.
Elite Team Pedigree
The CTO built at multiple top-tier consumer tech companies. High bar, product-oriented culture, fast feedback loops.
Competitive Comp + Real Equity
$200K–$300K base salary plus 0.2–1% equity in a company with a proven founder and a market-defining opportunity.
We are looking for a Founding Engineer (Full-Stack) with 3+ years of experience — or 2+ years exclusively at VC-backed startups — who has owned and shipped end-to-end projects at companies with strong engineering cultures.
You should be comfortable working across the entire stack (roughly 70% backend, 30% frontend) with a track record of building consumer or prosumer products with measurable impact. Bonus if you've worked on AI agents, LLM integrations, or automation platforms.
"This isn't a backlog ticket role. Founding engineers set the technical direction, own the hardest problems end to end, and build the platform that will run on hundreds of AI agents for the largest companies in the physical economy."
- Build and harden core platform capabilities — voice, browser automation, and multi-agent orchestration — powering AI agents executing complex multi-day workflows for enterprise customers
- Own features end-to-end from understanding customer requirements to shipping production-ready code; act as a product owner, not a spec-executor
- Work directly with customers (5–20% of your time) to understand workflows, gather requirements, and translate operational needs into platform improvements
- Reverse-engineer customer systems and build integrations with Salesforce, Outlook, TMS, and ERP platforms into the agentic orchestration layer
- Ship React frontend experiences that make complex AI agent workflows intuitive and delightful for enterprise operations teams
- Collaborate with the founding team (reporting to leadership) to set technical direction and architectural decisions that define the platform for years to come
- 3+ years as a full-stack engineer shipping products across backend and frontend (or 2+ years exclusively at VC-backed startups)
- Experience at FAANG or a faster-paced company (e.g. Databricks, Square) OR a VC-backed startup — early-stage strongly preferred
- Built consumer, prosumer, or internal-facing products with real, measurable user impact
- Owned a medium-to-large project end to end with clear, quantifiable outcomes
- Strong full-stack development skills with proficiency in TypeScript
- Active daily use of AI coding tools — Claude Code, Cursor, or equivalent
- Committed to SF office 5 days/week at 10th & Market (no exceptions)
- Experience building AI agents, LLM integrations, or automation platforms
- Familiarity with LLMs, prompt engineering, or AI tooling (Langchain, etc.)
- Experience integrating enterprise APIs, ERPs, or complex third-party systems
- Degree from a top-20 CS program
- Most recent experience at a legacy software company (IBM, Visa, Oracle, Cisco) or doing tech inside a non-tech company (e.g. AI at a hospital)
- Lifer at a single large company for 10+ years with zero startup exposure
- Multiple sub-one-year stints without a clear explanation
- Needs direction or defined scope to be productive — this role requires self-driven ownership
- Prefers backend-only or frontend-only work — full-stack ownership is non-negotiable
Recruiter Screen (AIONIA)
20–30 minutes covering background, motivation, and what you're looking for. We'll ask about your transition and what you want in your next role.
Technical Interview
Deep-dive with the CTO on full-stack experience, product ownership, architectural decisions, and how you've driven measurable outcomes.
Product Sense Round
How do you approach building for real users? Prioritization, tradeoffs, outcomes. This is where product ownership gets tested.
CEO Chat
Conversation with the founder on mission alignment, ambition, and fit with the founding culture. Fast process — they move quickly.