Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site · Full-timeCompensation: $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