Founding Engineer
Founding Engineer (AI / Knowledge Systems) | NYC & Chicago
We're partnered with an early-stage AI company backed by a $4B asset manager that is building the next generation of research intelligence tools for sophisticated, knowledge-driven organizations.
The company was founded by leaders coming from both trading and large-scale technology environments, bringing together deep expertise in quantitative research, software engineering, and AI. Their mission is to help organizations turn fragmented information and institutional knowledge into something searchable, actionable, and operational.
They are now looking for a Founding Engineer to join as one of the earliest technical hires and play a major role in shaping both the product and the company.
The Opportunity
This is not a role where you'll own a small piece of a large organization.
You'll work directly with the founders, early customers, and engineering leadership to help build a core AI product from early traction into a scalable platform. As one of the first engineers, you'll have significant influence over architecture, product direction, engineering culture, and long-term technical strategy.
The platform sits at the intersection of:
- LLMs
- RAG and retrieval systems
- Search and knowledge discovery
- Agentic AI workflows
- Enterprise data systems
- AI-powered research tools
What You'll Be Working On
- Building backend systems that power knowledge-intensive workflows
- Designing and improving search, retrieval, and AI-assisted product experiences
- Building customer-facing AI products that solve real business problems
- Developing systems that help users find, organize, and leverage information more effectively
- Working directly with customers to understand pain points and translate feedback into product features
- Improving system quality, evaluation, reliability, and observability
- Helping establish engineering best practices and technical standards
What They're Looking For
- 5+ years of software engineering experience
- Strong Python development experience
- Experience building production AI applications
- Experience with RAG, retrieval, search, knowledge systems, or agentic AI
- Strong product instincts and customer-focused thinking
- Ability to take ambiguous problems and drive them to production
- Comfortable working across multiple areas of the stack when needed
- High ownership and strong communication skills
Nice to Have:
- Google Cloud experience
- React / TypeScript experience
- Experience working on enterprise AI platforms
- Experience with knowledge graphs, semantic search, or developer tooling
Why This Role?
Become a true founding engineer at a company with strong early momentum
Build products at the intersection of AI, search, knowledge systems, and quantitative research
Work directly with founders who come from trading and big tech backgrounds
Have a measurable impact on product direction and company growth
Join a small, high-caliber team with minimal bureaucracy
Receive meaningful equity and ownership from day one
Help define how the company builds products, not just what it builds
FAQs
Congratulations, we understand that taking the time to apply is a big step. When you apply, your details go directly to the consultant who is sourcing talent. Due to demand, we may not get back to all applicants that have applied. However, we always keep your resume and details on file so when we see similar roles or see skillsets that drive growth in organizations, we will always reach out to discuss opportunities.
Yes. Even if this role isn’t a perfect match, applying allows us to understand your expertise and ambitions, ensuring you're on our radar for the right opportunity when it arises.
We also work in several ways, firstly we advertise our roles available on our site, however, often due to confidentiality we may not post all. We also work with clients who are more focused on skills and understanding what is required to future-proof their business.
That's why we recommend registering your resume so you can be considered for roles that have yet to be created.
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