Founding Engineer - ML/AI
Overview
An early-stage technology startup is building a next-generation research intelligence platform designed for data-intensive organizations. Backed by strong early customer traction, the team is seeking a Founding Engineer to help scale its core product and shape the future of the platform.
You will have significant ownership across product development, architecture, infrastructure, and customer-facing solutions. You'll work closely with founders and users to solve complex technical challenges at the intersection of AI, knowledge systems, and enterprise software.
Responsibilities
- Design and build scalable backend systems for knowledge-driven workflows
- Enhance search, retrieval, and AI-powered product capabilities
- Develop abstractions and data models for complex enterprise datasets
- Create reliable, intuitive product experiences for sophisticated end users
- Improve cloud and private-environment deployment infrastructure
- Drive system reliability, observability, testing, and performance
- Collaborate directly with customers to translate requirements into product features
- Contribute to engineering standards, technical direction, and team culture
Qualifications
- Strong software engineering fundamentals
- Proficiency in backend development, preferably with Python
- Experience owning projects and solving ambiguous problems independently
- Comfortable working across multiple areas of the technology stack
- Strong product mindset and focus on user experience
- Experience in one or more of the following:
- Search and retrieval systems
- RAG or AI-powered applications
- Knowledge graphs
- Data platforms and distributed systems
- Infrastructure or developer tooling
- Excellent communication skills and a high level of ownership
- Sound understanding of security, privacy, and system reliability
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with enterprise, on-premise, VPC, or regulated environments
- Frontend development experience with React and TypeScript
What You'll Gain
- Ownership of a core product from an early stage
- Direct exposure to customers, company strategy, and product direction
- Opportunity to work on challenging problems spanning AI, infrastructure, data, and user experience
- Meaningful equity and long-term growth potential
- A highly collaborative, low-bureaucracy environment with strong engineering standards
Ideal Candidate
This opportunity is best suited for an engineer who thrives in early-stage environments, enjoys building products from the ground up, and is excited by high-impact technical challenges. The team values exceptional problem-solving ability, craftsmanship, and a willingness to take ownership.
FAQs
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