Job description

Founding Engineer Location: San Francisco, CA (Mission District) Work Arrangement: Full-Time | On-site (5 days/week) Compensation: $170,000–$250,000 Base Salary + Equity (0.25–1.5%) Visa Sponsorship: Not Available About the Company We're building the communications infrastructure layer for AI agents. Our APIs enable AI systems to reliably communicate with humans through email, calendar invitations, phone calls, SMS, and other communication channels. We believe AI agents will increasingly become primary users of these communication systems, and we're building the platform that makes those interactions possible. We're an early-stage, venture-backed startup headquartered in San Francisco, moving quickly to build foundational infrastructure for the next generation of AI applications. About the Role We're looking for a Founding Engineer to join our small engineering team and help build both our product and engineering culture from the ground up. This role offers significant ownership across product development, technical architecture, and engineering processes. You'll work directly with the founders to shape both the technical direction of the company and the products our customers use every day. We're looking for someone who enjoys building quickly, solving difficult engineering problems, and thriving in an early-stage startup environment. What You'll Do • Design and build core product features end-to-end. • Develop backend services and APIs. • Build customer-facing product experiences. • Contribute across the full stack when needed. • Help establish engineering best practices and culture. • Collaborate closely on product strategy and technical direction. • Ship high-quality software quickly. • Work directly with customers to understand problems and iterate rapidly. • Take ownership of meaningful technical initiatives from concept through production. What We're Looking For • Approximately 5–10 years of software engineering experience. • Strong software engineering fundamentals. • Experience building production software. • Experience designing and developing APIs. • Strong backend development experience. • Product-minded approach to engineering. • Comfortable working across the stack. • Excellent communication and collaboration skills. • Ability to work independently in a fast-moving environment. • Excited to help build an early-stage company. Preferred Technical Experience • TypeScript • Node.js • React • PostgreSQL • Cloud infrastructure • API development • Distributed systems • Developer tools • AI infrastructure or platform engineering (preferred but not required) What Success Looks Like You'll be someone who: • Enjoys ownership and autonomy. • Is comfortable working through ambiguity. • Learns quickly and adapts easily. • Collaborates well with a small, high-performing team. • Enjoys shipping products that customers use immediately. • Wants to help shape engineering culture from the earliest stages of a company. Compensation & Benefits • Base salary: $170,000–$250,000 • Equity: 0.25–1.5% • Competitive benefits package • Visa sponsorship not available

Requirements

Must-haves

Founding Engineer
Location: San Francisco, CA (Mission District)
Work Arrangement: Full-Time | On-site (5 days/week)
Compensation: $170,000–$250,000 Base Salary + Equity (0.25–1.5%)
Visa Sponsorship: Not Available
We're looking for a Founding Engineer to join our small engineering team and help build both our product and engineering culture from the ground up.
We're looking for someone who enjoys building quickly, solving difficult engineering problems, and thriving in an early-stage startup environment.
Design and build core product features end-to-end.
Develop backend services and APIs.
Build customer-facing product experiences.
Contribute across the full stack when needed.
Help establish engineering best practices and culture.
Collaborate closely on product strategy and technical direction.
Ship high-quality software quickly.
Work directly with customers to understand problems and iterate rapidly.
Take ownership of meaningful technical initiatives from concept through production.
Approximately 5–10 years of software engineering experience.
Strong software engineering fundamentals.
Experience building production software.
Experience designing and developing APIs.
Strong backend development experience.
Product-minded approach to engineering.

Nice-to-haves

Preferred Technical Experience
AI infrastructure or platform engineering (preferred but not required)

Application prep

Use the role’s language and application details while tailoring your materials.

Keywords to mirror

aitypescriptnode.jsreactapi

Platform: manatal
Effort: medium