Founding Engineer (AI/ML)

About the Role

This is a founding engineering role at a pre-seed AI recruiting marketplace, where you will own the intelligence layer end to end: the recommendation systems, ranking algorithms, and LLM-powered matching that connect candidates to roles. It sits at the absolute core of the product and is yours to architect, build, and ship.

What You'll Do

• Own the full AI/ML intelligence layer, covering recommendation, ranking, and retrieval.
• Build and iterate on LLM-powered matching to measurably improve candidate-role alignment.
• Take features from problem definition to production on a daily shipping cadence.
• Architect and maintain the production data pipelines and services that run the models.
• Work directly with the founding team to translate product goals into shipped systems.

What We're Looking For

• 2 to 5 years of production software engineering experience, with genuine applied ML depth, meaning models shipped to real users, not just notebooks.
• Hands-on experience building recommender systems, ranking algorithms, or ML-powered matching in production. This is the most important requirement.
• Strong proficiency in TypeScript or Python; either is sufficient on its own.
• Production experience with LLM APIs and shipping LLM-powered features.
• Experience building and maintaining production data pipelines and services.
• Strong CS fundamentals and a track record of thriving in fast-paced, unstructured startup environments.
• Something outstanding: strong open-source contributions, notable personal projects, or a rigorous CS background.
• Nice to have: React, Supabase, Prisma, Typesense, trigger.dev, embeddings, and vector search experience.
• Must hold existing U.S. work authorization or be eligible for available sponsorship routes.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary

$130,000 to $170,000 annually, plus competitive founding-hire equity. Visa sponsorship is available for eligible candidates.

Location

On-site in San Francisco, California, 6 days per week. Relocation assistance is available for candidates outside the Bay Area.