TalentCo · 2 days ago
Founding Engineer (Applied AI)
San Francisco, CA
Full-time
Onsite
Entry, Mid Level
$160K/yr - $250K/yr
1+ years expTalentCo is working with a leading Agentic AI startup in Silicon Valley, seeking to hire Founding Engineers to join their team. The role involves designing and building AI-driven applications that enhance enterprise workflows, collaborating closely with co-founders in a dynamic startup environment.
Staffing & Recruiting
Hiring Manager
Delan Geyer
Responsibilities
Design and build AI-native systems that automate complex enterprise workflows, owning backend services that power real-time AI agents, orchestration, and knowledge-driven decision making
Work backend-first but full-stack: Build and ship features end-to-end using Python and modern web frameworks, translating messy real-world inputs (email, voice, documents, ERP data) into reliable production systems
Develop and deploy agentic AI: Implement LLM-powered workflows, retrieval systems, and automation pipelines that operate at enterprise scale with accuracy, observability, and cost awareness
Move fast with modern tooling: Use state-of-the-art AI developer tools to prototype, iterate, and ship quickly in a high-ownership environment
Operate as a true founding engineer: Partner closely with product and leadership, make architectural decisions, write clean and tested code, and help define engineering standards from day one
Qualification
Required
Applied AI experience in production: You've built and shipped AI-driven systems using LLMs, RAG, or agent-based approaches that real users rely on
Startup-grade execution: 1+ year in fast-moving startup environments where you've owned problems end-to-end and balanced speed with robustness
Strong backend and fullstack fundamentals: Built and shipped features end-to-end using Python-based APIs (e.g. FastAPI) and React/Next.js-style frontend frameworks, with ownership across data, AI, and UX
Solid technical foundation: A Computer Science degree (or equivalent depth of knowledge) with strong grounding in systems, data, and software engineering principles
Founding-engineer mindset: You're proactive, pragmatic, and outcome-driven — you take ownership, unblock yourself, and get sh done
Benefits
Up to 1% equity
In-person setup. They have an office in downtown San Francisco and the team enjoy working in-person 5 days a week
Flexible PTO
Medical, dental, and vision insurance
401(k) plan with employer match
Work from abroad program
Company
TalentCo
We build elite GTM & Tech teams in the US, UK & EU for: - Early stage startups (Pre-seed to Series A) - Growth stage scale-ups (Series B to IPO) - Technology ventures on the rise When you’re ready to level-up your GTM or Tech hiring, drop us an email: hello@talent-co.uk
2-10 employees
Funding
Current Stage
Early StageCompany data provided by crunchbase