Foundational AI Engineer
About The Position
We’re looking for a Foundational AI Engineer who thrives in ambiguity, enjoys building real-world AI systems end-to-end, and wants to define the technical and architectural foundations of an early-stage startup. This is a hands-on role for someone who wants to design and implement LLM-powered automation systems: model orchestration, tool calling, MCP-style integrations, agentic workflows, and automation-driven tooling, while being familiar with a traditional full-stack development environment. You should also extensively use AI-powered tools for development. You’ll work closely with product and leadership to concretize AI ideas into production-grade systems that customers rely on daily.
Requirements
- 7+ years of experience building products in high-growth environments.
- 2+ years of experience building with LLMs.
- Avid use of state-of-the-art AI development tools such as Cursor and Claude Code.
- Fluency with backend technologies like PostgreSQL, Redis, and cloud services (AWS preferred).
- Experience with frontend development, especially TypeScript and its ecosystem.
- Strong product sense, balancing performance, flexibility, and speed.
- Comfortable working in dynamic startup environments with evolving needs.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
Nice To Haves
- Experience in payments, tax, accounting, or regulatory tech.
- Experience with automation tools (n8n, Zapier-style systems, workflow engines) or building internal automation platforms.
- Familiarity with MCPs, tool calls, agent frameworks, or model orchestration patterns.
- Understanding of vector databases and concepts (such as Pinecone, HNSW).
Responsibilities
- Design, build, and operate production AI systems, including tool-calling agents, model orchestration layers, and RAG.
- Implement and maintain AI integrations using modern frameworks, MCP servers, and external model providers.
- Build and evolve scalable backend services and APIs that power automated workflows and customer-facing features.
- Think in automation and workflows: design systems using tools like n8n, Claude Code-style agents, or similar orchestration approaches where appropriate.
- Make architectural decisions that balance latency, cost, reliability, and iteration speed.
- Own infrastructure, observability, and performance for both AI and non-AI services.
- Collaborate closely with product, design, and data teams to ship features that solve real customer problems.
- Help define engineering best practices, AI safety/reliability norms, and our overall technical culture.
Benefits
- Competitive salary and equity - you'll share directly in the company's success
- Full medical, dental, and vision coverage
- Wellness perks like Headspace and the Peloton One App
- 401(k) to help you build long-term financial security
- Lunch and snacks when you're in the office
- Regular team offsites and company events as we grow
- A culture built on ownership - your work matters and people will see it!
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
Education Level
No Education Listed
Number of Employees
11-50 employees
