Founding Engineer (AI & Product, US)

ThinkingData•Sunnyvale, CA

2d•$250,000 - $400,000•Remote

About The Position

We’re seeking a Founding Engineer (AI & Product) as our first dedicated technical leader on the ground in the US. This role acts as the primary technical bridge between our Shanghai core R&D team and fast-growing US enterprise customers. You will focus on three core pillars: Drive the global AI product roadmap, Deliver high-impact US‑specific features and solutions, and Translate US customer insights into actionable product requirements. This is not a pure backend role, nor a pure presales role. It’s a customer‑facing AI engineer with strong product sense, building real features while owning the US market technical feedback loop.

Requirements

5+ years building and shipping production‑grade software; strong full‑stack or backend engineering skills.
Proven AI/LLM experience: hands‑on building with LLMs, vector databases, and agent frameworks; track record from prototype to production.
Product‑minded engineer: comfortable talking to enterprise customers, framing problems, and proposing technical solutions.
Extreme ownership & speed: thrive in ambiguity; bias for shipping working code over process.
Cross‑border collaboration: work overlapping hours with Shanghai; comfortable with async specs, written reviews, and clear communication.
English fluent
Mandarin fluent

Responsibilities

Contribute to the shared global engineering roadmap alongside the Shanghai team.
Build, test, and ship production‑grade AI features (LLM workflows, agent pipelines, integrations).
Maintain high engineering standards: code quality, observability, security, and scalability.
For strategic US enterprise deals only: scope, prototype, and ship small, high‑impact features or workarounds to unblock key customers.
Fast‑turnaround execution: days, not weeks; lightweight but production‑safe.
Clear boundary: No endless customization; only support high‑value, repeatable use cases.
Regularly engage US enterprise customers to understand real usage, pain points, and willingness‑to‑pay features.
Translate insights into clear PRDs/technical proposals, with build‑cost awareness (not just wishlists).
Filter US AI ecosystem noise: track frameworks, models, and patterns from OpenAI/Anthropic/open‑source; surface only relevant, actionable signals for our roadmap.
Lead high‑level product demos, solution architecture reviews, and complex integration scoping for top US deals.
Partner closely with Shanghai R&D: align specs, acceptance criteria, release plans, and post‑launch feedback.
Document and reuse: demo templates, integration patterns, solution playbooks for US enterprise scenarios.