Founding Engineer
About The Position
Our client is building AI agents that modernize manufacturing by automating complex procurement and supply chain workflows. Today, critical procurement operations across global manufacturers are still managed through fragmented spreadsheets, emails, and manual processes. Optimized replaces these outdated systems with autonomous AI agents that can monitor supplier activity, surface insights, and execute procurement workflows automatically. Backed by Foundation Capital and already working with large-scale manufacturing customers, they are building the operating system for the future of industrial procurement. As a Founding Engineer, you'll work directly with the founders to shape both the product and technical direction of the company while deploying AI systems into real-world manufacturing environments. This is a rare opportunity to join an extremely early-stage startup, own end-to-end product development, and help define how AI transforms one of the world's largest industries.
Requirements
- 2+ years of professional software engineering experience
- Experience shipping production software with measurable business impact
- Experience owning projects end-to-end and driving stakeholder outcomes
- Experience at an early-stage startup or highly respected technology company
- Forward Deployed Engineering experience strongly preferred
- Experience working closely with customers, operators, or business stakeholders
- Strong Python development experience
- Experience building backend services, APIs, and production systems
- Full-stack capabilities preferred (TypeScript and React are strong pluses)
- Experience building with LLMs, AI products, or agentic workflows
- Comfortable using modern AI development tools (Cursor, Copilot, Claude, etc.)
- Strong system design and software architecture fundamentals
- Experience deploying and maintaining production systems
- Exceptional problem-solving ability
- Strong ownership mentality
- Customer-oriented mindset
- Comfortable operating with ambiguity
- Excellent communication skills
- Ability to work directly with technical and non-technical stakeholders
Nice To Haves
- Supply chain, procurement, logistics, manufacturing, or operational software experience preferred
- Computer Science or related technical degree preferred
- Strong academic pedigree from a recognized engineering program is a plus
Responsibilities
- Build and ship production-grade AI-powered software used by procurement and supply chain teams
- Work directly with customers to understand operational challenges and translate them into product solutions
- Deploy forward with customers and gather real-world feedback from manufacturing environments
- Own projects end-to-end from architecture and implementation through deployment and iteration
- Design backend services, APIs, data models, and AI-powered workflows
- Build customer-facing product experiences using modern full-stack technologies
- Collaborate closely with founders on product strategy, roadmap decisions, and technical direction
- Help establish engineering culture, standards, and best practices as one of the earliest engineers
- Travel periodically to customer sites to support deployments and gather operational insights
- Help define the future of agentic software for supply chain and procurement operations
Benefits
- Base Salary: $160,000 – $230,000
- Equity: 0.5% – 1%
- Significant ownership and influence
- Direct collaboration with founders
- Opportunity to shape technical strategy from day one
- Exposure to enterprise manufacturing customers
- Visa sponsorship considered on a case-by-case basis
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
Education Level
Associate degree
