Backend-Leaning Product Engineer
About The Position
We're a small, high-ownership product team building real-world AI and automation products. As a Backend-Leaning Product Engineer, you'll own customer-facing features end-to-end — from design through shipping and iteration. You'll navigate messy integrations, legacy systems, and third-party services, and you'll make product and engineering trade-offs with speed and strong judgment. This is an early-stage environment where your work has direct, visible impact. We're looking for someone who thrives with minimal structure, works closely with founders and customers, and is genuinely excited about building 0-to-1 products in a fast-moving hybrid SF setting.
Requirements
- Backend-focused engineering experience with the ability to design, implement, and ship customer-facing features end-to-end.
- Track record of shipping real products — ideally in 0-to-1 or ambiguous/messy environments.
- Experience owning the full lifecycle of customer-facing features: ideation, implementation, and feedback loops.
- Strong cross-functional collaboration and communication skills.
- Must be legally eligible to work in the US without employer sponsorship.
- Based in San Francisco or willing to relocate — this role is hybrid/in-office in SF.
Nice To Haves
- Applied AI or workflow/orchestration experience (agentic workflows, RAG, LLM-enabled features).
- Systems integration experience with external APIs and third-party services.
- Python experience; modern web/backend stacks are acceptable — engineering quality matters more than stack fit.
- Background as a founding engineer, early startup generalist, or product/backend engineer at a scaling startup.
Responsibilities
- Own features end-to-end — from design and implementation through shipping and iteration.
- Make product and engineering decisions independently, without heavy PM oversight.
- Build and maintain backend systems, APIs, data models, and automation pipelines.
- Integrate with external tools, legacy systems, and messy third-party services.
- Design workflows and orchestration for AI/automation-driven products.
- Debug production issues and apply strong engineering judgment under pressure.
- Balance full-stack work when required, with a clear emphasis on backend ownership.
- Collaborate closely with founders, customers, and cross-functional stakeholders.
Benefits
- Base salary: Up to $275,000 depending on experience.
- Equity: Meaningful equity package.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
Education Level
No Education Listed
