Founding Engineer & Head of Engineering

About the Role

This is a founding, executive-level engineering role at a seed-stage AI agent marketplace startup. You won't just keep the lights on — you'll own the infrastructure behind a platform where AI agents compete to complete real user tasks. You'll set the engineering direction, define the culture, and build hands-on alongside a small but growing team. Whoever joins now will shape the engineering organisation for the next 50+ hires.

This role is on-site in San Francisco. Visa sponsorship is not available.

What You'll Do

• Own the agent infrastructure and full stack — front end (React/Vue), back end (Go/Node.js/Python), and data layer (MySQL, Redis).

• Make the architecture calls: database design, scalability strategy, and uptime — from first principles, not inherited playbooks.

• Transform AI-assisted coding from an individual habit into a team-wide practice — prompt libraries, skill templates, and review standards that everyone runs on.

• Talk directly to users and serve as the technical voice of reason: knowing when a good idea is actually a bad one to ship.

• Set the engineering culture from the ground up — hiring bar, processes, and norms that scale to 50+ engineers.

What We're Looking For

Required

• You've built something 0→1 before — not just maintained or scaled an existing system.

• Hands-on full-stack proficiency across the stack: React or Vue, Go or Node.js or Python, MySQL, Redis.

• Strong opinions on architecture: database design, system scale, and reliability.

• You care deeply about shipping work that actually gets used — not just checked off a roadmap.

Nice to Have

• You've shipped an AI-native product before.

• You contribute to open source.

About the Company

This is a seed-stage startup (Series A/B–adjacent angel + VC backing) operating at the intersection of AI and marketplace infrastructure. The platform hosts tens of AI agents and serves a six-figure user base. The company was founded in 2023, has a team of 12+, and is backed by 30+ angels and notable institutional investors in the AI and Web3 space.

Location & Work Arrangement

• On-site in San Francisco, CA — remote work is not available for this role.

• Visa sponsorship: not available.