Founding Backend Software Engineer

ABOUT THE ROLE

Join an early-stage AI video company as a founding backend engineer. You will lead the design of core systems for AI-powered video creation, working closely with researchers, engineers, and designers to build the platform's infrastructure and product capabilities.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Design and develop scalable backend systems for AI-powered video products.
• Build infrastructure for agentic workflows, video generation pipelines, reinforcement learning loops, and real-time data processing.
• Own distributed systems architecture and improve reliability through automated testing, performance benchmarking, and end-to-end observability.
• Collaborate with researchers, engineers, and designers to deliver product features and APIs.
• Write production code, guide technical decisions, establish engineering standards, and document systems and agent skills.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• 5 to 10 years of backend software engineering experience, including work at an early-stage or high-growth startup.
• Professional experience building scalable backend and distributed systems, large-scale data processing, information retrieval, and asynchronous workflows.
• At least 12 months of industry experience building agentic systems or working with LLMs and generative AI.
• Industry experience with TypeScript and AWS. The broader stack includes S3, Lambda, RDS, SQS, ECS, FastAPI, Docker, and CI/CD.
• Strong fundamentals in algorithms, data structures, and system design, applied in professional engineering work.
• Experience setting technical direction and engineering standards while remaining hands-on in code.
• A formal degree and fluent English communication skills.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Base salary is $225,000 to $275,000 annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.

LOCATION

On-site in San Francisco, California.