Backend Engineer, AI-Driven Manufacturing (Production)

Foundational Industries; United States; On-site; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Foundational Industries in the SF Bay Area is seeking a software engineer to build production-grade systems powering an AI-native manufacturing platform. You will design and ship backend services, integrate with factory equipment, and own greenfield projects end-to-end.

Ideal candidates have 3–7+ years in software development, strong OO design, and a track record with distributed systems. Join a startup environment that values urgency, ownership, and collaboration.

Qualifications

• 3–7+ years of professional software development, with production systems as the primary proving ground.
• Strong command of at least one modern language (Python, Go, C++, Java) and comfort across a polyglot stack
• Solid foundation in object-oriented programming and multi-layered system architecture
• Experience designing and operating backend services, APIs, or data pipelines in production
• Familiarity with distributed systems concepts and data storage technologies
• Debugging and problem-solving across software and system boundaries
• Experience in or genuine draw toward manufacturing, robotics, or industrial environments
• Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools (Claude Code, Copilot, etc.) is a meaningful plus — especially if you’ve thought carefully about how to use them well, not just that you use them

Responsibilities

• Design and ship core backend services and APIs that connect factory equipment, robotics, and operational systems into Foundational’s unified platform, live in production within six months.
• Own at least one greenfield system end to end: from architecture decision through deployment, with measurable operational impact.
• Build data pipelines that give the operations team real-time visibility into factory performance — turning raw machine data into actionable signal.
• Develop a working fluency in the factory environment — understand the physical constraints and design software that holds up in them.

Skills

3–7+ years

Polyglot stack

Object-oriented design

Backend systems

Distributed systems

AI-assisted tools

Manufacturing interest

Claude Code / Copilot familiarity

Tools

Claude Code

Copilot

Job description

Foundational Industries in the SF Bay Area is seeking a software engineer to build production-grade systems powering an AI-native manufacturing platform. You will design and ship backend services, integrate with factory equipment, and own greenfield projects end-to-end.

Ideal candidates have 3–7+ years in software development, strong OO design, and a track record with distributed systems. Join a startup environment that values urgency, ownership, and collaboration.