Backend-Leaning Product Engineer

Clera; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 247,500 - 302,500; Full time

Job summary

Clera is seeking a backend-leaning product engineer in San Francisco, CA. Join a dynamic product team to build impactful AI and automation solutions.

As a key contributor, you will own customer-facing features, navigate complex integrations, and make swift engineering decisions. The role emphasizes collaboration with founders and a hands-on approach in a fast-paced startup environment.

The position offers up to $275k base compensation, along with equity opportunities.

Qualifications

• Experience in building real-world products in startup environments.
• Proven ability to make engineering decisions independently.
• Strong debugging skills and ownership of features.

Responsibilities

• Own features from design to shipping.
• Integrate with external tools and legacy systems.
• Collaborate with founders and cross-functional teams.

Skills

Product ownership

Backend systems

APIs

Data modeling

Automation

Python

Applied AI

Job description

About the Role

Join a small, high-ownership product team as a backend-leaning product engineer focused on building real-world AI and automation products. This role matters because you'll own customer-facing features end-to-end, navigate messy integrations and legacy systems, and make product and engineering trade-offs with speed and strong judgment.

What You'll Do

• Own features end-to-end from design through shipping and iteration

• Make product and engineering decisions independently without heavy PM support

• Execute under pressure and deliver high-quality engineering results, not just plans

• 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

• Work comfortably in a very small, fast-moving startup team with little structure

• Balance full-stack work when required, with a clear emphasis on backend ownership

• Debug production issues and exercise strong engineering judgment

• Collaborate closely with founders, customers, and cross-functional stakeholders

What We're Looking For

• Early engineer, founding engineer, startup generalist, or strong product/backend engineer from a scaling startup

• Track record of shipping real products, ideally 0-to-1 or in ambiguous/messy environments

• Experience with backend systems, APIs, data modeling, automation, and integrations

• Applied AI or workflow/orchestration experience (agentic workflows, RAG, LLM-enabled features) is a plus

• Python experience is a plus; modern web/backend stacks are acceptable—stack fit matters less than raw engineering quality

• Demonstrated ownership of customer-facing features and close work with founders or customers

• Clear motivation for early-stage startup work and comfort with ambiguity and speed

• Not a fit: frontend-only, data-only/internal-tools-only, pure DevOps/SRE without product ownership, pure research/ML without shipping experience, or candidates motivated primarily by corporate titles

Compensation & Details

Base compensation up to $275k plus meaningful equity.

Location

San Francisco, CA, USA. Hybrid/in-office required. Candidates must be based in or willing to relocate to the area.