Founding AI Engineer

FDE Team; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 165,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

FDE Team is partnering with a trusted client in San Francisco to find a Founding AI Engineer who can bridge backend engineering and applied AI, taking ownership from problem definition through production.

This founding-level role emphasizes cross-functional collaboration with engineering and product, rather than a narrow function, and offers the opportunity to shape core systems and strategy.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of relevant engineering experience.
• 2+ years at a recognized big-tech company and 1+ year at a startup.
• Strong experience building resilient and distributed systems.
• Strong Python experience; React and experience across multiple languages are valuable.
• Hands-on experience deploying AI/ML models into production.
• Experience with LLMs, VLMs, RAG, or agentic systems.
• Strong product and engineering judgment.
• Comfort working in fast-moving, ambiguous environments.
• A genuine interest in taking ownership rather than waiting for detailed specifications.

Responsibilities

• Build resilient, secure, distributed backend systems.
• Deploy LLMs, VLMs, and other ML models into real-world production environments.
• Build agentic systems that can reason, plan, and take actions across data.
• Design RAG pipelines and other systems for unstructured data.
• Work with structured data, including query planning, semantic modeling, and structured reasoning.
• Work across multiple infrastructure providers and technologies.
• Own meaningful parts of what gets built and shipped.

Skills

Python

React

LLMs

VLMs

Agentic systems

Job description

This role is with one of FDE Team's trusted partner companies. We work closely with their teams to understand the technology, culture, and hiring priorities behind each search, so we can provide candidates with the right context before they enter the process.

The role

We're looking for a Founding AI Engineer who can work across backend engineering and applied AI, with the ownership to take systems from problem definition through production.

This is a founding-level opportunity where you'll work closely across engineering and product rather than operating within a narrowly defined function.

The work

• Build resilient, secure, distributed backend systems.


• Deploy LLMs, VLMs, and other ML models into real-world production environments.


• Build agentic systems that can reason, plan, and take actions across data.


• Design RAG pipelines and other systems for unstructured data.


• Work with structured data, including query planning, semantic modeling, and structured reasoning.


• Work across multiple infrastructure providers and technologies.


• Own meaningful parts of what gets built and shipped.

What you bring

• 6+ years of relevant engineering experience.


• 2+ years at a recognized big-tech company and 1+ year at a startup.


• Strong experience building resilient and distributed systems.


• Strong Python experience; React and experience across multiple languages are valuable.


• Hands-on experience deploying AI/ML models into production.


• Experience with LLMs, VLMs, RAG, or agentic systems.


• Strong product and engineering judgment.


• Comfort working in fast-moving, ambiguous environments.


• A genuine interest in taking ownership rather than waiting for detailed specifications.

The underlying profile is someone who can sit comfortably across backend systems and applied AI, while carrying founding-level ownership of what gets built and shipped.

Compensation: $165,000-$250,000 base + meaningful founding-level equity

Employment Type: Full-time