Founding AI Product Engineer - Build LLM Infra

Lavendo; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

FSA

Equity

Job summary

Lavendo, a partner to startups and high-growth companies, is helping a client hire for a founding-level AI engineering role in San Francisco. You will shape a second major product line with the founders and own core backend APIs, the dashboard, and developer experience.

You'll ship features end-to-end in Python with FastAPI, talk to customers directly, and thrive in an early-stage environment where ambiguity is an advantage. On-site, five days a week, with strong compensation and equity.

Qualifications

• 2+ years of experience in AI engineering, with a demonstrated ability to ship production code and talk directly to users.
• A bachelor's degree from a top-25 U.S. CS program
• Production Python development experience, with FastAPI preferred, and comfort across backend, frontend, APIs, and infrastructure
• Strong hands-on experience with LLM APIs or AI infrastructure (OpenAI, Anthropic, Bedrock, Azure, VertexAI)
• A track record of high-intensity, high-ownership work: tenure at a high-growth startup, fast promotions at a top tech firm, or notable entrepreneurial projects in college
• Demonstrated initiative signals, such as an active GitHub profile, former startup founder experience, or standout independent projects or competitions
• Strong communication skills for direct customer interaction

Responsibilities

• Talk directly to customers to surface their pain points, pressure-test solutions, and turn raw feedback into shipped features
• Build new product features end-to-end, from concept to production, using Python and FastAPI
• Partner with the founders to define and build the company's second major product line
• Prototype quickly, iterate based on real user feedback, and ship fast in an ambiguous, early‑stage environment
• Own major product areas spanning backend APIs, the dashboard, and developer experience

Skills

AI engineering

Python

FastAPI

Backend APIs

Frontend

Infrastructure

Customer interaction

Startup experience

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS

Tools

OpenAI

Anthropic

Bedrock

Azure

VertexAI

Job description

Lavendo, a partner to startups and high-growth companies, is helping a client hire for a founding-level AI engineering role in San Francisco. You will shape a second major product line with the founders and own core backend APIs, the dashboard, and developer experience.

You'll ship features end-to-end in Python with FastAPI, talk to customers directly, and thrive in an early-stage environment where ambiguity is an advantage. On-site, five days a week, with strong compensation and equity.