Founding Agentic Backend Engineer (Senior / Staff)

Variant; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 80,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative startup seeks a founding engineer to lead backend development for a groundbreaking code generation tool. This role offers the opportunity to make a significant impact from day one, as you build a system that enhances creativity in software design. You will join a small, dedicated team in a beautiful San Francisco space, where your contributions will shape the future of generative creativity. If you are passionate about performance, scalability, and creating beautiful software, this is the perfect opportunity to showcase your skills and grow within a supportive environment.

Qualifications

• Experience with sophisticated backends and notable open source contributions.
• Proficient in building complex backends for chat applications.

Responsibilities

• Own the backend of Variant and ensure its performance and reliability.
• Communicate effectively and support team decisions.

Skills

Backend Development

Puppeteer

Chromium

Performance Optimization

Scalability

Effective Communication

Job description

About the role

Software should be beautiful.

Variant is a code generation tool designed for creativity. Instead of a confined conversation, you can generate endless designs from a single idea. Freely explore, discover directions you wouldn’t have thought of, and build better software as a result.

We call this generative creativity.

We're well-capitalized and looking for a founding engineer to own the back end of Variant.

The ideal candidate:

• Has impactful experience at a company known for its sophisticated backend, contributed to a notable open source project, or has an impressive portfolio
• Experience building complex backends for chat applications with reliable streaming to clients
• Proficient with Puppeteer and Chromium for backend jobs with headless browsers
• Built backend for apps managing complex project states
• Obsessed with performance, reliability, and scalability
• Fully committed to building a startup
• Balances quality with fast shipping
• Proactive and decisive
• Communicates effectively and knows when to challenge or support decisions

We hold ourselves to these same principles.

Our team is intentionally small. Your code will matter from day one, and its impact will grow over time. This will be the most meaningful work of your career.

We work from a beautiful space in San Francisco, dreaming up the future and making it real together. We’re backed by notable investors.

If you've built things you're proud of, we'd love to see them.

About Variant

Software should be beautiful.

Variant generates well-designed software. Instead of a confined conversation, it creates endless designs from a single idea. You can explore, discover new directions, and build better software.

We call this generative creativity, and it’s how creating software should work.