Founding Engineer

Worky; Durham (NC); On-site; USD 170,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Visa sponsorship

Job summary

Worky, a healthtech startup, is hiring a founding software engineer to build AI-powered patient recruitment infrastructure for clinical trials in Durham, NC. You will shape core platform architecture and scale AI agents across multi-channel outreach from day one.

You will own end-to-end development across Python, JavaScript, and TypeScript, integrate with customer systems, and drive scalable solutions for complex clinical workflows in a fast-growing startup.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of full-stack or AI/ML engineering experience.
• Shipping user-facing products in production for 3+ years.
• Strong CS fundamentals with notable academic or internship achievements.
• Proficiency in Python, JavaScript, and TypeScript; frontend/backend familiarity.

Responsibilities

• Orchestrate a fleet of AI agents coordinating patient recruitment across hundreds of trials in North America.
• Build and maintain integrations into customer systems, including custom configurations.
• Scale LLMs across voice, SMS, and email channels with consistent conversations.
• Tune AI agent conversations and build workflows for domain-specific logic (eligibility, screening).
• Develop call center tooling and scheduling algorithms for recruiters and coordinators.
• Reverse-engineer legacy healthcare systems lacking public APIs to integrate with trial sites.

Skills

Python

JavaScript

TypeScript

Full-stack engineering

AI/ML engineering

Production shipping

Job description

About the Role

This is a founding engineering position at an early-stage healthtech startup building AI-powered patient recruitment infrastructure for clinical trials. You'll work directly on the core platform — scaling AI agents, integrations, and multi-channel outreach — and have an outsized impact on product direction and architecture from day one.

What You'll Do

• Orchestrate a fleet of AI agents coordinating patient recruitment across hundreds of clinical trials in North America.

• Build and maintain integrations into customer systems, including custom integrations for specific software versions or configurations.

• Scale LLMs across voice, SMS, and email channels while keeping conversations consistent and personalized.

• Tune AI agent conversations and build workflows for domain-specific logic (e.g., eligibility calculations, screening questionnaires).

• Develop call center management tooling and scheduling algorithms for recruiters and clinical research coordinators.

• Reverse-engineer legacy healthcare systems lacking public APIs to integrate with existing trial site tool stacks.

What We're Looking For

• 5+ years of experience in full-stack or AI/ML engineering, with at least 3 years shipping user-facing products in production.

• Strong CS fundamentals from a rigorous academic background; demonstrated academic achievement (e.g., TA experience, high GPA, notable side projects, or internships at well-regarded companies).

• Proficiency in Python, JavaScript, and TypeScript; comfort working across frontend and backend layers.

• Experience at a high-growth, top-tier startup or a large-scale engineering organization is strongly valued.

• Hands-on experience building applied LLM or agentic AI products.

• Ability to make architectural decisions, design systems, and operate as a technical thought partner.

• Comfortable with ambiguity and self-directed work in an early-stage environment.

• Healthcare or life sciences domain knowledge is a plus.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary: $170,000 – $250,000 USD annually. Visa sponsorship is available.

Location

On-site in Durham, NC, United States.