Founding Engineer

Selby Jennings; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Selby Jennings seeks a Founding Engineer to scale a next-generation research intelligence platform for data-intensive organizations. You will own significant portions of product development, architecture, infrastructure, and customer-facing solutions, collaborating with founders and users on AI-driven, knowledge-graph powered workflows.

You’ll help shape the platform’s future while addressing complex technical challenges across backend, data, and user experience, in a highly entrepreneurial

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering fundamentals.
• Backend development proficiency, preferably with Python.
• Experience owning projects and solving ambiguous problems independently.
• Comfortable working across multiple areas of the technology stack.
• Strong product mindset and focus on user experience.
• Experience in one or more of the following: search/retrieval, RAG/AI, knowledge graphs, data platforms, distributed systems, infrastructure.
• Excellent communication skills and a high level of ownership.
• Sound understanding of security, privacy, and system reliability.

Responsibilities

• Design and build scalable backend systems for knowledge-driven workflows.
• Enhance search, retrieval, and AI-powered product capabilities.
• Develop abstractions and data models for complex enterprise datasets.
• Create reliable, intuitive product experiences for sophisticated end users.
• Improve cloud and private-environment deployment infrastructure.
• Drive system reliability, observability, testing, and performance.
• Collaborate directly with customers to translate requirements into product features.
• Contribute to engineering standards, technical direction, and team culture.

Skills

Backend development

Python

Ownership

Ambiguity resolution

Cross-stack work

Product mindset

Communication

Security & reliability

Tools

React

TypeScript

Job description

An early-stage technology startup is building a next-generation research intelligence platform designed for data-intensive organizations. Backed by strong early customer traction, the team is seeking a Founding Engineer to help scale its core product and shape the future of the platform.

You will have significant ownership across product development, architecture, infrastructure, and customer-facing solutions. You'll work closely with founders and users to solve complex technical challenges at the intersection of AI, knowledge systems, and enterprise software.

Overview

An early-stage technology startup is building a next-generation research intelligence platform designed for data-intensive organizations. Backed by strong early customer traction, the team is seeking a Founding Engineer to help scale its core product and shape the future of the platform.

You will have significant ownership across product development, architecture, infrastructure, and customer-facing solutions. You'll work closely with founders and users to solve complex technical challenges at the intersection of AI, knowledge systems, and enterprise software.

Responsibilities

• Design and build scalable backend systems for knowledge-driven workflows
• Enhance search, retrieval, and AI-powered product capabilities
• Develop abstractions and data models for complex enterprise datasets
• Create reliable, intuitive product experiences for sophisticated end users
• Improve cloud and private-environment deployment infrastructure
• Drive system reliability, observability, testing, and performance
• Collaborate directly with customers to translate requirements into product features
• Contribute to engineering standards, technical direction, and team culture

Qualifications

• Strong software engineering fundamentals
• Proficiency in backend development, preferably with Python
• Experience owning projects and solving ambiguous problems independently
• Comfortable working across multiple areas of the technology stack
• Strong product mindset and focus on user experience
• Experience in one or more of the following:
  • Search and retrieval systems
  • RAG or AI-powered applications
  • Knowledge graphs
  • Data platforms and distributed systems
  • Infrastructure or developer tooling
• Excellent communication skills and a high level of ownership
• Sound understanding of security, privacy, and system reliability

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with enterprise, on-premise, VPC, or regulated environments
• Frontend development experience with React and TypeScript

What You'll Gain

• Ownership of a core product from an early stage
• Direct exposure to customers, company strategy, and product direction
• Opportunity to work on challenging problems spanning AI, infrastructure, data, and user experience
• Meaningful equity and long-term growth potential
• A highly collaborative, low-bureaucracy environment with strong engineering standards

Ideal Candidate

This opportunity is best suited for an engineer who thrives in early-stage environments, enjoys building products from the ground up, and is excited by high-impact technical challenges. The team values exceptional problem-solving ability, craftsmanship, and a willingness to take ownership.