Founding Engineer

TalentPluto, Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Pluto is building an AI-native professional network and now seeks a Founding Engineer to help build the product from the ground up. You will work directly with the founders to create intelligent agents that search, reason, remember, and act for users across conversational AI, large-scale people search, data infrastructure, and consumer experiences.

This is a true 0-to-1 opportunity, using existing technology and data, with ownership of major parts of the product and a chance to shape engineering

Qualifications

• Experience building production AI applications with LLMs, agents, or AI-powered workflows.
• Strong full-stack skills with TypeScript, React, Next.js, Node.js, and PostgreSQL.
• Ability to design scalable systems and make pragmatic architectural decisions.
• Proven product ownership and end-to-end delivery in startups.
• Startup mindset: fast, ambiguous, founders-backed environment.
• Voice AI or conversational agent experience is a plus.
• Experience with search, recommendations, or data infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Own major parts of the product end-to-end, from architecture to front-end experiences.
• Build AI agents that understand user intent, reason, and take actions.
• Design scalable systems for people search, data retrieval, and recommendations.
• Collaborate with founders and users to turn ideas into lovable products.
• Establish engineering practices and help scale the team.

Skills

Full-stack engineering

AI engineering

Technical judgment

Product ownership

Startup mindset

Voice AI

Search systems

Data infrastructure

Early-stage startup experience

Cloud infrastructure

Tools

TypeScript

React

Next.js

Node.js

PostgreSQL

LLMs

Agent frameworks

Job description

Pluto is building the headless professional network for the AI era.

We started by building AI technology that understands professionals beyond their resumes and connects them with companies. Today, over 30,000 professionals have spoken with our AI, and agents at 50+ companies, including Mercor, Warp, and David AI, use our data to hire. We've grown that business to a $2.6M annualized revenue run rate.

Now we're taking what we've built and making it available to everyone.

Professional networking today is painfully manual. You search LinkedIn, sift through profiles, find contact information, send cold messages, and hope someone responds. We've already built AI systems that handle all of this process for companies. We believe everyone should have access to that same capability.

We're building an AI-native professional network where you can simply tell an agent who you want to meet. It finds the right people, understands why they're relevant, and helps turn those searches into meaningful connections. Our ambition is to fundamentally change how people discover and connect with one another.

The Opportunity

We're looking for a Founding Engineer to help build this new product from the ground up.

You'll work directly with the founders to build intelligent agents that search, reason, remember, and take action on behalf of users. The work spans conversational AI, large-scale people search, data infrastructure, and consumer-facing product experiences.

This is a true 0-to-1 opportunity, but not at a company starting from zero. You'll be building on top of existing technology, proprietary data, and a proven business, while owning major parts of a new product and helping define our technical direction.

We're looking for someone who wants to move fast, solve ambitious technical problems, and help build something that millions of people use.

Who We're Looking For

We're looking for an exceptional engineer who can own ambitious technical problems end-to-end and thrive in a fast-moving, early-stage environment.

What we're looking for:

• Full-stack engineering: Strong experience with TypeScript, React, Next.js, Node.js, and PostgreSQL.
• AI engineering: Experience building production applications with LLMs, agents, tool calling, or AI-powered workflows.
• Technical judgment: Ability to design scalable systems and make pragmatic architectural decisions.
• Product ownership: Proven ability to build and ship products end-to-end with minimal oversight.
• Startup mindset: Comfortable moving quickly, navigating ambiguity, and working directly with founders.
• Voice AI or conversational agent experience
• Search, recommendation systems, or data infrastructure
• Early-stage startup or founding engineer experience
• Cloud infrastructure, deployment, and production reliability

What You'll Do

• Own major parts of our product end-to-end, from architecture and infrastructure to polished user experiences.
• Build and improve AI agents that can understand user intent, reason across complex information, and take real-world actions.
• Design scalable systems for people search, data retrieval, and personalized recommendations.
• Work directly with founders and users to turn ambitious ideas into products people love.
• Make foundational technical decisions and establish engineering practices as we scale.
• Help shape our engineering culture and hire future members of the team.