Founding Engineer

Orpex; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Founding equity

Visa sponsorship possible

In-person in SF

Job summary

Orpex in San Francisco is seeking a Founding Engineer to design and own the technical foundation for a next-gen AI-powered service platform.

You'll pick the stack, set coding standards, and ship production-ready code from day one. This is the first hire, offering broad ownership, an equity stake, and a fast-paced, highly collaborative environment with direct user feedback.

Qualifications

• Shipped production agent systems: orchestration, tool calling, long-running tasks.
• Proven track record shipping production-grade software across full stack (TypeScript/Python, modern infra).
• Product engineer mindset: talk to users, define outcomes, ship it.
• Ownership mindset: founded or joined a startup early.
• AI-native coding with AI acceleration.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical foundation and stack choices from day one.
• Ship core infra and product features for the platform.
• Engage with users to iterate on outcomes and drive delivery.

Skills

Applied LLMs

Production systems

TypeScript

Python

Startup experience

Job description

About Orpex

The next generation of service companies won't scale through headcount. They'll be built by tiny teams orchestrating AI workforces with 1000x the output. Orpex is building the infrastructure they run on: agentic workforce, company brain, human trust layer, one cockpit to run the business.
We just raised an oversubscribed 2,5mio angel round in 7 days and are moving at rapid speed.

Founding Engineer

You'd be the first hire. This is a once-in-a-generation shot to define how service companies get built. You'll own the technical foundation, pick the stack and set the standard for everyone who comes after you.

Who we're looking for

• Applied LLMs. You've shipped production agent systems: orchestration, tool calling, long-running tasks, evals. Opinions earned through pain, not blog posts.

• Proven builder. Track record of fast, production-grade shipping across the full stack (TypeScript/Python, modern infra).

• Product engineer, not software developer. Nobody tells you what to build. You talk to users, define the outcome, ship it.

• Ownership and intensity. You force things into existence. Bonus if you've founded something or joined a startup early.

• AI-native. You write code with AI at a pace that would have looked unreasonable two years ago.

Your first month

• Ship from day one. Production code in week one.

• Own it end-to-end. Spec, build, deploy, talk to the user, iterate.

• Do what needs doing. Infra, UI, customer calls, hiring the next engineer.

We offer

• $150–250K USD base + meaningful founding equity

• San Francisco in person - Visa sponsorship possible

• Zero friction. Hardware, tools and unlimited model budget. Nobody asks.

• Pace and purpose. Small team, high standards, high trust, no politics, in person.

Process

1. 30-min intro call

2. 90-min technical deep dive on something you built

3. Technical Task

4. Offer the same week

If you want to build something truly generational and are ready to make it your life's mission, this is for you!