Founding Engineer

Lightsage; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

Lightsage is seeking a Founding Engineer in San Francisco to design, build, and scale core infrastructure powering agent-led growth for developer tools and platforms. You will shape the technical architecture, implement new features, and create benchmarks and analytics to measure how agents interact with APIs, CLIs, and MCPs.

You will write production-grade code, build data pipelines and dashboards, integrate with third-party tools, and experiment with AI coding systems while collaborating

Qualifications

• Able to take a loosely defined customer or product problem and drive it to a working shipped solution.
• Prior founder or early-stage startup operator experience is a plus.
• Strong written communication and ability to explain technical decisions clearly.
• Experience working with Next.js, FastAPI, Supabase, Microsoft Azure.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and scale core infrastructure and products powering agent-led growth.
• Define technical architecture and implement new features.
• Create benchmarks and analytics measuring agent interactions with APIs, CLIs, and MCPs.
• Write production-grade code and build data pipelines and dashboards.
• Collaborate with customers to translate needs into end-to-end solutions.

Skills

Problem solving

Founding/startup experience

Communication

Technical leadership

Tools

Next.js

FastAPI

Supabase

Azure

Job description

Company Description

Lightsage builds infrastructure for the emerging agent economy, helping organizations track, benchmark, and improve how coding agents discover and use their APIs, CLIs, and MCP integrations. The platform is used by enterprises and high-growth startups to become the default tools recommended by software agents. Lightsage focuses on agent experience and measurable impact on developer and product adoption, with more information available at lightsage.com. The team also created DevToolArena.com, a public benchmark that ranks developer tools across areas like authentication, inference, and voice using Claude Code and Codex. Joining Lightsage offers the opportunity to shape how agent-led growth and developer tooling evolve in a rapidly changing ecosystem.

Role Description

As a Founding Engineer at Lightsage, you will design, build, and scale core infrastructure and products that power agent-led growth for developer tools and platforms. You will work closely with the founders to define technical architecture, implement new features, and create benchmarks and analytics that measure how agents interact with APIs, CLIs, and MCPs. Your day-to-day will include writing high-quality production code, building data pipelines and dashboards, integrating with third‑party tools, and experimenting with agent frameworks and AI coding systems. You will collaborate directly with customers to understand their needs, refine product requirements, and ship end‑to‑end solutions from prototype to production.

Requirements

• Able to take a loosely defined customer or product problem and drive it to a working shipped solution
• Prior founder or early‑stage startup operator experience is a plus
• Strong written communication and ability to explain technical decisions clearly
• Experience working with Next.js, FastAPI, Supabase, Microsoft Azure

This is a full‑time, on‑site role based in San Francisco, CA, with significant ownership, autonomy, and impact on the company’s technical direction.