Founding Engineer

Clera; United States; Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity for founding team

Direct collaboration with founders

Job summary

Clera is an early-stage startup building an AI-native internal tooling platform. We seek a Founding Engineer to own end-to-end product surfaces—from database to UI—and shape our engineering culture as we scale to hundreds of customers.

This role offers high ownership, daily production shipping, and significant impact on product direction. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Qualifications

• 3–7 years of professional software engineering experience.
• Strong proficiency in TypeScript and modern full-stack JavaScript (React, Next.js, Node.js).
• Hands-on experience with PostgreSQL and backend data modeling.
• Comfort working in a fast-moving, early-stage environment with significant autonomy.
• Experience shipping production-quality code end-to-end, including infra and DevOps fundamentals.

Responsibilities

• Own and ship full-stack features end-to-end across a Next.js + PostgreSQL stack.
• Design and build the AI copilot and workflow-automation engine at the core of the product.
• Set up foundational engineering infrastructure: CI/CD, observability, testing, and code-quality standards.
• Work directly with founders and early customers to turn feedback into shipped product quickly.
• Help hire and mentor the next wave of engineers as the team grows.

Skills

TypeScript

React

Next.js

Node.js

PostgreSQL

DevOps fundamentals

Tools

Supabase

Job description

About the Role

We're an early-stage startup building an AI-native internal tooling platform from the ground up, and we're looking for a Founding Engineer to join us at the ground floor. As one of our first engineers, you'll own entire product surfaces end-to-end — from database schema to polished UI — and directly shape our engineering culture as we scale from a handful of design partners to hundreds of customers.

This is a high-ownership, high-autonomy role for someone who loves moving fast without breaking the things that matter. You'll ship to production daily and have an outsized impact on both the product and the company's trajectory.

Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

What You'll Do

• Own and ship full-stack features end-to-end across a Next.js + PostgreSQL stack

• Design and build the AI copilot and workflow-automation engine at the core of the product

• Set up foundational engineering infrastructure: CI/CD, observability, testing, and code-quality standards

• Work directly with founders and early customers to turn feedback into shipped product quickly

• Help hire and mentor the next wave of engineers as the team grows

What We're Looking For

Required

• 3–7 years of professional software engineering experience

• Strong proficiency in TypeScript and modern full-stack JavaScript (React, Next.js, Node.js)

• Hands‑on experience with PostgreSQL and backend data modeling

• Comfort working in a fast‑moving, early‑stage environment with significant autonomy

• Experience shipping production‑quality code end‑to‑end, including infra and DevOps fundamentals

Nice to Have

• Experience with Supabase or similar BaaS/PaaS platforms

• Prior experience as an early or founding engineer at a startup

• Exposure to building AI/LLM-powered product features or workflow automation systems

• Interest in internal tooling, developer experience, or productivity software

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: $90,000 – $140,000 USD per year, depending on experience

• Equity participation as a founding team member

• Direct collaboration with founders and significant influence over product and engineering direction

Location

This is a hybrid role based in San Francisco, CA. Candidates based in Los Angeles, CA or New York City, NY may also be considered. Visa sponsorship is not available.