Founding Engineer

Sage Recruiting Inc.; United States; On-site; CAD 208,000 - 319,000; Full time

Job summary

AIRE is building the Consumer Ownership Graph and is seeking a founding engineer who will own all technical aspects and shape the engineering team over time. The role requires shipping real AI-powered features and managing a backend/API stack at scale.

You will build the Ownership Graph, ML/NLP pipelines, and an agentic commerce engine, while enabling cross-network personalization and merchant integrations. Remote-first, US preferred, Canada open.

Qualifications

• Founding engineer with equity and prior startup experience.
• Experience shipping AI/ML features to real users in a production context.
• Experience with LLMs in production environments.
• Backend and API development experience.

Responsibilities

• Own architecture, AI/ML, product, and eventually the engineering team.
• Lead efforts on the Ownership Graph, ML/NLP pipeline, and agentic commerce engine.
• Scale the API infrastructure and enable integration with 3rd party platforms (Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce).

Skills

Founding engineer experience

Production AI/ML experience

Backend development

APIs

Graph databases

LLMs in production

Job description

Please read the entire description before applying.

AIRE, Remote (US preferred, open to Canada)

AIRE is building the Consumer Ownership Graph, the missing data layer for all of commerce.

Every commerce AI system is built on intent data: searches, clicks, browses. That signal is noisy and short-lived. No one mapped ownership. Google mapped searches. Facebook mapped relationships.

We map what people actually own across brands, powering zero-friction resale, AI-driven personalization, and cross-network shopping intelligence. The product is live and growing quickly. 100+ merchant partners live. 161K monthly loyal users.

The product is live, the business model is proven, and the distribution is compounding. We're now sitting on the most unique consumer dataset in commerce - what consumers actually own across 100+ brands. We need the founding engineer who can see what this data unlocks and build it.

Where We Are

• $206M+ authenticated inventory. ML-powered Gmail sync parsing 1,400+ merchant receipt formats
• 347K consumer wardrobes
• AI first: We've built all of this as a lean, AI-first team - multiple functions led by one person using modern AI tooling.
• Backed by angel investors from the best in tech (OpenAI, Google, Stitchfix, Meta, Pinterest, Shopstyle) and fashion (LVMH, editor-in-chief at InStyle) and top founders like: Julie Bornstein (ex-Stitch Fix COO, Daydream founder), Brian Sugar (founder PopSugar). Named Vogue Business 2025 Fashion Startup to Watch.

The Role

This is a Founding Engineer with significant equity. We have a preference for folks who have already been a founding engineer or founded their own startup.

The CEO is a former founder with an exit, with deep experience across payments, e-commerce, fashion and re-commerce. She is non-technical, which means this hire owns everything technical: architecture, AI/ML, the product, and eventually the engineering team. There is a junior 2-person existing engineering team, but no technical leadership. Just a product with proven traction, a strong roadmap, and a massive technical problem worth solving.

The business side - unlocking the unique dataset, product-market fit, the business model, and a highly compelling distribution flywheel - is proven. The engineering challenge is just beginning.

What You’ll Build

• The Ownership Graph: Connecting consumers, products, brands, and transactions at scale. Graph database architecture
• ML/NLP Pipeline: E-receipt parsing mapping 1,400+ merchant formats to auto-populate ownership data. Gmail sync at scale.
• Agentic Commerce Engine: AI pricing across 10,000+ brands. Automated resale offers at peak price alignment. Zero-friction, one-click resale
• Consumer Intelligence: Cross-network personalization pipeline. Complete-the-look recommendations. Push intelligence into merchant personalization offerings.
• Merchant Integration Layer: Scalable API infrastructure for 100+ (and growing) Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce partners

What We’re Looking For

• Production AI/ML experience: Shipped real AI-powered features to real users. LLMs (Claude, GPT, open-source models) in a production context, not just prototypes
• Full-stack delivery: Backend, APIs,