Founding Engineer ($150K - $250K + 0.5% - 1% equity) Email Inboxes for AI Agents

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

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Free meals

Equinox membership

Job summary

CoffeeSpace is hiring a Founding Engineer to shape our backend infrastructure and APIs that power AI agents. You will own projects from inception to deployment, working across the stack in a backend-centric role.

Join a small, fast-moving team building a unique identity and communication system for AI agents. Founders come from top tech firms; equity and growth await the right candidate.

Qualifications

• 0–5 years of backend engineering experience; preferred background at FAANG or high-growth startups.
• Proven track record of building projects from scratch.
• Experience with TypeScript, REST APIs, distributed systems, and cloud infrastructure.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, early-stage environment.

Responsibilities

• Design and build APIs and backend systems for AI agent communication and operation.
• Lead 0→1 projects, from customer requirements to production rollout.
• Engage with distributed systems, databases, and developer tooling.
• Propose and implement growth experiments and product ideas.
• Support enterprise customers with custom deployments when necessary.
• Maintain code quality and technical documentation while processing large volumes of emails.

Skills

TypeScript

REST APIs

Distributed systems

Cloud infrastructure

Job description

This role is being recruited by CoffeeSpace on behalf of an anonymous AI-focused startup that provides email inboxes for AI agents, akin to how Gmail serves humans.

We’re identifying a small number of exceptional founding engineers from our network. If there’s a strong fit, we’ll introduce you directly to the founding team.

Compensation: $150K - $250K base + 0.5% - 1% equity

Employment type: Full-time

Visa: Visa sponsorship not available

About the company

The company is developing a unique identity and communication system for AI agents, similar to how email transformed human communication. With a $6M seed round led by prominent investors like Paul Graham and Dharmesh Shah, the company is experiencing rapid growth, doubling its user count every two weeks and achieving 20-30% monthly revenue growth.

The team consists of 8 people, including 6 engineers, with backgrounds from leading tech companies such as Optiver, NVIDIA, and Amazon. The co-founders are all University of Michigan CS alumni.

About the role

As a Founding Engineer, you will play a critical role in shaping the company's core product, focusing on backend infrastructure and APIs that support AI agents. You will handle projects from inception to deployment, working across the stack with an emphasis on backend development.

What You’ll Do

• Design and build APIs and backend systems for AI agent communication and operation
• Lead 0→1 projects, from customer requirements to production rollout
• Engage with distributed systems, databases, and developer tooling
• Propose and implement growth experiments and product ideas
• Support enterprise customers with custom deployments when necessary
• Maintain code quality and technical documentation while processing large volumes of emails

Why This Role Is Compelling

• Opportunity to own greenfield projects and influence product direction
• Work on a backend-first, infrastructure-heavy core product
• Competitive compensation package including equity and benefits like Equinox membership and free meals

The Ideal Candidate

• 0–5 years of experience in backend engineering, with a preference for those with experience at FAANG or high-growth startups
• Proven track record of building projects from scratch
• Experience with TypeScript, REST APIs, distributed systems, and cloud infrastructure
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, early-stage environment

This Role Is NOT For You If

• You prefer a role with predefined tasks and minimal customer interaction

This is a real, active role that CoffeeSpace is recruiting for in close partnership with the hiring team. We don’t post speculative roles and work directly with teams on their actual hiring needs.