Founding Engineer (AI Native Startup)

Epic Placements; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity (0.3%–1.7%)

Health, dental and vision insurance

401(k) with company match

Meal & coffee stipend

Beautiful NoMad office

Job summary

Epic Placements is seeking its first engineering hire for an early-stage AI startup in New York City. You will work directly with the founders, building core product capabilities and shaping both the product and engineering culture from day one.

You will design backend-heavy features, collaborate with customers to translate problems into product improvements, and help define architectural direction. Strong backend fundamentals and a drive to own outcomes are essential.

Qualifications

• Experience building products from 0→1 in startup or high-growth environments.
• Strong backend fundamentals with sound architectural judgment.
• Experience shipping customer-facing products, not just internal tooling.
• Some frontend experience and a good eye for building intuitive user experiences.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to work directly with customers.
• A natural curiosity for emerging AI development workflows and tools.

Responsibilities

• Build core product capabilities from the ground up.
• Design and implement backend-heavy features with thoughtful, intuitive user experiences.
• Work directly with customers to understand real-world problems and turn feedback into product improvements.
• Help shape architecture, engineering standards, and technical direction.
• Build AI-native workflows and production systems using modern development tools.
• Collaborate across the entire product lifecycle—from whiteboard discussions to production deployments.

Skills

Backend engineering

Product from 0→1

Frontend experience

Communication

AI workflows

Python

React/Next.js

Job description

Compensation: $150,000–$250,000 Base + Meaningful Equity (0.3%–1.7%)

Build Something That Actually Matters.

Some engineering jobs ask you to own a service.

Some ask you to own a feature.

This one asks you to help build an entire company.

Our client is an early-stage AI startup building a platform that solves one of the biggest challenges facing enterprise AI today: trusted data. As organizations deploy more AI agents across their business, the quality of their data is becoming increasingly difficult to manage. This platform gives companies confidence that the data powering their AI is accurate, reliable, and governed from the start.

They're incredibly early, well-funded, already working with customers, and looking for their first engineering hires.

If you've ever wanted to help shape a product, influence architecture, work directly with founders, and build something from the ground up, this is that opportunity.

What You'll Do

You’ll work directly alongside the founders as one of the company's first engineers, helping define not only the product but the engineering culture for years to come.

• Build core product capabilities from the ground up.
• Design and implement backend-heavy features with thoughtful, intuitive user experiences.
• Work directly with customers to understand real-world problems and turn feedback into product improvements.
• Help shape architecture, engineering standards, and technical direction.
• Build AI-native workflows and production systems using modern development tools.
• Collaborate across the entire product lifecycle—from whiteboard discussions to production deployments.

What We're Looking For

We're much more interested in builders than box-checkers.

The strongest candidates typically have:

• Experience building products from 0→1 in startup or high-growth environments.
• Strong backend engineering fundamentals with sound architectural judgment.
• Experience shipping customer-facing products, not just internal tooling.
• Some frontend experience and a good eye for building intuitive user experiences.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to work directly with customers.
• A natural curiosity for emerging AI development workflows and tools.

Experience with Python, React, Next.js, modern AI frameworks, or LLM applications is certainly valuable, but strong engineering fundamentals and product ownership matter far more than any specific technology stack.

Who Thrives Here

This opportunity is best suited for engineers who:

• Love building from scratch.
• Want ownership instead of bureaucracy.
• Enjoy working directly with customers.
• Are energized by ambiguity.
• Want to learn how exceptional startups are built.
• See themselves founding a company someday—or simply want to work like an owner.

The Environment

This is a highly collaborative, in-person engineering culture based in New York City.

You’ll work directly with experienced founders who have built products at some of the world's most respected technology companies and have spent their careers solving complex enterprise problems.

Everyone ships.

Everyone owns outcomes.

• Meaningful early-stage equity (0.3%–1.7%)
• Healthcare, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) with company match
• Daily meal and coffee stipend
• Beautiful NoMad office
• Opportunity to help build a company from its earliest days

Why This Role?

There are plenty of startups.

Very few offer the chance to join as one of the first engineers, work side-by-side with proven technical founders, influence every major technical decision, and help define the culture from day one.

If you're looking for ownership, impact, and the opportunity to build something you'll genuinely be proud of, we'd love to connect.

Epic Placements is proud to partner with innovative startups and high-growth technology companies across the country. If this opportunity sounds like the kind of challenge you've been looking for, we'd love to hear from you.