Founding Engineer (Data Platform, Machine Learning) Engineer

Recruiting From Scratch; New York (NY); Remote; USD 160,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading talent firm is seeking a Founding Software Engineer specializing in Data Platforms and Machine Learning. This role involves developing scalable backend services, enhancing productivity tools for Data Scientists, and overseeing AI projects. The company values innovation and seeks individuals who thrive in dynamic environments. Competitive salary and benefits offered.

Benefits

100%-paid health insurance benefits

Free lunches in the office

Generous vacation policy

Company retreats

Commuter benefits

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience as a backend engineer, data engineer, or software engineer.
• Hands-on experience with big data tools and pipeline orchestration platforms.
• Proficiency in a backend programming language like Python.

Responsibilities

• Build tools that enhance the productivity of Data Scientists.
• Architect and develop high-performance backend services.
• Lead projects on AI and LLM augmentation across the product ecosystem.

Skills

Data structures

Algorithms

Scalable system design

SQL

Cloud platforms

Tools

Spark

Dagster

Airflow

Prefect

Job description

Who is Recruiting from Scratch:

Recruiting from Scratch is a talent firm that focuses on placing the best candidate for our clients. Our team is 100% remote and we work with teams across North America, South America, and Europe to help them hire.

https://www.recruitingfromscratch.com/

About Us

We’re transforming health insurance for small and medium-sized businesses across the U.S. Our mission is to make healthcare more affordable by driving innovation at every level of health plan design. We are bringing affordable, high-quality, long-term oriented, and ethical health insurance to employers.

2024 marked our breakthrough year: we hit profitability, found strong market fit, and brought affordable healthcare to more than 200 businesses and their employees.

We’re a small but mighty team bringing wide-ranging expertise:

• Developing mission-critical software at Palantir

• Scaling a Y Combinator startup from the very first hire to Series A (50+ employees)

• Creating actuarial models used by major health insurers

• Leading patient operations teams at a high-growth health plan startup

About the Role

As the Founding Software Engineer | Data Platform, Machine Learning, you will:

• Build tools that enhance the productivity and data capabilities of our Data Scientists

• Architect and develop high-performance, scalable backend services powering our AI and ML systems.

• Scope and spearhead AI and LLM augmentation projects across our product ecosystem.

Some of the projects you'll drive:

• Quoting API Infrastructure: Build and scale the infrastructure that powers our health insurance quoting API, enabling real-time ML inference on trillions of claims records while seamlessly incorporating millions of new data points daily to continuously improve quote accuracy and speed

• Automated Document Parsing: Own our data infrastructure for extracting structured content from large-scale document ingestion pipelines using LLMs and other technologies

What We Value:

• Autonomy and Curiosity: You’re eager to learn, can work independently, and thrive when given the freedom to solve problems your way.

• Judgment and Adaptability: You’re skilled at prioritizing projects and making sound decisions in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.

• Collaboration: You communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical teammates, always keeping the end-user in mind.

• Ownership: You’re ready to own projects end-to-end, from designing architecture to writing clean, maintainable code.

Requirements

• 3+ years of experience as a backend engineer, data engineer, or software engineer with exposure to data pipelines and large-scale infrastructure.

• Strong understanding of data structures, algorithms, and scalable system design.

• Demonstrated ability to design secure, robust, and scalable infrastructure for data and backend systems.

• Hands-on experience with big data tools (e.g., Spark) and pipeline orchestration platforms (e.g., Dagster, Airflow, Prefect).

• Proficiency in a backend programming language like Python and solid SQL skills for querying and database design.

• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and their data services.

Why Join Us?

• Be part of a team building industry-changing technology that directly impacts our clients and millions of people.

• Work alongside a talented team that thrives on innovation, transparency, and collaboration.

• Join a team that pushes each other to excel, supports one another through challenges, and builds each other up to achieve our best work together.

• Enjoy competitive medical, dental, and vision coverage, plus a generous vacation policy—work hard, recharge when needed, and come back ready to make an impact.

Compensation:

Base: $160-220k base + equity.

Benefits: 100%-paid health insurance benefits, free lunches in the office, fun company retreats, commuter benefits, etc.

https://www.recruitingfromscratch.com/