Founding Engineer — Scale AI Platform (NYC, Equity)

Arrows; New York (NY); On-site; USD 234,000 - 286,000; Full time

Job summary

Arrows in New York City is seeking a Founding Engineer to join onsite and help scale an early-stage AI product. You’ll own features end to end, shape engineering culture, and work directly with the founders as one of the first engineers in the building.

You'll tackle real scaling challenges across distributed systems, cloud-native infrastructure, and a fast-moving startup environment. Expect high ownership, direct client interaction, and a roadmap-driven role with significant impact.

Qualifications

• Experience with distributed systems and cloud-native architectures.
• Startup experience scaling existing systems.
• Ability to work directly with founders and customers.
• Ownership mindset and problem-solving.

Responsibilities

• Architecting and scaling a distributed, cloud-native system already under real production load.
• Owning core backend infrastructure across microservices, containers, and queues.
• Building and shipping full stack product features end to end.
• Working directly with founders and customers to shape technical direction.
• Solving genuine scaling and coordination challenges, not theoretical ones.
• Helping set the technical and cultural bar for engineering hires that follow.

Skills

Distributed systems

Startup experience

Communication with clients

Ownership mindset

Tools

Python

TypeScript

FastAPI

PostgreSQL

Docker

Azure

AWS

GCP

Job description

Arrows in New York City is seeking a Founding Engineer to join onsite and help scale an early-stage AI product. You’ll own features end to end, shape engineering culture, and work directly with the founders as one of the first engineers in the building.

You'll tackle real scaling challenges across distributed systems, cloud-native infrastructure, and a fast-moving startup environment. Expect high ownership, direct client interaction, and a roadmap-driven role with significant impact.