Founding Full Stack Engineer

Zuma; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Great health insurance

Gym and workspace stipends

Computer and workspace enhancements

Unlimited PTO

Company off-sites with the team

Opportunity to play a critical role in

Job summary

Zuma is seeking a Founding Full Stack Engineer based in the US to join our engineering leadership. You will lead critical rewrites, architect scalable foundations for our AI platform, and set engineering standards as we scale.

Working at the intersection of LLM technology and real estate applications, you’ll build systems powering our AI leasing agent, mentor a distributed team, and shape the onboarding, analytics, and integration framework that enables rapid growth.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science or related field.
• 10+ years of full stack software development experience.
• Strong expertise in frontend (React, TypeScript) and backend (Node.js, Python).
• Experience with LLMs or AI systems at scale is highly valuable.
• Proven track record of building scalable, production-grade systems.

Responsibilities

• Leading critical system rewrites to transform our architecture into a highly scalable foundation.
• Architecting and building advanced systems for our LLM-based AI leasing agent.
• Creating intelligent configuration interfaces that allow our AI to adapt to customer needs.
• Designing and implementing integration frameworks connecting our AI with customer systems.
• Developing self-serve onboarding experiences that scale with our growing customer base.
• Establishing modern engineering practices and infrastructure for an AI-first product.
• Implementing robust analytics to measure and improve our AI’s effectiveness.
• Leading the development of innovative features that push the boundaries of AI in real estate.
• Mentoring engineers and elevating the team’s capabilities with LLM technologies.
• Working closely with our product team to translate customer needs into technical solutions.
• Occasionally improving existing systems to support rapid growth and new capabilities

Skills

Frontend integration

Backend development

LLM systems

System architecture

Mentoring engineers

Cross-time-zone collaboration

API development

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in computer science

Tools

React

TypeScript

Node.js

Python

Job description

About Zuma

Zuma is pioneering the future of agentic AI and our focus is to transform the rental market experience for consumers and property manager alike. Our innovative platform is engineered from the ground up to boost operations efficiency and enhance support capabilities for property management business across the US and Canada, a ~$200B market.

Off the back of our Series-A in early 2024, Zuma is scaling rapidly. Achieving our vision requires a team of passionate, innovative individuals eager to leverage technology to redefine customer-business interactions. We’re on the hunt for exceptional talent ready to join our mission and contribute to building a groundbreaking technology that reshapes how businesses engage with customers.

Zuma has raised over $17M in funding to date and has support from world-renowned investors, including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Y Combinator, King River, Range Ventures, and distinguished angel investors like YC’s former COO, Qasar Younis.

About the Role

As our Founding Full Stack Engineer based in the US, you will be a cornerstone of our engineering organization, reporting to the Head of Engineering. This is a pivotal role where you’ll lead critical system rewrites, architect scalable foundations for our AI platform, and establish the technical standards that will shape our engineering culture for years to come.

You’ll work at the intersection of cutting-edge LLM technology and practical business applications, creating sophisticated systems that power our AI leasing agent while building self-serve experiences that enable rapid customer onboarding. As our first US-based engineer, you’ll bridge the gap between our product vision and technical implementation, mentoring our India-based team and driving technical excellence across the organization.

This role offers a rare opportunity to directly influence how we architect the next generation of our platform. You’ll tackle projects like rebuilding our onboarding/configuration system to be self-serve, creating robust analytics infrastructure to measure AI performance, and reimagining our integration framework to connect seamlessly with customer systems. Your work will significantly reduce manual engineering overhead while enabling rapid scaling of our customer base.

Why This Could Be Your Dream Role

• You’ll work directly with cutting-edge LLM technology in a real-world application
• You’ll architect AI-powered systems that are transforming the real estate industry
• You’ll have autonomy to design and implement innovative technical solutions
• Your work will directly impact thousands of apartment communities and millions of renters
• You’ll receive significant equity in a venture-backed company with strong traction
• As we scale, your role and influence will grow with the company

Why You Might Want to Think Twice

• This is a demanding role that will often require extended hours and deep commitment
• You’ll need to wade through technical debt and rewrite critical systems while maintaining product velocity
• As a founding team member, you’ll need to wear multiple hats and step outside your comfort zone
• You’ll need to make thoughtful tradeoffs between innovation and immediate needs
• You’ll navigate a distributed team across different time zones, sometimes requiring early mornings or late evenings
• You’ll interact directly with customers to understand their needs and occasionally travel to their offices
• We’re a startup - priorities can shift rapidly as we respond to market opportunities and customer needs
• If you’re not comfortable getting your hands dirty with legacy code or speaking directly with customers, this isn’t the job for you

Responsibilities

• Leading critical system rewrites to transform our architecture into a highly scalable foundation
• Architecting and building advanced systems for our LLM-based AI leasing agent
• Creating intelligent configuration interfaces that allow our AI to adapt to customer needs
• Designing and implementing integration frameworks connecting our AI with customer systems
• Developing self-serve onboarding experiences that scale with our growing customer base
• Establishing modern engineering practices and infrastructure for an AI-first product
• Implementing robust analytics to measure and improve our AI’s effectiveness
• Leading the development of innovative features that push the boundaries of AI in real estate
• Mentoring engineers and elevating the team’s capabilities with LLM technologies
• Working closely with our product team to translate customer needs into technical solutions
• Occasionally improving existing systems to support rapid growth and new capabilities

Your Experience Looks Like

• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science or a related field
• 10+ years of experience in full stack software development
• Strong expertise in both frontend (React, TypeScript) and backend (Node.js, Python) development
• Experience working with LLMs or AI systems at scale is highly valuable
• Proven track record of building scalable, production-grade systems
• Strong understanding of API development, system architecture, and cloud infrastructure
• Experience mentoring engineers and establishing engineering best practices
• Excellent communication skills and experience collaborating across time zones
• Ability to balance technical innovation with pragmatic delivery
• Startup experience and comfort with ambiguity

Other Benefits

• Great health insurance, dental, and vision.
• Gym and workspace stipends.
• Computer and workspace enhancements.
• Unlimited PTO.
• Company off-sites with the team.
• Opportunity to play a critical role in building the foundations of the company and Engineering culture.