Founding Principal

Digital Waffle; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Digital Waffle is a seed-funded, AI-native startup building for the private equity market and is adding a Founding Principal in San Francisco. You will work directly with the founders to shape core workflows, run customer engagements end to end, and take on client relationships over time. Salary: $200K to $250K plus competitive equity.

Location: San Francisco, on-site, 6 days a week in the office. You’ll design AI agent workflows, lead engagements, and influence product development from client

Qualifications

• 1.5–2 years in management consulting at a top-tier firm.
• Significant focus on commercial due diligence.
• Ability to work directly with founders and senior clients.
• Run client work end-to-end with minimal supervision.
• Willingness to work from the San Francisco office six days per week.

Responsibilities

• Design and refine core AI agent workflows with founders.
• Lead customer engagements end to end, from scoping to delivery.
• Own client relationships as the business grows.
• Feed client insights into product development and strategy.
• Contribute to sales processes to win new engagements.
• Operate with autonomy and first-principles thinking.
• Help shape company culture as part of the founding team.

Skills

Management consulting

Due diligence

Client engagements

Sales conversations

Autonomy

Job description

A seed-funded, AI-native startup building for the private equity market, adding a Founding Principal to its team in San Francisco.

This is a founding team hire at an early-stage business that uses AI agents to help private markets investors gather insight at scale. You would work directly with the founders to shape the core workflows, run customer engagements end to end and take on more of the client relationships over time. It suits someone from a commercial due diligence background who wants to build the product and the company, not just advise on it.

Salary: $200K to $250K plus competitive equity

Location: San Francisco, on-site, 6 days a week in the office

What you’ll be doing:

• Work directly with the founders to design and refine the core AI agent workflows
• Lead customer engagements end to end, from scoping through to delivery
• Take increasing ownership of client relationships as the business grows
• Use what you learn from clients to feed into product development and strategy
• Get involved in sales processes to win new clients and recurring engagements
• Work from first principles with a high degree of autonomy
• Help shape company culture as part of the founding team

What you’ll need:

• At least 1.5 to 2 years in management consulting at a top-tier firm (Bain, McKinsey or BCG)
• A significant focus on commercial due diligence during that time
• Confidence working directly with founders and senior clients
• The ability to run client work end to end with little supervision
• A comfortable, commercial approach to sales conversations
• Right to work in the US without sponsorship (the client is not open to candidates who would need a visa)
• Willingness to work from the San Francisco office six days a week

Nice to have:

• 1 to 2 years as a private equity associate or investor (ideally 2+ years)
• Exposure to AI products or working with AI-enabled tools in a client setting
• Experience in an early-stage startup or a founding team environment

This role would suit a former MBB consultant with a due diligence background, ideally with time on the buy side, who wants to move from advising on deals to building the product and the business that private equity firms rely on.