Founding Software Engineer

Ventus AI; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Ventus AI is seeking a founding software engineer to scale the core engine behind our autonomous AI agents. You will build and maintain production systems that operate in real-world, edge-case environments, coordinating with co-founders to set technical direction and best practices.

In this early-stage role, you will influence architecture, ship fast, and gain opportunity to shape product, culture, and company growth as the first engineers on the team.

Qualifications

• Production systems end-to-end: deployment, debugging and refactor.
• Experience with Python (async) and modern dev tooling.
• Ability to design robust, low-latency infrastructure.
• Familiarity with edge cases and operational complexity.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain mission-critical infrastructure for agent orchestration, memory, logging, security, and observability.
• Write production-grade Python (and possibly some TypeScript) to power low-latency, fault-tolerant workflows.
• Establish testing, CI/CD, and monitoring pipelines from scratch.
• Own system reliability: debugging flakiness, edge cases, and performance bottlenecks.
• Collaborate with product, research, and field teams to bring new capabilities to life.
• Make key architectural and technical decisions that will shape core systems.

Skills

Python

TypeScript

CI/CD

Testing

Distributed systems

Tools

CI/CD pipelines

Observability tooling

Job description

Ventus AI builds computer-using agents — autonomous AI workers that operate software like humans do: reading emails, navigating portals, entering data, and syncing systems without APIs. We’re automating real workflows in freight and logistics — from quoting and scheduling to billing and compliance — and already live at major brokers and shippers across the U.S.

Backed by a16z and built by serial founders, we’re turning agentic AI into infrastructure for the industrial world.

The Role

We’re looking for a founding software engineer to help us scale the core engine behind our AI agents. This is not an experimental R&D job — you’ll be building and maintaining robust production systems that interface with real-world environments full of edge cases, ambiguity, and operational complexity.

You’ll work closely with our co-founders to set technical direction, establish engineering best practices, and ship fast — all while having the opportunity to shape the company’s culture, product, and future.

You will get a front row seat in customers’ interactions - this is critical if you want to create your own venture in the future.

What You’ll Do

Design, build, and maintain mission-critical infrastructure for agent orchestration, memory, logging, security, and observability

Write production-grade Python (and possibly some TypeScript) to power low-latency, fault-tolerant, agentic workflows

Establish testing, CI/CD, and monitoring pipelines from scratch

Own system reliability: debugging flakiness, edge cases, and performance bottlenecks

Collaborate with product, research, and field teams to bring new capabilities to life

Make key architectural and technical decisions that will shape our core systems

You Might Be a Fit If You…

Have built and maintained production systems end-to-end — from idea to deploy to debug to refactor

Thrive in ambiguous, high-autonomy environments where you’re trusted to figure things out

Have deep comfort with Python (async, testing, deployment) and modern dev tooling

Understand the trade-offs in system design and can keep things simple without being fragile

Have a founder mindset : ownership, urgency, and comfort with chaos

Are excited by the idea of building agents that operate on messy real-world software instead of APIs

Bonus Points For

Exposure to freight, logistics, manufacturing, or other ops-heavy domains

Open-source contributions or prior startup/founding experience

Why Join Us

Real product, real customers — not just a demo

Lucrative equity — you’ll be early enough to have meaningful upside

Zero bureaucracy — just you, the code, and the customer

Explosive growth — opportunity to lead, build, and learn faster than anywhere else

We believe the future of work involves fewer humans clicking buttons.

If you’ve built real systems and want to build something meaningful, come do it with us.