Product Engineer, Core

Key; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Key in Palo Alto is looking for a dynamic contributor to own features end-to-end, from design to implementation. You will work closely with co-founders and users to tackle crucial problems and bring innovative solutions.

The ideal candidate should have startup experience, a strong technical background, and the ability to mentor others. This role demands an understanding of both product and engineering details, ensuring high-quality outcomes.

Qualifications

• Experience shipping products at scale inside a startup.
• Strong understanding of both user experience and technical execution.
• Proficiency in debugging and working directly with users.

Responsibilities

• Own features from product intuition to implementation.
• Understand user problems and translate them into solutions.
• Mentor and help the team improve their outcomes.

Skills

Product intuition

User interaction

Debugging infrastructure

Mentoring

System thinking

Job description

Key AI is an AI-native professional intelligence platform. Think warm introductions, elite communities, and an AI agent (Kai) that actually works — for the kind of people who've built, led, and invested in the companies you've heard of. We're growing fast, shipping constantly, and building infrastructure that scales.

What you’ll actually do

• Own features end-to-end — from product intuition through design, implementation, and the metrics that prove it worked
• Sit with users, understand their problems, and translate that directly into what you build
• Debug infra at 2AM when it matters, then walk a user through a new feature the next morning
• Work directly with Kush and Chris (the co-founders) on the hardest, most important problems
• Raise the bar for the team — mentor, review, and help the people around you win

Who we’re looking for

• You’ve shipped products at scale inside a startup, not just inside a big company
• You think in systems but obsess over the details that make a product feel great
• You’re as comfortable talking to users as you are debugging infrastructure
• You wear multiple hats not because you have to, but because you want to
• You have an eye for what great software feels like, not just what it does
• You want to unlock the potential of the people around you

We’re full-stack, AI-native, and moving fast. You should be fluent across the stack and have opinions about how to build things well — we care more about taste and track record than any specific language or framework.

This is not a ticket-taker role. No PM is handing you specs. You’ll figure out what to build, build it well, and own the outcome after it ships.