Software Engineer, Product

Visa Hunt; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 300,000 - 475,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision benefits

Unlimited PTO

Parental leave

Relocation assistance

Job summary

Thinking Machines is seeking a Full Stack Engineer to design, build, and ship AI-powered products from the ground up in San Francisco. You will own both frontend and backend work, from APIs to production-grade interfaces, often moving concepts from prototype to real user surfaces within weeks.

Collaborating with researchers and designers, you will translate emerging model capabilities into tangible product experiences, defining what to build and ensuring scalable, reliable architectures as the

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience with ownership across frontend and backend systems.
• Strong track record shipping production web applications end to end—from data model and API design to polished UIs.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and ship full stack features across web applications, including backend services, APIs, and frontend interfaces.
• Prototype rapidly with new model capabilities to turn research into usable product experiences.
• Take new product ideas from rough concept to live surfaces with quick iteration based on feedback.
• Partner with researchers to translate model behavior into product decisions.
• Work with design and product to define what to build, not just how to build it.
• Own the technical architecture, including scalability, reliability, and maintainability as products mature.
• Help set engineering practices and technical standards for the team.

Skills

Full stack

Frontend development

Backend development

API design

Job description

About Thinking Machines

The mission of Thinking Machines is to build AI that extends human will and judgment. We are training frontier models with Inkling, developing Tinker to let people make models their own, and crafting interfaces that broaden human-AI communication. We believe the future worth building is human, and we're hiring people who want to build it.

About the Role

We're hiring a Full Stack Engineer to help conceive, build, and ship new AI-powered products from the ground up. You'll work on early-stage product ideas that sit at the edge of what our models can do — moving from prototype to something real people rely on, often within weeks rather than quarters.

This role sits at the intersection of product, design, and research. You'll partner closely with researchers to translate emerging model capabilities into interfaces and experiences, and with product and design to figure out what's worth building next. You'll frequently be the first engineer on a given idea, which means real ownership over both the technical direction and the product itself.

We're looking for someone who is energized by ambiguity, comfortable working across the entire stack, and motivated by getting new things in front of real users quickly.

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and ship full stack features across our web applications — from backend services and APIs to production-quality frontend interfaces.

• Prototype rapidly with new and emerging model capabilities, turning early research results into usable product experiences.

• Take new product ideas from a rough concept to a live surface that real users can try, iterating quickly based on feedback.

• Partner with researchers to understand model behavior, constraints, and capabilities, and translate them into product decisions.

• Work with design and product partners to define what to build, not just how to build it.

• Own the technical architecture of the products you build, including decisions about scalability, reliability, and maintainability as they mature.

• Help set engineering practices and technical standards for a growing product engineering team.

Skills & Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with demonstrated ownership across both frontend and backend systems.

• Strong track record shipping production web applications end to end, from data model and API design through polished user-facing interfaces.

• Comfort working in ambiguous, fast-changing environments where product direction is still being discovered.

• Experience making pragmatic technical tradeoffs to move quickly without accumulating unmanageable risk.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building products on top of large language models or other frontier AI systems, including working around their quirks and limitations.

• A strong product sense — you enjoy figuring out what's worth building as much as how to build it.

• Experience as an early or founding engineer at a startup, or leading a product from 0 to 1.

• Familiarity with modern frontend frameworks and a good eye for interface design and usability.

• Experience with distributed systems, infrastructure, or backend performance work at scale.

• A history of working closely and effectively with researchers, designers, or other non-engineering partners.

Logistics

• Location: This role is based in San Francisco, California.

• Compensation: Depending on background, skills and experience, the expected annual salary range for this position is $300,000 - $475,000 USD.

• Visa sponsorship: We sponsor visas. While we can't guarantee success for every candidate or role, if you're the right fit, we're committed to working through the visa process together.

• Benefits: Thinking Machines offers generous health, dental, and vision benefits, unlimited PTO, paid parental leave, and relocation support as needed.