Temper — Founding Engineer

davidjoseph-co; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity 0.4–0.8%

On-site in San Francisco

Job summary

davidjoseph-co in San Francisco, CA is seeking a founding engineer to own core systems end-to-end and shape the technical direction. You will work across AI-agent components and platform infrastructure, guiding architectural decisions and building foundational patterns.

The role requires 2–5 years of full-stack/backend experience, strong TypeScript skills, and a track record of shipping complex software within a venture-backed startup.

Qualifications

• 2–5 years as a full-stack or backend engineer.
• Experience at a venture-backed startup in early stage.
• Track record shipping complex software end-to-end.
• Hands-on AI agents and LLMs development experience.
• Strong TypeScript and modern full-stack skills.
• Bachelor's in CS or Engineering (flexible).
• Comfort operating with autonomy and building from scratch.

Responsibilities

• Build AI coding agents from scratch for supply-chain connectivity.
• Develop and maintain core infrastructure for integrations.
• Own systems end-to-end from agent platform to runtime.
• Establish engineering patterns and practices for future hires.

Skills

Full-stack or backend engineer

TypeScript

AI agents / LLMs

Autonomy

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or Engineering

Tools

TypeScript

React

Bun

Effect-TS

PostgreSQL

Kubernetes

AWS

Job description

San Francisco, CA · On-site · Full-timeCompensation: $150K–$300K + 0.4–0.8% equity

About the Company

Our client is a VC-backed, seed-stage startup building an AI-native integration platform for the physical economy. Using specialized AI agents, they automate how manufacturing, logistics, and supply-chain systems connect and stay connected — handling the full lifecycle from requirements through deployment and production upkeep. They already have paying enterprise customers, including large logistics companies, with integrations running in production today, and demand is outpacing what the current team can build.

Founded 2023 · ~5 people · Industry: AI, B2B, Devtools, Enterprise, Logistics, Manufacturing

The Role

This is a founding-engineer opportunity to own core systems end-to-end and set the technical direction the rest of the team will build on. You'd work across both the AI-agent side of the product and the platform infrastructure that runs it.

What you'll be doing

• Build purpose-specific AI coding agents from scratch for supply-chain connectivity.
• Develop and maintain the core infrastructure that hosts and runs integrations.
• Own systems end-to-end, from the agent platform to the runtime, making foundational architectural calls.
• Establish the engineering patterns and practices future hires will follow.

Tech stack: TypeScript, React, Bun, Effect-TS, PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, AWS

Requirements

• 2–5 years of experience as a full-stack or backend engineer.
• Full-time experience at a venture-backed startup at the seed-to-Series-B stage, including at least one standout company.
• A track record of shipping and owning complex software products end-to-end.
• Hands-on experience building with AI agents and LLMs using current, modern approaches.
• Strong TypeScript and modern full-stack product development skills.
• An undergraduate degree in computer science or engineering (flexible where work experience is especially strong).
• Comfort operating with a high degree of autonomy and building from scratch.

Nice to Haves

• Experience as a former founder, or as a founding/early engineer who built a product 01 at a fast-growing, high-caliber startup.
• A degree from a strong technical program, or a clear academic standout record.
• High-agency side projects (agentic tools or launched products) that demonstrate craft and initiative.

Why Join

• Founding engineering role with genuine end-to-end ownership of core systems.
• Early, real traction: paying enterprise customers with production deployments.
• Build at the frontier across cutting-edge AI agents and core platform infrastructure.

Details

• Salary | $150K–$300K |
• Equity | 0.4–0.8% |
• On-site policy | In-office in San Francisco, CA, 5 days/week |
• Visa sponsorship | No new H-1B; transfers (OPT, H-1B transfer, O-1, TN) fine; case-by-case for exceptional candidates |
• Employment type | Full-time |
• Location | San Francisco, CA |