As a Founding AI Engineer, you will build core intelligent agent systems, prototype features, collaborate with founders, and engage with customers to enhance workflows and solutions.
About the job
We’re an early-stage AI company backed by top-tier investors and world-class angels, including Pear VC. We’re working with forward-leaning customers who are aggressively adopting AI at scale, building systems at the frontier of what’s possible.
Our founding team comes from Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Snap and Roblox — veteran builders who’ve shipped large-scale, high-impact products. We’re now assembling a small, exceptional team to build a category-defining AI company.
If you want to build from zero, move fast, learn faster, and take true ownership with founding-level equity, this is one of those once-in-a-decade moments.
What You’ll Do
- Build core systems powering next-generation intelligent agent capabilities
- Rapidly prototype, iterate, and ship production features used by enterprise customers
- Work directly with founders to shape product, architecture, and culture
- Collaborate with customers to deeply understand workflows and pain points
- Explore emerging techniques in reasoning, orchestration, and multi-agent behavior
- Operate with extreme autonomy — owning projects end-to-end from idea → value
Who You Are
- 1–7 years of strong engineering experience
- Fast learner who thrives in ambiguity and loves figuring things out
- Obsessed with customers — eager to talk to users and ship solutions they rely on
- Hands-on builder comfortable moving from prototype → production quickly
- Strong fundamentals across Python, TypeScript, backend systems, or infra
Great team player who enjoys collaborating in a high-velocity environment
Why This Role Is Rare
- Backed by elite VCs and top angel operators
- Selected into one of the most competitive accelerator cohorts globally
- Founding-level equity and true ownership
- Strong early traction with high-caliber early customers
- Small, elite team — your work will define the company
- Massive whitespace in a rapidly shifting market
- The chance to build foundational AI systems at the frontier
Top Skills
Python
Typescript
Similar Jobs
Artificial Intelligence • HR Tech • Productivity • Software
As the Founding Hardware Engineer, you will design the hardware for tactile systems in humanoid robotics, focusing on PCB design, firmware development, and partner management.
Top Skills:
AltiumC/C++Mems SensorsPcb DesignRtos
Artificial Intelligence • Software
As a Founding Software Engineer at Glacis, you'll lead engineering efforts, develop full-stack solutions, and drive AI integration while engaging directly with enterprise customers.
Top Skills:
AWSAzureDjangoGCPJavaScriptPostgresPythonTemporal
Artificial Intelligence • Information Technology • Software
As a Founding Engineer, you will design and build systems, integrate tools, and manage data frameworks while collaborating closely with founders to enhance higher education technologies.
Top Skills:
Ai Coding ToolsEvent-Driven SystemsPythonSQL
What you need to know about the Chicago Tech Scene
With vibrant neighborhoods, great food and more affordable housing than either coast, Chicago might be the most liveable major tech hub. It is the birthplace of modern commodities and futures trading, a national hub for logistics and commerce, and home to the American Medical Association and the American Bar Association. This diverse blend of industry influences has helped Chicago emerge as a major player in verticals like fintech, biotechnology, legal tech, e-commerce and logistics technology. It’s also a major hiring center for tech companies on both coasts.
Key Facts About Chicago Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 245,800; 5.2% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: McDonald’s, John Deere, Boeing, Morningstar
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fintech, software, logistics technology
- Funding Landscape: $2.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Arch Venture Partners, MATH Venture Partners, Jump Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners
- Research Centers and Universities: Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
