Staff Software Engineer

San Francisco (Hybrid)

Founding/Staff Engineer

$200-300k base

Our client is an
AI-native research and product lab
on a mission to
redefine how global finance operates
. Backed by a team that includes former
Google DeepMind researchers and engineers
, they are applying frontier AI to some of the most complex, high-stakes problems in finance.

This is a true
founding engineer
opportunity. You'll help turn cutting-edge AI research into
production systems used by real financial institutions
, while shaping the technical foundation, standards, and culture from the ground up.

What you'll do

• Build core product features end-to-end
  , spanning frontend, backend, and infrastructure using TypeScript, React, and
• Productionize frontier ML research
  , working closely with researchers to ship robust, user-facing AI systems.
• Design and own critical services
  , architecting reliable, scalable infrastructure with Docker and Kubernetes.
• Set the engineering bar
  as a founding team member—establishing standards for code quality, testing, and development workflows.
• Prototype rapidly, ship decisively, and iterate continuously
  , collaborating closely with product managers, designers, and researchers.
• Make thoughtful architectural decisions, including
  rewriting systems when it meaningfully improves long-term quality and simplicity
  .

The ideal candidate:

• Have built
  polished, high-performance web applications
  end-to-end, from design through production deployment.
• Are deeply fluent in
  modern frontend development
  , including TypeScript, React, Tailwind, and
• Can comfortably
  design and evolve backend microservices
  or Python) to deliver features end-to-end.
• Are an expert in
  at least one statically typed language
  and have strong instincts around type safety, maintainability, and correctness.
• Have experience deploying production systems with
  Docker and Kubernetes
  on GCP
• Use AI as a productivity multiplier—but
  critically evaluate AI-generated code
  , catching bugs and calling out poor design.
• Thrive in a
  high-performance, high-ownership environment
  alongside other strong engineers.
• Enjoy tackling technically deep, ambiguous problems and thinking carefully about product tradeoffs.

Nice to have:

• Experience working with
  ML or applied research teams
  , or familiarity with ML pipelines.
• Background in
  fintech, trading, quant platforms, or other high-stakes domains
  .
• Prior experience as an
  early-stage or founding engineer
  .