About the Role
We're a small, high-ownership product team building real-world AI and automation products. As a Backend-Leaning Product Engineer, you'll own customer-facing features end-to-end — from design through shipping and iteration. You'll navigate messy integrations, legacy systems, and third-party services, and you'll make product and engineering trade-offs with speed and strong judgment. This is an early-stage environment where your work has direct, visible impact.
We're looking for someone who thrives with minimal structure, works closely with founders and customers, and is genuinely excited about building 0-to-1 products in a fast-moving hybrid SF setting.
What You'll Do
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Own features end-to-end — from design and implementation through shipping and iteration.
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Make product and engineering decisions independently, without heavy PM oversight.
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Build and maintain backend systems, APIs, data models, and automation pipelines.
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Integrate with external tools, legacy systems, and messy third-party services.
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Design workflows and orchestration for AI/automation-driven products.
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Debug production issues and apply strong engineering judgment under pressure.
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Balance full-stack work when required, with a clear emphasis on backend ownership.
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Collaborate closely with founders, customers, and cross-functional stakeholders.
What We're Looking For
Required:
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Backend-focused engineering experience with the ability to design, implement, and ship customer-facing features end-to-end.
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Track record of shipping real products — ideally in 0-to-1 or ambiguous/messy environments.
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Experience owning the full lifecycle of customer-facing features: ideation, implementation, and feedback loops.
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Strong cross-functional collaboration and communication skills.
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Must be legally eligible to work in the US without employer sponsorship.
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Based in San Francisco or willing to relocate — this role is hybrid/in-office in SF.
Nice to Have:
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Applied AI or workflow/orchestration experience (agentic workflows, RAG, LLM-enabled features).
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Systems integration experience with external APIs and third-party services.
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Python experience; modern web/backend stacks are acceptable — engineering quality matters more than stack fit.
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Background as a founding engineer, early startup generalist, or product/backend engineer at a scaling startup.
Not a fit: Frontend-only, data-only/internal-tools-only, pure DevOps/SRE without product ownership, pure research/ML without shipping experience, or candidates primarily motivated by corporate titles.
Compensation & Benefits
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Base salary: Up to $275,000 depending on experience.
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Equity: Meaningful equity package.
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Visa sponsorship is not available — candidates must be authorized to work in the US.
Location
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San Francisco, CA — hybrid/in-office required.
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Open to candidates willing to relocate to SF.
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