Backend-Leaning Product Engineer

About the role

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 Own features end-to-end — from design and implementation through shipping and iteration. Make product and engineering decisions independently, without heavy PM oversight. Build and maintain backend systems, APIs, data models, and automation pipelines. Integrate with external tools, legacy systems, and messy third-party services. Design workflows and orchestration for AI/automation-driven products. Debug production issues and apply strong engineering judgment under pressure. Balance full-stack work when required, with a clear emphasis on backend ownership. Collaborate closely with founders, customers, and cross-functional stakeholders. What We're Looking For Required: Backend-focused engineering experience with the ability to design, implement, and ship customer-facing features end-to-end. Track record of shipping real products — ideally in 0-to-1 or ambiguous/messy environments. Experience owning the full lifecycle of customer-facing features: ideation, implementation, and feedback loops. Strong cross-functional collaboration and communication skills. Must be legally eligible to work in the US without employer sponsorship. Based in San Francisco or willing to relocate — this role is hybrid/in-office in SF. Nice to Have: Applied AI or workflow/orchestration experience (agentic workflows, RAG, LLM-enabled features). Systems integration experience with external APIs and third-party services. Python experience; modern web/backend stacks are acceptable — engineering quality matters more than stack fit. 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 Base salary: Up to $275,000 depending on experience. Equity: Meaningful equity package. Visa sponsorship is not available — candidates must be authorized to work in the US. Location San Francisco, CA — hybrid/in-office required. Open to candidates willing to relocate to SF.