Founding Backend Engineer - AI Commerce Startup (Seed Stage)
We're a Seed-stage startup on a mission to reinvent online commerce through LLM-native, data-driven interfaces. Our goal is to build the intelligence layer of the internet - where digital experiences dynamically adapt to every user, in real-time.
We're looking for a Founding Backend Engineer who's excited to shape our technical foundation, own critical infrastructure decisions, and help bring AI-native experiences to life. This is a high-impact role for someone who thrives in fast-paced, 0 1 environments and cares deeply about clean systems design and data-driven products.
What You'll Do
- Architect and build scalable backend systems to support dynamic, AI-powered user interfaces
- Design and implement high-throughput data pipelines for search, recommendation, and personalization
- Collaborate closely with product to shape user experiences powered by large language models
- Own infrastructure decisions across performance, reliability, observability, and security
- Lay the groundwork for a high-performing engineering culture
Who You Are
- You've built and shipped backend systems at high-growth startups or technically complex environments
- You're passionate about data-intensive applications, distributed systems, and LLM-driven workflows
- You care about elegant architecture and building with long-term product vision in mind
- You're excited to own large pieces of the system and thrive in an ambiguous, early-stage setting
- You're based in or open to relocating to a major tech hub (SF or NYC preferred)
️ Our Tech Stack
We're language-agnostic, but experience with any of the following is a plus:
- Go, Rust, Scala, Python, or Erlang
- LLM frameworks (OpenAI, Hugging Face, LangChain, etc.)
- Data infrastructure (Kafka, NiFi, Redis, Postgres, Weaviate, DynamoDB)
- Cloud & orchestration (AWS, Azure, Docker, Kubernetes)
What We Offer
- Competitive salary + meaningful early equity
- Flexible/hybrid working structure (SF or NYC preferred)
- Health, wellness, and learning stipends
- A rare opportunity to build the future of AI commerce from day one