Founding Engineer Job in USA 2026 | Career Mentors, LLC

January 22, 2026 4:30 am

Founding Engineer Job in USA 2026 | Career Mentors, LLC

A highly prestigious, venture-backed AI company in San Francisco is offering an exceptional opportunity for an experienced Founding Engineer to join its elite early-stage team in 2026. This role is designed for senior engineers who want true ownership, long-term impact, and the chance to build foundational systems from the ground up.

The company is developing advanced, enterprise-grade intelligent software that replaces slow, manual, human-heavy processes with autonomous, continuously operating systems. For qualified international candidates, U.S. visa sponsorship (including H-1B and O-1 pathways) is available on a case-by-case basis, making this a rare opportunity to combine top-tier compensation, equity, and U.S. relocation with meaningful technical leadership.

About the Role

As a Founding Engineer, you will play a central role in designing, building, and scaling the company’s core intelligence platform from zero to production. This is not a maintenance or incremental improvement role; it is true zero-to-one engineering.

You will make critical architectural decisions, write production software that directly enables customer deployments, and help define the engineering culture and standards of a company built for long-term impact. The position is hybrid in San Francisco, with three days per week in-office, and offers exceptional growth in scope, responsibility, and compensation as the company scales.

About the Hiring Firm

The hiring firm is a well-funded AI startup founded by proven operators with a strong track record of building and scaling complex, real-world systems. Backed by top-tier venture capital and operating in stealth mode, the company is assembling a small, high-caliber founding team focused on solving hard, high-consequence problems for large organizations. The culture emphasizes ownership, technical excellence, and long-term thinking, with strong experience in supporting international hires and employment-based U.S. visas.

Responsibilities

Design and build core platform systems end-to-end, from data ingestion to production services
Architect scalable data pipelines, model orchestration systems, and feedback loops
Develop and maintain APIs, internal services, and supporting tooling
Contribute to UI and workflow integrations where required
Make and own major architectural decisions across the stack (TypeScript, Python, Go)
Build systems that are robust, scalable, and maintainable for enterprise use
Work closely with leadership to shape product direction and technical strategy
Set the technical and cultural standards for the engineering organization as it grows
Engage with early customers to deeply understand real-world problems and requirements

Requirements

5+ years of professional engineering experience, with senior-level scope and ownership
Strong background in at least one of: distributed systems, data engineering, or AI/ML systems
Practical experience with modern stacks such as TypeScript, Python, Go, Postgres, and React (or similar)
Proven ability to operate in ambiguous, fast-moving environments without a fixed playbook
High standards for code quality, performance, and long-term maintainability
Experience in high-bar engineering environments (e.g., top-tier tech companies or equivalent)
Strong sense of ownership, low ego, and comfort taking responsibility for critical systems

Click Here to Apply

Conclusion

This is a rare opportunity to become a true founding engineer in a world-class AI company, with a base salary of USD 160,000–220,000, competitive equity, and U.S. visa sponsorship support for exceptional international candidates. If you are seeking meaningful ownership, long-term impact, and the chance to build technology that transforms how large organizations operate, this role offers an outstanding pathway to both professional growth and U.S.-based career advancement.