Founding Engineer

Overview

We're hiring a Founding / Senior Software Engineer to join a well-funded, early-stage AI product team based in London. This is a hands-on, high-ownership role for someone who enjoys building real products from the ground up and wants meaningful influence over technical direction, architecture, and delivery.

The product is already live, customer-facing, and built around applied AI rather than research. The focus is on shipping reliable systems that solve real operational problems at scale.

This role suits engineers who thrive in ambiguity, enjoy working close to customers, and are motivated by impact rather than hierarchy.

What You'll Be Doing

• Building and shipping core product features using Python and TypeScript

• Designing and owning backend-leaning full-stack systems

• Working with LLMs and AI-driven workflows in production

• Building event-driven systems and third-party integrations

• Taking ownership from problem discovery through to delivery

• Balancing speed vs scalability depending on context

• Contributing to engineering best practices around testing, reliability, and security

Tech Environment

• Languages: Python, TypeScript

• Architecture: Cloud-native, distributed systems, event-driven design

• AI: Practical LLM usage in real-world products

• Infrastructure exposure: Kubernetes, serverless, modern cloud platforms (experience here is a plus, not a blocker)

What We're Looking For

• 5-10+ years' experience in full-stack software engineering (backend-leaning)

• Proven experience shipping AI-powered products end-to-end

• Early-stage startup experience strongly preferred

• Comfortable working directly with customers and stakeholders

• Strong ownership mindset; enjoys building, not just maintaining

• Backgrounds as an ex-founder or founding engineer are very welcome

What's Not a Fit

• Long tenures exclusively in large or highly process-driven organisations

• Engineers who prefer narrowly scoped, ticket-based work

• People uncomfortable with in-person collaboration or ambiguity

Location & Package

• London-based

• 5 days onsite

• Salary: £150,000 - £220,000 (experience dependent)