
Foundational AI Engineer
Numeral (YC W23)
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Hybrid
Location: San Francisco • California • United States
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Salary
💰 $175,000 - $300,000 per year
Tech Stack
About the role
- Design, build, and operate production AI systems, including tool-calling agents, model orchestration layers, and RAG.
- Implement and maintain AI integrations using modern frameworks, MCP servers, and external model providers.
- Build and evolve scalable backend services and APIs that power automated workflows and customer-facing features.
- Think in automation and workflows: design systems using tools like n8n, Claude Code-style agents, or similar orchestration approaches where appropriate.
- Make architectural decisions that balance latency, cost, reliability, and iteration speed.
- Own infrastructure, observability, and performance for both AI and non-AI services.
- Collaborate closely with product, design, and data teams to ship features that solve real customer problems.
- Help define engineering best practices, AI safety/reliability norms, and our overall technical culture.
Requirements
- 7+ years of experience building products in high-growth environments.
- 2+ years of experience building with LLMs.
- Avid use of state-of-the-art AI development tools such as Cursor and Claude Code.
- Fluency with backend technologies like PostgreSQL, Redis, and cloud services (AWS preferred).
- Experience with frontend development, especially TypeScript and its ecosystem.
- Strong product sense, balancing performance, flexibility, and speed.
- Comfortable working in dynamic startup environments with evolving needs.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
Benefits
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Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard Skills & Tools
AI systemsmodel orchestrationbackend servicesAPIsautomationLLMsPostgreSQLRedisTypeScriptcloud services
Soft Skills
communicationcollaborationproduct senseadaptabilityproblem-solving