Software Engineer

Founding Engineer (AI Systems & Infrastructure)

Overview

A fast-growing, venture-backed NYC startup is seeking a Founding Engineer to help build the next generation of AI-powered financial software. The company has already built proprietary lending infrastructure, payment systems, and financial data platforms that have enabled over $100M in funding for customers within its first year. Now, the team is building an AI-native CFO agent designed to automate complex financial workflows for businesses.

This is a rare opportunity to join a small, highly technical team at an early stage and have direct influence on product direction, architecture, and execution. The role is ideal for engineers who thrive in ambiguous environments, move quickly, and enjoy building AI products from the ground up.

Responsibilities

• Build and expand the AI CFO agent's capabilities across financial and operational workflows.
• Improve agent quality, reliability, reasoning, and end-to-end task completion.
• Design and develop new tools, integrations, and workflows that enable autonomous task execution.
• Build systems for email generation, document completion, financial operations, and third-party integrations.
• Contribute to core backend infrastructure supporting both the AI platform and lending products.
• Operate with high autonomy and ownership, driving projects from concept through deployment.
• Collaborate closely with founders and engineers to shape product direction and technical strategy.
• Leverage AI-assisted development tools and workflows to accelerate execution and product innovation.

Qualifications

Required

• 0-5 years of software engineering experience (hard cap at 5 years).
• Strong signals of technical excellence through:
• Top-tier startup experience
• Big Tech experience
• Top university Computer Science or technical degree
• Strong backend engineering skills using Python.
• Experience building APIs, working with databases, asynchronous systems, and cloud infrastructure.
• Daily user of AI-native development tools such as Claude Code, Codex, or similar agentic coding platforms.
• Ability to operate independently with minimal guidance and thrive in highly ambiguous environments.
• Excited about AI products and willing to take ownership from day one.
• Ability to work in-person in New York City.

Preferred

• Full-stack development experience, particularly with TypeScript.
• Experience building products from zero-to-one with real users and measurable adoption.
• Quantitative engineering or high-frequency trading background.
• Strong interest in product thinking, UX, and building customer-facing AI experiences.
• Demonstrated side projects, hackathons, GitHub contributions, or entrepreneurial initiatives.

Benefits

• Competitive salary: $175,000 - $250,000.
• Meaningful early-stage equity package.
• Opportunity to help define the technical foundation of a rapidly growing AI company.
• Direct access to founders and significant influence on product and engineering decisions.
• Small, highly talented engineering team with a builder-first culture.
• Work on cutting-edge AI agent systems, automation, and financial infrastructure.
• Fast-paced environment with substantial ownership and career growth opportunities.

Ideal Candidate Profile

This role is best suited for a high-performing engineer with exceptional technical fundamentals who has demonstrated excellence through a notable startup, Big Tech company, top technical university, or standout side projects. The ideal candidate is AI-native, highly autonomous, energized by building products, and eager to operate at a tech-lead level despite having fewer than five years of experience.