Job Description
AI Engineer
Location: San Francisco
Onsite Policy: 5 days a week
Comp & Ben: $180k - $250k base + 0.3% - 0.8% equity + visa sponsorship + relocation support
Most AI companies are building wrappers around existing models.
This company is building the infrastructure and agentic systems that automate real-world commercial real estate development workflows from site sourcing and due diligence through to infrastructure planning and execution.
Their customers already include some of the biggest names in institutional real estate, technology, and infrastructure.
This isn't a role where you inherit narrow ownership inside a large org. You'll help shape the architecture, product direction, engineering culture, and AI systems from the ground up.
They're looking for high-agency software engineers who thrive in ambiguity, move fast, and care deeply about building high-quality systems. They are less focused on candidates who have spent years training LLMs and more interested in engineers who know how to ship production software, think independently, and operate with strong ownership.
What You'll Own
- Build and evolve AI-native systems - Work across agent orchestration, workflows, retrieval systems, infrastructure, and user-facing product experiences.
- Ship production software fast - Design, build, debug, and improve systems used internally and by enterprise customers every day.
- Own broad technical scope - Engineers work across product, backend, infrastructure, deployment, and customer problem-solving.
- Help shape technical direction - Strong opinions are valued. You'll be expected to think critically about architecture, tooling, frameworks, and engineering trade-offs.
- Work closely with a tiny, high-calibre team - The company operates with very little process and a high degree of trust, ownership, and autonomy.
What They're Looking For
- Strong software engineering fundamentals: Production experience building scalable systems with real ownership and operational responsibility.
- High agency and startup mentality: Comfortable operating in ambiguity, solving problems independently, and moving quickly without heavy structure.
- Technical depth: Experience with modern engineering environments across backend, infrastructure, or full-stack systems.
- Strong communication and technical judgment: Able to defend architectural decisions and communicate trade-offs clearly.
- Curiosity around AI systems: Experience with LLMs, agent frameworks, or AI-native tooling is a plus, but not mandatory.
Technical Environment
- Python, Go, or Rust
- TypeScript / React
- AWS
- Distributed systems
- Postgres
- CI/CD
- Observability and monitoring
- Agent orchestration systems
- Modern AI tooling and workflows
Ideal Backgrounds
Especially interested in engineers from:
- Early-stage startups
- AI-native companies
- High-bar engineering cultures like Stripe, Airbnb, Dropbox, Palantir, Scale AI, or similar environments
Candidates with purely research-focused ML backgrounds or candidates looking for highly defined 9-5 scope are unlikely to be a fit.
Why This Opportunity Is Worth Your Time
- Massive ownership: You'll join a four-person engineering team shaping the foundation of the company.
- Real-world impact: The long-term vision is to help power the development of real physical infrastructure and cities through AI.
- Meaningful equity: Early engineers will have genuine influence over both the technology and the outcome of the business.
- Elite customer base from day one: The company is already working with major institutional real estate and technology firms.
This is the kind of environment where you'll work hard, move fast, and build systems with outsized impact. If you want broad ownership and the chance to help define what AI-native software looks like in the real world, apply now!