Founding/Early-Stage Software Engineer

Continuum Recruiting works with a portfolio of venture-backed AI and technology companies hiring exceptional Founding, Early-Stage, and high-ownership Software Engineers. We are interested in meeting strong engineers for multiple current and upcoming opportunities rather than a single specific opening.

These companies range from very early founding teams to rapidly scaling startups. While the exact stack and product vary, the common denominator is a need for well-rounded builders who can take ambiguous problems, make sound technical and product decisions, and ship production software end-to-end.

Many of the opportunities are AI-native and involve applied AI, LLMs, agentic systems, developer tooling, data infrastructure, or AI-enabled vertical software. Others are broader product and platform engineering roles where strong software fundamentals and 0-to-1 execution matter most.

What You May Work On

• Own products, features, or core systems from initial concept and architecture through production deployment.
• Build across the stack, including backend services, APIs, data infrastructure, frontend/product surfaces, and cloud systems.
• Develop AI-native products and workflows using LLMs, agents, tool integrations, retrieval systems, and modern AI development tools where relevant.
• Make pragmatic architecture and product decisions in environments with limited process and incomplete requirements.
• Work directly with founders, customers, and other stakeholders to identify problems and translate them into shipped software.
• Build integrations with external APIs, business systems, data sources, and third-party platforms.
• Establish engineering patterns, tooling, testing, observability, and best practices as teams scale.
• Help shape engineering culture and, in some roles, mentor or lead engineers who join after you.

What Varies by Opportunity

Because this is an evergreen talent-pool search covering multiple companies, individual opportunities have different requirements. Current opportunities are based in New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, or are remote; specific in-office or hybrid expectations vary by opportunity. Seniority, compensation, equity, visa sponsorship, education preferences, and specific technical stacks also vary.

Our goal is to understand what you are strongest at and what you want next, then determine which current opportunities are genuinely aligned rather than forcing your background into a single job description.

Who Will Thrive in These Roles

These opportunities suit engineers who prefer ownership over narrowly defined tickets. You should enjoy building, learning quickly, making decisions with imperfect information, and seeing the direct impact of what you ship.

We are particularly interested in engineers who want meaningful influence over a product and technical direction, and who are energized by the pace and responsibility that come with joining a small or rapidly scaling engineering team.

What We’re Generally Looking For

• Strong professional software engineering experience with evidence of shipping production systems.
• End-to-end ownership: you can move from an ambiguous problem to a working production solution without requiring a detailed specification.
• Strong backend, full-stack, product engineering, or systems engineering fundamentals.
• Experience with one or more modern production languages such as Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, Go, Java, or Rust.
• Comfort working across multiple layers of a product rather than being limited to a very narrow specialty.
• High agency, strong problem-solving ability, and comfort operating in fast-moving environments.
• A track record of meaningful technical impact, rapid growth, entrepreneurial work, strong startup experience, or other clear signals of engineering excellence.
• Clear communication and the ability to explain technical decisions and tradeoffs.

Particularly Relevant Backgrounds

• Founding Engineer, Early Engineer, Product Engineer, Full-Stack Engineer, Backend Engineer, or Staff/Senior Software Engineer.
• Experience at an early-stage or high-growth startup, or evidence that you can operate effectively in a startup-style environment.
• 0-to-1 product or platform development.
• Production AI/LLM or agentic-system experience.
• Python and/or TypeScript/React experience.
• API integrations, distributed systems, data infrastructure, or developer tooling.
• Daily use of modern AI coding tools such as Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Codex, or similar tools.
• Entrepreneurial experience, meaningful side projects, open-source work, or previous founder experience.

• Competitive base compensation, with many opportunities ranging from $175,000–$275,000
• Meaningful equity ownership with the opportunity to participate directly in the company's long-term growth and success
• Comprehensive health benefits, typically including medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) retirement plans, often with employer matching
• Ground-floor impact and ownership — join an early-stage or rapidly scaling company where your work can directly influence the product, technical architecture, and engineering culture
• Direct access to founders and technical leadership, with significantly more ownership and visibility than is typical in larger organizations
• Career acceleration through the opportunity to solve difficult 0→1 problems, build new systems from the ground up, and help shape the direction of a growing engineering organization