Founding Engineer

Clera
San Francisco, CA
On-site

Who this role is best for

Best suited to experienced engineers with startup leadership background working in industrial ingredient manufacturing.

Best fit for

  • Experienced engineers with startup leadership and a history of launching full-stack products in traditional industries
    — “Experience owning and launching full-stack products from customer problem through production use and iteration.”
  • Candidates with recent hands-on coding experience and a deliberate interest in returning to individual contributor roles
    — “A deliberate interest in returning to a hands-on individual contributor role, with recent experience writing and shipping production code.”
  • Engineers comfortable with AI/LLM integration and document processing workflows
    — “Production experience with AI or LLM products, agents, or automation.”

Things to consider

  • On-site presence in San Francisco is mandatory, with no remote flexibility implied
    — “On-site in San Francisco, California, United States.”
  • Visa sponsorship is not available, which may limit eligibility for non-US citizens
    — “Visa sponsorship is not available.”

How to stand out

  • Emphasize experience with document processing and AI automation in product development
    — “Develop AI agents that complete complex, multi-page compliance and food safety documents.”
  • Highlight your ability to own products end to end, including customer discovery and iteration
    — “Own products end to end, from customer discovery and problem definition through architecture, launch, and iteration based on real usage.”
  • Showcase your backend experience with data ingestion and relational databases like Postgres
    — “Backend experience with data ingestion and processing, plus relational database design such as Postgres.”
  • Demonstrate adaptability to new tools, especially if your background is not in Kotlin or React
    — “Engineers from other stacks should be ready to learn.”
  • Demonstrate your ability to contribute across frontend, backend, and infrastructure decisions
    — “Contribute across frontend, backend, infrastructure, and product decisions.”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • Successfully launched full-stack products from customer problem through production use and iteration
Typical background
At least 4 years of professional software engineering experience, with substantial early-stage startup experience

Skills & requirements

Required

Backend DevelopmentFrontend DevelopmentAI DevelopmentProduct OwnershipDocument ProcessingSupply Chain ManagementManufacturingKotlinSpring BootReactNext.jsPostgreSQLGCPLLM Products

Preferred

LeadershipProduct ManagementTeam Management

Stack & domain

KotlinSpring BootReactNext.jsPostgreSQLGCPGeminiAnthropicLeadershipProduct JudgmentAIDocument ProcessingSupply ChainsManufacturing

About the role

Original posting from Clera via Ashby

ABOUT THE ROLE

Join an early-stage B2B SaaS team building AI tools for industrial ingredient manufacturers. As a senior, hands-on engineering hire, you will work closely with company leadership to build products that streamline document-heavy operational and compliance workflows.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

  • Build backend systems that ingest and process documents from customer business systems and inboxes.
  • Develop AI agents that complete complex, multi-page compliance and food safety documents.
  • Own products end to end, from customer discovery and problem definition through architecture, launch, and iteration based on real usage.
  • Ship and refine features quickly in response to user feedback.
  • Contribute across frontend, backend, infrastructure, and product decisions.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

  • At least 4 years of professional software engineering experience, with substantial early-stage startup experience as a founder, co-founder, CTO, VP of Engineering, or engineering leader.
  • A deliberate interest in returning to a hands-on individual contributor role, with recent experience writing and shipping production code.
  • Experience owning and launching full-stack products from customer problem through production use and iteration.
  • Strong product judgment and the ability to build across backend, frontend, and infrastructure.
  • Production experience with AI or LLM products, agents, or automation.
  • Backend experience with data ingestion and processing, plus relational database design such as Postgres.
  • The team uses Kotlin, Spring Boot, React, Next.js, Postgres, GCP, and models from providers including Gemini and Anthropic. Experience with these tools is helpful, and engineers from other stacks should be ready to learn.
  • Interest in document processing, supply chains, manufacturing, or other traditional industries is valuable.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

Base salary is $180,000 to $250,000 annually, plus 0.5% to 1.5% equity. Visa sponsorship is not available.

LOCATION

On-site in San Francisco, California, United States.

Source: Clera careers (Ashby)

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