Founding Engineer

Berkley Hunt is partnering with an early-stage, high-growth product company building AI-powered software from the ground up alongside a small, high-caliber founding team. They're looking for a Founding Engineer to join as one of the earliest technical hires and help build the product end-to-end. This is a full-stack generalist role based onsite in San Francisco (3 days/week), working directly with the founders and a lean team of 3 engineers plus one part-time Customer Success hire. What You'll Do Design and build core product features end-to-end across the full stackArchitect and ship backend services using Kotlin and Spring BootBuild responsive, production-grade frontends using React and Next.jsDesign and maintain PostgreSQL schemas supporting core product workflowsOwn infrastructure and deployment using GCP and TerraformIntegrate and build with AI models including Gemini and Anthropic's ClaudeWork directly with clients to understand needs and translate them into shipped featuresMove fast and autonomously across ambiguous, evolving prioritiesTake full ownership of features from concept through productionCollaborate closely with founders and the core engineering team to shape product direction What We're Looking For Prior experience as a founding engineer or top early hire at a pre-seed/seed-stage startupTrack record of shipping an AI product with genuine end-to-end ownershipFull-stack generalist comfortable across Kotlin, Spring Boot, React, and Next.jsExperience with PostgreSQL, GCP, and Terraform in production environmentsDirect client-facing or client-side experienceHighly autonomous, comfortable operating with minimal oversight in a small teamComputer Science degree required Compensation & Benefits Salary: up to $280,000 base + equity