Founding Engineer

Posted:
7/1/2026, 7:53:48 PM

Location(s):
California, United States ⋅ San Francisco, California, United States

Experience Level(s):
Mid Level ⋅ Senior

Field(s):
AI & Machine Learning ⋅ Software Engineering

Workplace Type:
On-site

About the Role

This is a rare, high-impact founding engineer position at an early-stage consumer AI startup building a real-time, AI-enabled platform to digitize human connection. You'll work directly alongside the founder — a Thiel Fellow — as one of the first engineers, shaping both the product and the engineering culture from the ground up. This is a fully on-site role in San Francisco.

You'll take on broad technical ownership across a bold consumer product focused on scalable, meaningful human interactions — integrating cutting-edge real-time video, audio, and memory systems.

What You'll Do

  • Work across all aspects of the application alongside the founder, designers, and other engineers.

  • Build new systems for memory, retrieval, proactivity, and AI responsiveness.

  • Integrate the latest internal and external real-time video generation and audio synthesis models.

  • Set the bar for engineering quality and help recruit world-class talent to the team.

  • Dogfood the product extensively — you genuinely care about real user value and quality.

What We're Looking For

Required:

  • 2–7 years of software engineering experience (not a new grad — some professional engineering experience is required).

  • Computer Science degree from a top-tier university.

  • Strong CS fundamentals.

  • High energy, exceptionally bright, and driven to build fast.

  • Proven entrepreneurial spirit — startup exposure or experience in fast-moving, ambiguous environments.

  • Track record of technically complex side projects or independent builds.

  • Comfortable with — and excited by — early-stage chaos and the demands of a founding team environment.

Nice to Have:

  • Experience with real-time media, vision or video models, audio synthesis, or voice systems.

  • Experience with memory and retrieval systems or agentic AI architectures.

  • Proficiency in Python, including typed scientific Python.

  • Familiarity with AI-assisted or agentic development tooling.

Compensation & Benefits

  • Salary: $175,000 – $225,000 per year

  • Equity as a founding team member

  • Visa sponsorship available

Location

This role is fully on-site in San Francisco, CA. Candidates must be willing and able to work in-person full-time. Remote work is not available for this position.

Clera

Website: https://www.getclera.com/

Headquarter Location: San Francisco, California, United States

Employee Count: 1-10

Year Founded: 2025

IPO Status: Private

Last Funding Type: Pre-Seed

Industries: Artificial Intelligence (AI) ⋅ Career Planning ⋅ Information Technology ⋅ Recruiting