Founding AI Engineer

About the Role

This is a founding engineering role at a seed-stage AI startup building the intelligence layer for the construction industry. The company's platform transforms messy blueprints, permits, and construction documents into actionable insights — accelerating cost estimation and permitting workflows that directly impact housing, hospitals, and schools.

As a Founding AI Engineer , you'll be one of the earliest technical hires, working hands-on with state-of-the-art computer vision, LLMs, and multimodal AI to prototype and ship production systems on real-world, noisy construction documents. The focus is squarely on the intelligence layer — modeling, data pipelines, and inference — not the application UI.

This is a full-time, in-office role based in San Francisco, CA. Candidates must be based in SF or willing to relocate. US work authorization is required; visa sponsorship is not available.

What You'll Do

Apply state-of-the-art computer vision, LLM, and multimodal AI techniques to real-world construction documents (blueprints, schedules, specs).

Rapidly prototype models and iterate based on user feedback and real production data.

Build and deploy end-to-end AI systems that operate reliably on noisy, heterogeneous inputs.

Own the intelligence layer: modeling, data pipelines, and inference infrastructure.

Collaborate closely with product and users to surface and prioritize high-impact problems.

Embrace practical engineering work — data labeling, ETL, deployment — as part of a small, high-trust team.

Communicate progress, tradeoffs, and results clearly and empathetically across the team.

What We're Looking For

Must-haves:

Demonstrated experience applying computer vision and/or multimodal AI in production — on real-world, messy data (documents, images, mixed modalities).

0-to-1 builder mindset : you've launched an AI system into production or built the core of a new product from scratch.

Hands-on experience with LLMs and modern CV/multimodal model tooling and techniques.

Comfort iterating quickly and improving prototypes directly from user feedback.

Strong communication skills — honest, empathetic, and transparent with teammates and stakeholders.

Willingness to handle the full spectrum of startup engineering tasks (no task is too small).

Based in San Francisco or willing to relocate; US work authorization required.

Nice-to-haves:

Experience building something that shipped to real users or paying customers.

Background or domain knowledge in construction, AEC (architecture/engineering/construction), or related industries.

Experience at an early-stage startup or founding team environment.

All experience levels are welcome, including recent graduates with strong production ML portfolios.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary: $120,000 – $180,000 per year, depending on experience

Equity participation as a founding team member

Opportunity to shape the technical direction of an AI product from the ground up

Location

San Francisco, CA — full-time in-office

Relocation-ready candidates strongly encouraged to apply

US work authorization required; visa sponsorship is not available