Founding Engineer

Job Title: Founding Engineer

Package: $120k - $180k + equity

Location: New York City (3 days per week in office)

Launchpad Recruitment are partnering with a high-growth, VC-backed (GV & YC) AI-native investment infrastructure company building the operating system for alternative investments.

We’re hiring a Founding Engineer to join a small, elite team building mission-critical AI systems from the ground up.

This is a true 01, founder-mentality role - ideal for someone who thrives in ambiguity, owns problems end-to-end, and has already shipped production systems with real user traction.

The company is a Series A business modernising an $11T alternative investments market that still runs on heavily manual, legacy processes. The platform is already processing $5B+ in transactions and is backed by top-tier investors including Google Ventures and Y Combinator.

The Role

You’ll sit at the core of the engineering team building AI systems that replace manual operational workflows with scalable automation.

Key responsibilities:

    Build and deploy AI-powered agents to automate ingestion, parsing, and standardisation of complex financial documents

    Own end-to-end system architecture (design, build, deploy, operate)

    Lead consolidation of multiple engineering systems into a unified, scalable platform

    Improve CI/CD pipelines to increase deployment velocity and system reliability

    Work directly with operations teams to map manual workflows into automated systems

    Own production systems handling real financial data and live customer workflows

Tech Environment

    Python

    Angular

    React

    Express.js

    PostgreSQL

    AWS

The team care far more about engineering ownership, product thinking, and production experience than matching every technology exactly.

Why this role is different

    Direct work with the CTO on high-impact systems from day one

    Full ownership of production systems, not feature tickets

    Building AI infrastructure that replaces real operational cost in financial services

    True 01 environment - ambiguous, fast-moving, high trust

    Significant autonomy and product influence from day one

What we’re looking for

    Proven experience shipping 01 products with real production user traction

    Strong backend or full-stack engineering background

    Experience building and deploying AI systems or agents into production

    Startup background (Seed Series C preferred)

    Strong system design ability - scalable architecture, edge cases, reliability

    Comfortable operating in ambiguity with founder-level ownership

    Track record of shipping quickly and iterating in production environments

Compensation & Logistics

    $120,000 – $180,000 base salary + competitive equity

    Hybrid working - 3–5 days onsite in New York City

    Backed by top-tier investors (GV, YC)

Ideal Candidate Profile

Most likely someone who has:

    Worked in early-stage startups or accelerator environments

    Built and shipped production AI / backend systems end-to-end

    Operated with founder-level ownership (not just feature delivery)

    Strong opinions on system design and building for scale

    Experience turning messy operational problems into working systems