Founding Engineer

Empathic is building real AI companions — not chatbots — for women, expanding into voice and video. The founder believes this is the biggest cultural shift of our lifetime. 130 paying customers in market, day-one retention at 80%+, week-two retention at 70%+. $2.7M seed from BoxGroup at a $30M valuation. The founder is a Thiel Fellow, YC alum, and three-time founder (YC W21, previous exit).

About the Role

This is engineer number one. You will work directly with the founder on the most technically interesting problems in real-time AI interaction — from memory systems and latency optimization to voice and video interfaces that feel delightful at scale. The scope spans the full stack: backend infrastructure, ML model integration, frontend surfaces, and the content engine. You're joining at the moment when the product is proving retention and the technical complexity is about to explode.

What You'll Own

• Optimize inference costs across smaller models (currently running ~$1K/day in Anthropic credits)
• Own and evolve the in-house memory system that powers better agentic interactions
• Ship latency and information-compression improvements across the full stack
• Build the content recommendation engine that surfaces interesting content to users
• Design and ship voice interfaces with best-in-class latency and presence
• Set the bar for code quality and help recruit the engineering team

Requirements

Must-Have

• 3+ years backend + full-stack shipping experience
• Raw intelligence and ability to move fast — founder priority over seniority
• Former founder or early-stage engineer preferred
• Genuine fascination with real-time, latency-sensitive, or voice-first systems
• Taste and judgment on AI-generated outputs
• 100% in-person in San Francisco SoMa, 9-to-6 minimum; high-intensity culture

Job Details

• Salary: $175,000 – $250,000
• Equity: Up to 6%
• Experience: 3+ years
• Visa: H-1B, O-1 sponsored
• Location: San Francisco SoMa — 100% in-person
• Headcount: 1