LegalCare — Founding Engineer
Type: Full-time | On-site | San Francisco, CA
Compensation: $250,000 + 10% equity
Hiring count: 1
Visa sponsorship: None available
Reports to: Founder (currently the only full-time person in the business)
About LegalCare
LegalCare is building the first primary care-style law firm — an AI-native team of attorneys spanning 16 practice areas (family, employment, personal injury, immigration, and more) whose only job is to meet one-on-one with people seeking a lawyer, diagnose exactly what they need, and triage them to the right outside firm or nonprofit. Advice sessions are free to consumers; the firm earns revenue by sharing in the fees partner firms generate from referred clients (15-35% depending on practice area), a structure only available because LegalCare is itself a law firm under attorney ethical rules. Distribution runs through a free AI intake receptionist — a conversational voice agent plus an embeddable web form — that LegalCare gives to other firms. When a caller's needs fall outside what that firm offers (10-20% of calls) and the caller consents, the caller is transferred to LegalCare in real time.
Founded: 2026 | Team size: 1-10 (bootstrapped) | Total funding: Bootstrapped
Industry: Legal Tech
Website: legalcare.com
Office: San Francisco, CA
Traction: Founded by a former startup and venture-capital attorney. 16 practitioners have already signed on across practice areas, the first version of the intake receptionist is built and working, and early partner-firm outreach is converting at a 15-20% reply rate.
Why Candidates Should Join
- First engineering hire, founding seat: 10% equity and full ownership of the core product, reporting directly to the Founder.
- A working model with real traction: 16 practitioners already signed, a live intake prototype, and referral economics that only a law firm can legally run.
- End-to-end scope: own the voice AI receptionist, the referral platform, and forward-deployed installation at partner firms — product, infrastructure, and direct customer contact in one seat.
Intake Call Summary
- Not provided on the role page. An intake video is present but not transcribed; no written intake summary or screening questions were included.
The Role
The company's first engineering hire, tasked with taking the founder-built voice AI intake receptionist from working prototype to production-grade system, owning the referral platform, and personally deploying the product into partner firms.
What You'll Be Doing
- Take the conversational voice AI intake receptionist end-to-end from prototype to production-grade reliability across live client calls and the embedded web form
- Own privacy and security hardening for sensitive client interactions, plus the infrastructure for handling client funds
- Build and own the referral platform connecting partner firms, LegalCare attorneys, and referred clients
- Install and integrate the intake receptionist at each partner firm, including their existing phone systems and IVR configurations (primarily remote, with occasional on-site work for the largest firms)
- Build additional product workflows beyond initial qualification, iterating directly against feedback from firms in the network
Tech stack: Not specified on the role page.
Requirements
- 4+ years engineering
- Applied AI background
- Voice AI or telephony exposure
- Production reliability and security ownership
- SF Bay Area, 4+ days in person
- Visa: are you authorized to work in the US, and would you require new sponsorship or a transfer?
Green Flags
- Applied AI engineer from a recognized company with real production ownership rather than prototype-only work
- Adjacent domain experience in voice AI, healthcare AI intake and triage, or legal AI
- At least two years of tenure at a single company
- Comfortable operating as a forward-deployed engineer with direct contact with partner firms and their technical setups
- Coming out of a company that has wound down or an environment with limited upside, and actively looking for a high-ownership founding seat
Red Flags
- Pattern of leaving companies before the one year to eighteen month mark
- Serial founder pattern where prior ventures were paused halfway through rather than seen to a conclusion
- Seeking remote or fully hybrid work; the role requires at least 4 days per week in office
- Prototype-only background with no track record of hardening systems for sensitive, real-time production use
- Unwilling to do client-facing installation, integration, and support work at partner firms
Role Details
- Salary — $250,000
- Equity — 10%
- On-site policy — In office at least 4 days/week; expect to work beyond a standard 9-5
- Visa sponsorship — None available
- Employment type — Full-time
- Location — San Francisco, CA (or willing to relocate; relocation support for the right candidate)
Screening Questions
- Not provided on the role page.
Interview Process
Stage 1 — Pending Approval — Candidates awaiting initial approval.
Stage 2 — Intro Call — Intro conversation with the Founder.
Stage 3 — Second Round — Follow-up over coffee, lunch, or dinner with the Founder.
Stage 4 — Work-Trial — Two to three working sessions building toward a defined goal, run on the candidate's own machine so there are no IP questions, ideally scheduled close together.
Stage 5 — Offer ExtendedStage 6 — Hired — Candidate accepts and starts.
Ideal Companies & Backgrounds
- Not provided on the role page.
Ideal Candidate Profiles
- Not provided on the role page.
Rejected Candidate Feedback
Benefits & Perks
- $250,000 base salary plus 10% equity
- Free lunch
- Relocation support for the right candidate