Coworker — Principal Software Engineer
Summary
Principal Software Engineer builds and owns core AI infrastructure at a seed-stage startup, shipping daily while leading architecture and mentoring teams to scale enterprise-grade AI tools across 40+ apps.
San Francisco, CA · Hybrid (on-site) · Full-time Compensation: $220K–$280K + equity
About the Company
Our client is a seed-stage (pre-Series A) AI company reimagining how organizations put artificial intelligence to work. Their platform brings enterprise-grade AI across dozens of workplace applications at a fraction of typical inference cost, with no custom engineering required, and is already gaining traction with real enterprise customers. You'd join a small, fast-moving team early enough that your work shapes the core of the product and your equity carries meaningful upside. Founded 2023 · ~25 people · Industry: AI, Enterprise, B2B
The Role
We're hiring a Principal Software Engineer to own the architecture and technical roadmap for a core domain of the product. This is a hands-on role: you'll ship high-quality code daily while providing technical leadership and mentorship, and tackle the hardest problems across distributed systems and AI infrastructure.
What you'll be doing
- Ship code daily and own products from zero to one, from system design through deployment
- Own the architecture and technical roadmap for a core domain
- Drive cross-team technical initiatives with measurable business impact, including incident response and post-mortems
- Represent the company externally through talks, writing, or open-source, and help shape the engineering culture
Tech stack: GoLang, TypeScript, Python
Requirements
- 10+ years of full-stack software engineering experience, with a track record of building 0-to-1 in production
- Demonstrated ownership of a product end to end, from system design through deployment
- Experience leading technical initiatives across teams without formal authority
- Experience defining SLAs and running production systems at scale
- Deep expertise in at least two of: AI/ML infrastructure, distributed systems, data pipelines, security, or frontend architecture
- Professional experience with GoLang, TypeScript, or Python
- Bachelor's or Master's degree, Computer Science preferred
- High autonomy and comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-paced startup environments
- Able to work on-site in San Francisco
Nice to Haves
- Regular use of AI tools to accelerate development velocity
- A visible external presence through talks, blog posts, or open-source contributions
Why Join
- Hands-on Principal role: ship code daily while owning the technical roadmap for a core domain
- Join pre-Series A, when equity is most valuable
- Deep technical ownership of the hardest distributed systems and AI infrastructure problems
- Build an AI-native platform reaching dozens of enterprise applications at a dramatically lower cost profile
Details
- Location: San Francisco, CA
- Work policy: Hybrid — on-site in San Francisco (~3 days/week in office)
- Compensation: $220K–$280K + equity
- Visa sponsorship: Not available (US citizens / Green Card holders only)
- Employment type: Full-time
What they ask for
Required
- 10+ years of full-stack software engineering experience
- Owned a product from zero to one (system design through deployment)
- Led technical initiatives across teams without direct authority
- Defined SLAs and ran production systems at scale
- Bachelor's or Master's degree (Computer Science preferred)
- Professional experience with GoLang, TypeScript, or Python
- Deep expertise in 2+ of: AI/ML infra, distributed systems, data pipelines, security, frontend architecture
- Must work on-site in San Francisco
- High autonomy; thrives on ambiguous problems at startups
Preferred
- Uses AI tools to accelerate development velocity
- External presence via talks, blog posts, or open-source