Senior Software Engineer (Backend / Full Stack)

Software Engineer (Backend / Full Stack)

Early-Stage AI Startup | New York City, NY | Onsite

Compensation: $170,000–$200,000 Base + Equity

Company Stage: Seed

Employment Type: Full-Time

Want to Help Build the Future of AI? Ready to Put in the Work?

This isn't your typical 9-to-5 engineering role.

We're partnering with an ambitious AI startup looking for engineers ready to go all in. If you want to build something from the ground up, work alongside driven founders, and make a real impact, this could be for you.

The team works onsite in NYC six days per week. It's an intense, high-commitment environment for engineers who thrive on moving fast, solving hard problems, and taking ownership.

About the Company

We're partnering with a fast-growing AI startup building technology that helps businesses improve their visibility across AI-powered search platforms.

The company combines proprietary software, data analytics, and AI automation to help enterprise customers increase visibility, traffic, and revenue.

Founded in 2025, the business has already secured major enterprise customers and demonstrated strong early traction. With approximately 15 employees and significant financial runway, it's entering an exciting growth phase.

The Opportunity

The company is hiring Backend and Full Stack Software Engineers to join its growing engineering team.

You'll work directly with founders to build and scale the core platform, with significant ownership over architecture, development, and technical decisions.

The role is backend-focused, with exposure to infrastructure, databases, full-stack development, and AI-powered systems.

What You'll Do

• Build and scale backend systems, APIs, and infrastructure.
• Own complex engineering projects from architecture through production.
• Design reliable databases and optimize system performance.
• Develop AI agents, LLM integrations, and automated workflows.
• Collaborate with founders on product and technical decisions.
• Help shape the engineering foundation of a growing startup.

What We're Looking For

• Approximately 3–5 years of software engineering experience.
• Strong backend or backend-leaning full-stack engineering skills.
• Experience building and shipping complex production applications.
• Solid system design, API, and database fundamentals.
• Ability to own projects end-to-end and solve ambiguous problems.
• Comfortable in a fast-paced, high-intensity startup environment.
• Willingness to work onsite in NYC six days per week.

Nice to Have

• Experience at a Seed to Series B startup.
• Zero-to-one product development experience.
• TypeScript proficiency.
• Experience with AI agents, LLMs, or production AI applications.

Tech Stack

The team primarily uses TypeScript, with work spanning backend infrastructure, databases, APIs, and AI-powered systems.

Hiring is language-agnostic, with strong engineering fundamentals valued over specific technologies.

Why Join?

• Emerging AI market: Help shape how businesses are discovered through AI search.
• Early ownership: Influence architecture, product direction, and technical decisions.
• Strong traction: Established enterprise customers and significant financial runway.
• Hands-on AI exposure: Build production AI agents and LLM applications.
• Founder collaboration: Work directly with leadership in a small engineering team.
• High impact: Build complex systems and see your work make a difference.

Compensation & Benefits

• Base Salary: $170,000–$200,000 + equity
• Health insurance
• Company-provided dinners, snacks, and drinks

Location & Working Environment

Fully onsite in NYC, six days per week.

The current schedule includes long days Monday–Thursday, a standard Friday, and a half-day Sunday. Saturday is off.

This is an intensive, highly collaborative environment suited to engineers excited by early-stage ownership and ambitious company-building.

About People in AI

People in AI is a specialist recruitment firm connecting exceptional technical talent with innovative companies building the future of AI. We partner with startups and established organizations to build world-class engineering, machine learning, and AI teams.