Founding AI Engineer | Founding Engineering Lead

Founding AI Engineer | Founding Engineering Lead

Build the Product. Build the Team. Shape the Future.

Location: Sarona, Tel Aviv (Hybrid/Flexible)

Funded early-stage AI startup with paying customers across Europe and operations in Israel & the US.

TL;DR

Founding AI Builder & Future Engineering Leader | First engineering hire | Build the product from zero to production | Help build a small high-caliber engineering team | AI-first development | Strong product mindset | 7+ years Node.js | TypeScript | React | Kubernetes | AWS | Previous technical leadership or mentoring experience.

About the Role

This is one of those rare opportunities where you'll influence far more than code.

You'll become the first engineering hire, working side-by-side with the CTO to build the company's core platform while laying the foundations for the engineering organization.

You'll spend most of your time building production systems yourself, but you'll also help define architecture, engineering standards, technical direction—and as the company grows, help build and mentor a small world-class engineering team.

If you've been looking for a role where you can truly leave your fingerprint on both the product and the engineering culture, this is it.

What You'll Do

As our Founding Engineer, you will:

• Design and build our AI-native platform from scratch alongside the CTO.
• Build scalable backend services using Node.js and TypeScript.
• Develop product features using React.
• Build cloud-native infrastructure on AWS.
• Work with Docker, Kubernetes and modern DevOps practices.
• Use AI-first development workflows (Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, Cursor and similar) as part of your daily engineering process.
• Drive architecture decisions and engineering best practices.
• Build production-quality software with high ownership.
• Help shape future AI-powered product capabilities.
• Over time, help recruit, mentor and build a small, exceptional engineering team.

What We're Looking For

We're looking for builders with leading.

People who love creating products—not just implementing tickets.

You'll likely be a great fit if you have:

• 7+ years of hands-on backend development with Node.js (Must)
• Excellent TypeScript skills (Must)
• Strong React experience (Must)
• AWS, Docker & Kubernetes experience (Must)
• Extensive experience building production systems from architecture through deployment.
• Strong AI-first engineering mindset using Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot or similar.
• Ability to design, validate and own AI-generated code through production.
• Experience in startups or early-stage engineering teams.
• Strong product mindset and end-to-end ownership.
• Passion for writing production code every day.

Bonus

• SaaS experience.
• Experience designing scalable distributed systems.
• Experience working directly with founders and Product.
• Previous technical leadership, mentoring or leading small engineering teams.

Why Join?

• Become the first engineering hire.
• Build a real AI product from day one.
• Work directly with an experienced CTO.
• Influence architecture, technology and engineering culture.
• Help build and grow the engineering team.
• Modern AI-first engineering environment.
• Meaningful ownership and technical autonomy.
• Competitive salary + significant equity.
• Hybrid work from Sarona, Tel Aviv.

Who Will Love This Role?

Someone who wants to combine the excitement of a Founding Engineer, the impact of an Engineering Leader, and the satisfaction of remaining deeply hands-on.

If you enjoy building products from scratch, love AI-first software development, and want your work to shape both the technology and the team—we'd love to talk.

Apply:

[email protected]