Founding Principal Software Systems Engineer
Founding Principal Software Systems Engineer
Location: New York, NY (Hybrid)
Employment Type: Full-time
Compensation: Starting at $200,000+
We are looking for a Founding Principal Software Systems Engineer to help architect and build a first-of-its-kind platform operating at the intersection of AI, robotics, hardware, and real-world automation. This is a highly hands-on senior individual contributor role for someone who enjoys complex, multidisciplinary systems and thrives in environments where software, intelligence, hardware, and user experience must work together seamlessly. You will serve as a technical anchor across the organization, helping define the systems and architecture that enable advanced AI-driven products to operate reliably in real-world environments.
Key Responsibilities
- Own and evolve core product architecture across applications, backend services, device-connected systems, AI workflows, and real-time experiences
- Design and build the software systems that connect perception, decision-making, and action across complex environments
- Make architectural decisions across cloud, edge, and device-connected systems with a focus on reliability, latency, scalability, observability, and maintainability
- Build and improve real-time workflows that incorporate multimodal inputs, intelligent decision-making, and user interactions
- Develop evaluation, monitoring, logging, and debugging infrastructure to improve product performance and reliability over time
- Partner closely with engineering, AI, robotics, hardware, and product teams to deliver cohesive end-to-end experiences
- Investigate and resolve challenging issues spanning software, infrastructure, AI outputs, connected devices, and user-facing systems
- Contribute to technical strategy and help define the long-term architecture of the platform
- Operate as a senior technical leader and trusted partner across multiple disciplines without direct people management responsibilities
Qualifications
- 10+ years of software engineering experience, including ownership of complex production systems
- Experience architecting and building systems that span multiple layers of the stack, including applications, backend services, infrastructure, data platforms, AI workflows, or connected devices
- Strong systems-thinking skills and ability to reason through complex technical tradeoffs
- Experience working with real-world inputs such as sensor data, AI outputs, user behavior, connected hardware, or other dynamic environments
- Strong understanding of distributed systems, reliability, observability, performance, and operational excellence
- Ability to debug problems across multiple layers of a system, from applications and services to devices, networks, and infrastructure
- Experience operating in fast-moving startup environments with a high degree of ownership and ambiguity
- Strong communication skills and ability to explain technical decisions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Comfort working across software, AI, hardware, and emerging technologies
Nice to Have
- Experience with robotics, automation systems, or device-connected products
- Experience with consumer hardware, smart devices, IoT products, or edge computing systems
- Exposure to computer vision, multimodal AI systems, voice interfaces, or sensor-driven products
- Experience taking products from prototype through real-world deployment
- Experience building internal tooling for monitoring, evaluation, testing, or operational support
- Familiarity with AI-powered products and modern machine learning workflows
Compensation & Benefits
- Base salary starting at $200,000+
- Meaningful founding-level equity participation
- Hybrid work environment in New York City
- Opportunity to work alongside experienced leaders across technology, AI, product, and consumer innovation
- Significant ownership over technical direction, architecture, and product development
- High-impact role at the intersection of AI, robotics, software, and real-world automation
- Opportunity to help build a category-defining company from an early stage with substantial influence on its future direction
FAQs
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