Founding Engineer positions focus on delivering results in their domain. This page aggregates open Founding Engineer roles and what employers typically expect.
About Empathic Empathic is building real AI companions — not chatbots — for women, expanding into voice and video. The founder believes this is the biggest cultural shift of our lifetime. 130 paying customers in market, day-one retention at 80%+, week-two retention at 70%+. $2.7M seed from BoxGroup at a $30M valuation. The founder is a Thiel Fellow, YC alum, and three-time founder (YC W21, previous exit). ## About the Role This is engineer number one. You will work directly with the founder on the most technically interesting problems in real-time AI interaction — from memory systems and latency optimization to voice and video interfaces that feel delightful at scale. The scope spans the full stack: backend infrastructure, ML model integration, frontend surfaces, and the content engine. You're joining at the moment when the product is proving retention and the technical complexity is about to explode. ## What You'll Own - Optimize inference costs across smaller models (currently running ~$1K/day in Anthropic credits) - Own and evolve the in-house memory system that powers better agentic interactions - Ship latency and information-compression improvements across the full stack - Build the content recommendation engine that surfaces interesting content to users - Design and ship voice interfaces with best-in-class latency and presence - Set the bar for code quality and help recruit the engineering team ## Requirements ### Must-Have - 3+ years backend + full-stack shipping experience - Raw intelligence and ability to move fast — founder priority over seniority - Former founder or early-stage engineer preferred - Genuine fascination with real-time, latency-sensitive, or voice-first systems - Taste and judgment on AI-generated outputs - 100% in-person in San Francisco SoMa, 9-to-6 minimum; high-intensity culture ## Job Details - **Salary:** $175,000 – $250,000 - **Equity:** Up to 6% - **Experience:** 3+ years - **Visa:** H-1B, O-1 sponsored - **Location:** San Francisco SoMa — 100% in-person - **Headcount:** 1 ]]>