Founding Product Engineer
At a glance
Mid-level Software Engineering role at Clera. San Francisco · full-time · $200,000–$250,000 base.
techroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Take product modules from customer scoping through API design, interface development, launch and iteration
- Build AI-agent systems spanning Slack, terminal and web interfaces, along with vendor connections
- Shift pricing calculations into backend services and maintain typed models for pricing concepts
- Set testing, observability, deployment and performance practices for AI-driven product features
- Lead architecture reviews, investigate production failures and mentor peers on engineering practices
What you bring
- At least eight years as an engineer, with full-stack strength and experience owning product areas at startup or staff level
- Strong backend skills with FastAPI, Python and MongoDB, or a comparable modern stack
- Ability to independently deliver polished interfaces with React and TypeScript
- Experience turning unclear customer needs into shipped features and designing versioned REST or GraphQL APIs
- You have US work authorization; visa sponsorship is unavailable
Who this fits
This hands-on founding-team role suits an engineer ready to own product work from customer discussions through production, including financial logic and architecture. The role is on-site in San Francisco, and you need US work authorization.
From the employer
About the Role
We're a small, fast-moving team building an AI-driven pricing and monetization platform that helps B2B companies continuously optimize their pricing strategy — from packaging and willingness-to-pay analysis to deal quoting, discount governance, and CPQ workflows. We're looking for a Founding Product Engineer to own entire product modules end-to-end, work directly with customers, and help set the technical and engineering culture of the company.
This is a hands-on, high-ownership role at the founding-team level. You'll collaborate closely with customers, product, and leadership — and be expected to take ambiguous problems all the way to shipped, production-quality features. Financial logic correctness, AI-native tooling, and clean API design are first-class priorities here.
What You'll Do
Own whole product modules end-to-end: scope with customers, design versioned APIs, build the UI, ship, and iterate.
Design and evolve architecture for agentic AI systems spanning Slack bots, terminal UIs, web interfaces, and vendor integrations.
Ensure product features are drivable by LLM agents via MCP/FastMCP servers and conversational interfaces.
Move pricing and business logic off the client into backend services to preserve financial fidelity.
Extend and maintain a typed pricing ontology (Pydantic models for SKUs, propositions, personas, pricing structures, etc.).
Lead technical discussions and architectural reviews to keep systems robust, extensible, and secure.
Establish testing, observability, deployment, and performance monitoring practices for AI-driven features.
Mentor peers, influence product strategy, and shape engineering culture and best practices.
Treat money-handling code as load-bearing infrastructure; prioritize root-cause analysis for production issues.
Adopt and improve an AI-native SDLC where agents assist with code and automated review gates.
What We're Looking For
Required
8+ years of engineering experience with strong full-stack skills and proven ownership of product areas at startup or staff engineer scope.
Deep backend expertise — experience with FastAPI, Python, and MongoDB or a comparable modern stack.
Credible frontend skills with React and TypeScript; able to ship a clean, polished UI independently.
Track record of taking ambiguous customer problems to shipped features without a dedicated PM.
Experience designing and building REST or GraphQL APIs with clear contracts and versioning.
High standards for correctness, especially around financial or pricing logic.
Must be legally authorized to work in the US — no visa sponsorship is available.
Nice to Have
Interest or hands-on experience in B2B monetization: pricing models, packaging, quoting, billing, or CPQ.
Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools (e.g. Cursor, Copilot) and experience integrating LLM agent tooling or MCP-like servers.
Prior experience as an early or founding engineer at a startup.
Compensation & Benefits
Salary: $200,000 – $250,000 USD annually
Early-employee equity commensurate with founding-team scope
Opportunity to shape product, architecture, and engineering culture from the ground up
Location
This role is on-site in San Francisco, CA. Remote or fully distributed arrangements are not available for this position.
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