About the role
Founding Engineer, AI — Shiplight AI
- Do you agree we’re living through the AI revolution?
- Do you want to be part of it — and run ahead of the curve?
- Are you ready to help 100x productivity?
If so, join us.
At Shiplight AI, our mission is to build the foundation for enterprise-scale automation powered by intelligent agents. We believe every organization should have AI systems that can understand context, take action, and collaborate seamlessly with humans — transforming how work gets done across the enterprise.
Our first mission: fully automate software quality assurance. We’re building state-of-the-art agentic QA systems that integrate deeply into the software development cycle — empowering every product manager, developer, and tester with their own AI QA engineer that validates work in real time.
You’ll be joining a small, mission-driven founding team led by industry veterans, working at the intersection of AI agents, system engineering, and real-world developer productivity.
What You’ll Do
- Build core systems that enable AI agents to autonomously test and reason about complex applications.
- Design, prototype, and ship agentic browser and device automation components.
- Work directly with the founders to define architecture, roadmap, and company culture.
- Experiment with cutting-edge context engineering techniques to improve reasoning and adaptability.
- Move fast — from prototype to production — with high ownership and autonomy.
Who You Are
- Mission-driven — you want to help shape the next era of AI-powered software development.
- Curious and resourceful — you love solving hard, open-ended problems.
- Hands-on builder — you thrive in early-stage environments with high speed and uncertainty.
- Collaborative — you value teamwork and open technical debate.
- You have 1–3 years of startup experience in the AI domain.
- You’re eager to grow into a technical leader and make a massive impact early.
Ideal Skills
- Strong engineering fundamentals and product mindset.
- Proficiency in Python and TypeScript.
- Deep understanding of context engineering and prompt-based reasoning systems.
- Familiarity with browser automation, mobile automation, or QA tooling is a plus.
- Comfortable working across the stack — backend, frontend, and AI interfaces.
Location
- San Francisco Bay Area — hybrid preferred.
- We move fast, iterate face-to-face, and believe early teams build the strongest culture.
Why Join Now
- Join at the earliest stage as the first founding engineer.
- Shape both the product and technical vision.
- Work directly with founders who’ve built successful systems and products before.
- Receive generous equity and play a defining role in the company’s success.