> Markdown version of [/jobs/ext/1922148-founding-ai-engineer](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/1922148-founding-ai-engineer). Every page supports `.md` or `Accept: text/markdown`. Links point to the HTML versions so they work for humans too. Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Founding AI Engineer - **Company:** CLERA, LLC - **Location:** San Francisco, CA, United States - **Experience:** Expert - **Salary:** $225,000.0 - $255,000.0 - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Artificial Intelligence, Routing, Large Language Models, Build Management, Low Latency - **Published:** August 4, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=fbd18e39d2917fdb ## About the Role Dealbreakers * 8+ years of engineering experience with strong, recent production LLM depth - including shipping and owning LLM-powered features end-to-end after launch. * Must be authorized to work in the United States; visa sponsorship is not available. * Hands-on experience building evals and observability for LLM systems - creating eval harnesses, baselining prompts, and supporting release gating. Required * Experience owning LLM infrastructure, including routing across multiple model providers with cost, latency, and quality tradeoffs. * Proficiency with structured data models and typed ontologies (e.g., Pydantic) to ensure model outputs are structured and auditable. * Full end-to-end ownership of LLM-powered features - from development through production monitoring. * Strong communication skills to explain non-deterministic systems to non-technical clients and stakeholders. * Product-engineer instincts: ability to scope and deliver pragmatic solutions in a fast-moving environment. Nice to Have * Experience with MCP or building tools/integrations for LLM agents. * Familiarity with platforms such as LangChain, LlamaIndex, Braintrust, or OpenRouter. * Experience in domains where pricing, billing, or payments accuracy and auditability are required. * Familiarity with data residency or compliance controls (SOC2, GDPR). ## Description This is a founding-level AI engineering role at an early-stage B2B SaaS pricing intelligence startup based in San Francisco. You'll be one of the first engineers on a small, product-focused team - joining at a formative moment to shape the technical direction of an AI-powered pricing platform used in high-stakes B2B deals. Your work sits at the intersection of LLM infrastructure, evaluation systems, and revenue-critical product outcomes. You'll build the feedback loops, eval harnesses, and agent tooling that allow a pricing AI to earn trust, remain auditable, and drive measurable business impact for customers., * Design and build eval harnesses and benchmarks that use tracked pricing outcomes as ground truth, supporting release gating against a typed ontology of pricing entities. * Systematize and automate expert review workflows currently performed manually. * Develop AI personas that simulate B2B buying committees and behavioral effects, leveraging usage data and call transcripts. * Automate persona training pipelines that are today manual processes. * Own LLM routing across providers (e.g., Anthropic, Google) with explicit cost, latency, and quality tradeoffs. * Maintain infrastructure and data residency boundaries (e.g., ensuring EU model calls remain within the EU; SOC2/GDPR compliance). * Extend the MCP server used by LLM agents - including customer-facing agents - so that features are agent-driven, not just UI-rendered. * Work within a typed ontology of pricing entities (e.g., Pydantic models for SKU, Proposition, Persona, Quote) so model outputs are structured and auditable. * Identify and remediate systemic latency, data drift, and cold-start issues in the pricing loop. ## Related Videos - [LLMs in the wild: Building an AI agent that survives production](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100319-llms-in-the-wild-building-an-ai-agent-that-survives-production) - [Creating a routing app with Google Maps API from scratch](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/831-creating-a-routing-app-with-google-maps-api-from-scratch) - [Swapping Low Latency Data Storage Under High Load](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/746-swapping-low-latency-data-storage-under-high-load) - [Answering the Million Dollar Question: Why did I Break Production?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1171-answering-the-million-dollar-question-why-did-i-break-production) - [How to Avoid LLM Pitfalls - Mete Atamel and Guillaume Laforge](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1328-how-to-avoid-llm-pitfalls-mete-atamel-and-guillaume-laforge) - [A Technical Introduction to Bitcoin's 2nd Layer- The Lightning Network](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/15-a-technical-introduction-to-bitcoin-s-2nd-layer-the-lightning-network) ## Related Articles - [What Are Large Language Models?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/304-what-are-large-language-models) - [How to Become an AI Engineer](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/331-how-to-become-an-ai-engineer) - [Who Owns Your Content in the Age of LLMs?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/610-who-owns-your-content-in-the-age-of-llms) - [From Prototype to Production: Build AI Agents with This Free 4-Course Learning Path](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/655-from-prototype-to-production-build-ai-agents-with-this-free-4-course-learning-path) - [Dev Digest 210: AI Agents Are Go! Is MCP Dead? LLMs Crack Anonymity](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/709-dev-digest-210-ai-agents-are-go-is-mcp-dead-llms-crack-anonymity) - [MLOps And AI Driven Development](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/82-mlops-and-ai-driven-development)