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# Founding Engineer

- **Company:** Clera
- **Location:** London, UK
- **Experience:** Expert
- **Salary:** £90,425.0
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** Artificial Intelligence, Databases, Concurrent Computing, Distributed Caching, SQL Databases, Load Balancing, Large Language Models, Concurrency, Backend, Build Management, Kubernetes, Api Gateway, Golang, Microservices
- **Published:** August 28, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.adzuna.co.uk/jobs/details/5858392933

## About the Role

* 5+ years of backend development experience, with strong hands-on expertise in Go (Golang).
 * Deep understanding of concurrency and practical experience with concurrent programming patterns.
 * Experience designing and operating microservices architectures, including API gateways.
 * Comfort working with multiple database types and distributed caching solutions, and the judgment to choose between them.
 * Ability to design architectures that are both pragmatic for the current stage and scalable for the future.
 * A track record of independently learning new technologies and frameworks.
 * Startup or high-growth environment mindset - strong ownership, bias for action, and comfort with ambiguity.
 * Right to work in the United Kingdom; visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

## Description

This is a founding engineering role at an early-stage AI infrastructure company building a production-grade gateway that sits between applications and hundreds of large language model providers. You'll work directly with the founders to shape the technical direction of a platform that powers reliability, observability, and cost optimisation for AI-first teams. This is a high-ownership, high-impact position for someone who thinks like a founder.
What You'll Do

 * Design and build core backend services within a pragmatic microservices architecture, primarily in Go.
 * Evolve and maintain the LLM gateway, including routing, failover, load balancing, and observability features.
 * Make architectural decisions that balance scalability, performance, and the speed demands of an early-stage product.
 * Select and work with a variety of SQL databases and distributed caches, choosing the right tool for each problem.
 * Contribute to infrastructure running on Kubernetes, and help redefine the stack as the product scales.
 * Collaborate closely with founders to influence product direction and technical strategy.


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