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# Founding Engineer

- **Company:** Catapult, LLC
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA, United States
- **Experience:** Expert
- **Contract:** Permanent contract
- **Skills:** Artificial Intelligence, Software Applications, C++ (Programming Language), Cloud Computing, Computer Programming, Databases, Design of User Interfaces, Python (Programming Language), Open Source Technology, SQL Databases, TypeScript, Large Language Models, Backend, Kubernetes, Data Pipelines
- **Published:** November 7, 2026
- **Apply:** https://www.juju.com/job/28_25304_13d992282b765ade92b002dd111df9c7

## About the Role

The role the Founding Engineer plays is limited only by their ability and ambition. The successful candidate must be an especially fast learner and problem solver with the ability to recognise and solve, or learn to solve, almost any problem that may arise., * 5+ years of experience working on very challenging projects or very strong evidence of exceptional ability and decision-making with slightly less experience.

 * A strong track record of solving difficult problems in either an academic or industrial setting.
 * Clear evidence of the ability to design and develop complex and computationally heavy backend systems. You should be a trusted voice in the room, with us being able to completely rely on your judgement and implementation.
 * Strong programming skills, ideally in Python, TypeScript and/or Rust/C++.
 * A strong track record displaying the ability to manage engineering workflows, such as building robust and scalable products, and ideally also managing scientific processes, such as forming and testing hypotheses.
 * Experience working with cloud infrastructure providers and database technologies, e.g. SQL/no-SQL, Kubernetes (or similar containerised environments), etc.
 * Ability to self-organise and work independently.

Nice to haves

 * Experience working with NLP/LLMs or other AI/ML.
 * An ML, statistics, or mathematics background or experience.
 * Major work on infrastructure-heavy projects, such as complex data pipelines.
 * Work building desktop applications or front ends.
 * Experience working on open-source projects, an interesting side project, or contributing to Stack Exchange or similar.

## Description

The Founding Engineer is in the ultimate cross-sectional position, and will be involved in solving tough algorithmic problems, managing the entire tech stack, and building products end-to-end., * Identifying and solving very challenging technical and research-level problems, and working independently to solve them.

 * Building products and taking complete ownership end-to-end, from designing complex and computationally heavy backend systems, all the way to UI/UX problems on the front end.
 * Learning new areas insanely quickly, and then getting stuck in. This may include, for example, understanding some new re-ranker, embedding model, memory system, or new area of research, and then participating both in its development and how we scale and include it in the product.
 * Helping identify and tackle any technical challenges that may emerge.