Clera

Founding Engineer

San Francisco
Salary
$175,000 - $225,000 annually
Level
Mid
Work type
On-site · San Francisco
Visa
Sponsors visas

Open. First seen 6 November 2026.

Apply on the company's site →

About the role

About the Role

Join an early-stage consumer AI startup as a Founding Engineer — a rare 1-of-1 role working directly alongside the founding team to shape both the product and engineering culture. This company is building a real-time AI-enabled platform designed to digitize human connection, making AI interactions feel genuinely present and personal. You'll help lay the technical foundation from the ground up in a fast-moving, high-ambition environment.

What You'll Do

  • Build across the full application, collaborating closely with the founder, design team, and other engineers.
  • Design and implement systems for memory, retrieval, proactivity, and AI responsiveness.
  • Integrate real-time video generation and audio synthesis models — both internal and third-party.
  • Set the bar for engineering quality and play an active role in recruiting world-class talent.
  • Extensively use the product yourself to ensure real user value and quality.

What We're Looking For

  • Required: Computer Science degree from a top university.
  • Required: 2–7 years of professional software engineering experience (not a new grad).
  • Required: Strong CS fundamentals and a track record of technically complex side projects.
  • Required: High energy, entrepreneurial spirit — prior startup or fast-moving environment experience strongly valued.
  • Required: Proficiency in Python, including typed scientific Python.
  • Bonus: Experience with real-time media, vision/video model training or deployment, memory systems, or audio synthesis.
  • Bonus: Familiarity with agentic coding or AI-assisted development workflows.

Compensation & Benefits

  • Salary: $175,000 – $225,000 USD annually
  • Visa sponsorship available

Location

This role is fully on-site in San Francisco, CA. Candidates must be willing and able to work in-person full-time.

What this role asks for

Standard for software engineering roles

Python

Common in software engineering postings at any company.

Compared with Clera's other open jobs.

The team: Engineering HIRES STEADILY

This role is one of 357 open in Engineering. 225 were posted in the last 30 days and the oldest in March: a team that hires all year rather than one being built.

WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS

LLM (181 of 357), TypeScript (179 of 357), React (155 of 357), Python (150 of 357), Machine Learning (75 of 357), Supabase (73 of 357), PostgreSQL (69 of 357)

OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM

From the team and dates on Clera's own job board.

Posting history

Reposted 7 times since 9 September 2026: a posting for this role in San Francisco was taken down and the role was posted again.

Salary context

67 other open postings titled Founding Engineer state a salary: median USD 156,000 to USD 250,000 a year.

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