# Founding Software Engineer > Raydar · San Francisco, United States · Full-time · Posted 2026-10-01 **Salary:** USD 180,000–250,000 **Workplace:** on_site ## Description About the company Our client is an early-stage software company. The role Raydar is recruiting for this role on behalf of our client. Join a very small engineering team as an early hire with broad ownership, building new product capabilities for complex engineering use cases. The work blends hands-on software development with frequent direct customer contact, helping decide what to build and how to support an active customer pilot. What you'll do \- Design and build a new product capability that models how the parts of a complex engineered system connect, using design and requirements data. \- Help run and scale an active customer pilot so it succeeds with a growing user base. \- Take on a modest amount of infrastructure work, including some deployments in customer-controlled environments. \- Work directly with customers from the start, including travel, to shape product direction. \- Over time, contribute to training custom models for individual customers. ## Requirements What we're looking for \- Around 3 to 5 years of engineering experience, though exceptional earlier-career candidates are welcome. \- Strong problem-solving ability and the capacity to clear a demanding technical bar. \- A clear area of exceptional strength, such as hardware, infrastructure or product strategy. \- Sound engineering intuition and product sense, with the ability to turn customer input into buildable, valuable features. \- Comfort making architecture and trade-off decisions independently, such as speed versus long-term quality. \- A product-first mindset rather than a purely infrastructure focus. \- Genuine interest in applying AI to physical engineering and hardware. \- Startup or founder-style experience, with high trust, low ego and commitment through the early stage. Bonus points \- Hardware or robotics background, including club or project experience. \- Prior experience founding or working at an early-stage startup. \- Complex technical work such as optimization or CAD and 3D modeling. ## Benefits Compensation and benefits \- Base salary: USD 180,000 to 250,000 per year \- Equity \- Health, dental and vision coverage \- Paid time off Location and work model \- San Francisco, CA, United States \- On-site \- Full-time ## Apply [Apply at Raydar](https://apply.workable.com/raydar/j/042EE8C0B5/apply) --- Powered by [Workable](https://www.workable.com)