Founding Engineer, AI — Shiplight AI

FOUNDING ENGINEER, AI — SHIPLIGHT AI

• Do you agree we’re living through the AI revolution?

• Do you want to be part of it — and run ahead of the curve?

• Are you ready to help 100x productivity?

If so, join us.

At Shiplight AI, our mission is to build the foundation for enterprise-scale automation powered by intelligent agents. We believe every organization should have AI systems that can understand context, take action, and collaborate seamlessly with humans — transforming how work gets done across the enterprise.

Our first mission: fully automate software quality assurance. We’re building state-of-the-art agentic QA systems that integrate deeply into the software development cycle — empowering every product manager, developer, and tester with their own AI QA engineer that validates work in real time.

You’ll be joining a small, mission-driven founding team led by industry veterans, working at the intersection of AI agents, system engineering, and real-world developer productivity.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Build core systems that enable AI agents to autonomously test and reason about complex applications.

• Design, prototype, and ship agentic browser and device automation components.

• Work directly with the founders to define architecture, roadmap, and company culture.

• Experiment with cutting-edge context engineering techniques to improve reasoning and adaptability.

• Move fast — from prototype to production — with high ownership and autonomy.

WHO YOU ARE

• Mission-driven — you want to help shape the next era of AI-powered software development.

• Curious and resourceful — you love solving hard, open-ended problems.

• Hands-on builder — you thrive in early-stage environments with high speed and uncertainty.

• Collaborative — you value teamwork and open technical debate.

• You have 1–3 years of startup experience in the AI domain.

• You’re eager to grow into a technical leader and make a massive impact early.

IDEAL SKILLS

• Strong engineering fundamentals and product mindset.

• Proficiency in Python and TypeScript.

• Deep understanding of context engineering and prompt-based reasoning systems.

• Familiarity with browser automation, mobile automation, or QA tooling is a plus.

• Comfortable working across the stack — backend, frontend, and AI interfaces.

LOCATION

• San Francisco Bay Area — hybrid preferred.

• We move fast, iterate face-to-face, and believe early teams build the strongest culture.

WHY JOIN NOW

• Join at the earliest stage as the first founding engineer.

• Shape both the product and technical vision.

• Work directly with founders who’ve built successful systems and products before.

• Receive generous equity and play a defining role in the company’s success.