Founding Engineer
About the Role
This is a founding engineering role at a seed-stage AI infrastructure company building the backbone for production AI systems - powering LLM routing, observability, and governance at scale. You'll work directly with the founders to shape both the product and the technical direction of the company, with significant autonomy and real ownership.
What You'll Do
Design, build, and evolve a high-performance LLM gateway and supporting microservices.
Work across the full backend stack - including core Go services, Python-based ML/AI utilities, and distributed data infrastructure.
Make pragmatic architectural decisions that balance scalability, speed, and quality depending on the product's stage.
Own infrastructure concerns including Kubernetes-based deployments, caching strategies, and database selection.
Collaborate closely with founders to define technical roadmap and redefine the stack as the product evolves.
What We're Looking For
5+ years of backend development experience, with strong proficiency in Go (Golang).
Deep understanding of concurrency and practical experience with concurrent programming patterns.
Experience designing and maintaining microservices architectures and API gateways.
Familiarity with multiple database types (SQL and distributed) and caching solutions, with the judgment to choose the right tool for the job.
Ability to design both pragmatic and scalable architectures depending on context - you know the difference between minimal and broken.
A self-starter mindset: comfortable picking up new technologies independently and thriving in a fast-moving startup environment.
Right to work in the United Kingdom without visa sponsorship (required).
Compensation & Benefits
Competitive total compensation package with significant equity. Visa sponsorship is not available - candidates must have the right to work in the UK.
Location
On-site in London, England, United Kingdom.