Founding Engineer
First seen by Alion on Oct 6, 2026.
The role :
You'll join as an equal partner to the senior backend engineer, sharing ownership of the backend so no single person is a bottleneck.
This is a founding seat : you'll shape the architecture, not just follow it.
What you'll do :
- Design, build and scale the backend services that power partner matching.
- Own API design across an API-first platform.
- Build and tune search and retrieval on Elasticsearch.
- Integrate LLMs into the product (OpenAI today; Gemini on Vertex live; Bedrock and Azure AI next).
- Make architecture decisions with the founding team, and rebuild fast when something doesn't work.
- Work async with teammates, owning goals end to end.
What we're looking for :
Must-have :
- 5 - 7 years building backend systems in Python that run at production scale.
- Hands-on Elasticsearch experience.
- Strong API design and experience with API-first architecture.
- At least one 0 - 1 journey as an early or founding engineer at a startup (team of 5 - 10 engineers).
- Strong computer science fundamentals.
Strong plus :
- LLM integration in production (OpenAI, Gemini, or similar).
Nice to have :
- Cloud and Kubernetes on AWS, Azure or GCP.
- Agentic workflows, or search and retrieval systems.
- Domain experience in partner tech (PRM/PSM), sales intelligence, or marketplace and matching systems.
Is this you?
You'll thrive here if you :
- Have built, scaled, or even failed at a real startup, and want to do it again with more ownership.
- Work best with a clear goal and the freedom to get there.
- "Here's the goal, let's check in next week" suits you.
- Think AI-first : you're happy to throw away what doesn't work and rebuild fast.
- Care more about equity, ownership and the scale journey than maximising cash.
This probably isn't for you if you :
- Prefer clear structure, close guidance or a defined process.
- Have worked only at large companies or services firms.
- Haven't run systems in production at real scale.
Skills
Python, ElasticSearch, API, Generative AI, LLM, API Architect, AWS