Build and ship AI-powered products end-to-end, design architectures for retrieval, memory, and agentic systems, and implement evaluation pipelines. Work in small, ambiguous startup teams, communicate effectively, and demonstrate strong software engineering fundamentals alongside deep LLM and agentic systems expertise.
Founding Engineers: Let 100+ Companies Compete For You
Fonzi is an AI recruiting company.
No job boards. No recruiter spam. Companies request to interview you and submit salary bids upfront.
Every week, hiring managers at 100+ pre-vetted startups in NYC and San Francisco review a curated group of engineers. They're reading profiles optimized by our team to surface what matters: what you've built, how you think about systems, and whether you're the kind of engineer who ships.
Companies on Fonzi are Applied AI startups, Frontier labs, Hypergrowth startups, PE firms starting lean AI teams and more. They're backed by investors like A16z, Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Y Combinator and more.
How It Works
- 5-minute application
- We reach out, learn what you're building and what excites you, and optimize your profile
- Hiring managers review the cohort and request interviews with candidates they want
- Companies submit competing salary bids directly to you
- You only interview where you're genuinely interested
- Completely free. We have an iMessage agent + humans in the loop you can text anytime w/ questions or requests to help handle scheduling and coordination
Who We're Looking For
The engineers who do best on Fonzi:
- Have built AI-powered products end-to-end, not just prototypes, but systems handling real users
- Can talk fluently about retrieval, memory, agent frameworks, context engineering, eval pipelines and anything else at the cutting edge
- Combine strong software engineering fundamentals with deep awareness of what's happening at the frontier of LLMs and agentic systems
- Thrive in startup environments where the problem is ambiguous and the team is small
- Have 2-8 years of experience, ideally with experience at at least one high-growth company
Compensation
- $150,000 – $400,000+ base salary depending on experience and role. Many positions include meaningful equity at pre-seed through Series B stage companies.
The Interview Process (Typical)
- Screening conversation looking for communication skills, cultural fit, genuine curiosity about AI
- Technical deep-dive talks on architecture thinking, how you'd design an AI system for a real problem
- Coding or pairing sessions building
If you're an engineer who's been building with AI because you can't stop thinking about it we want to hear from you.
Similar Jobs
Cloud • Information Technology • Security • Software • Cybersecurity
Build and operate Cloudflare’s large-scale Kubernetes platform running on bare-metal Linux. Design resilient systems, support application teams, improve resource efficiency, harden infrastructure, and respond to platform incidents. The role combines software engineering with DevOps responsibilities, including production Kubernetes operations, Linux systems debugging, container networking, and contributions to open-source projects.
Top Skills:
AnsibleArgo RolloutsArgocdBashCephClusterapiConsulContainer Network Interfaces (Cnis)ContourElasticsearchEnvoyEtcdGoIp NetworkingIptablesKibanaKubernetesKubevirtLinuxNftablesPrometheusRedisRookSaltstackTypescriptVault
Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • Computer Vision • Hardware • Internet of Things • Software
Own end-to-end commercial navigation features for fleet customers across mobile, backend, and web platforms. Build reliable, tested, observable software for challenging conditions such as poor connectivity and changing routes. Collaborate with product, design, Maps, Telematics, and customer-facing teams to define priorities, success metrics, and tradeoffs. Ship and maintain customer-facing experiences, with opportunities to use React Native, Swift, Kotlin, geospatial technologies, and AI-assisted development tools.
Top Skills:
Ai-Assisted Development ToolsBackend ServicesGeospatial TechnologyInternet Of Things (Iot)KotlinMapping TechnologyMobile ApplicationsReact NativeSwiftWeb Applications
Big Data • Cloud • Software • Database
Design, implement, and optimize MongoDB database integrations, Change Data Capture and streaming capabilities, and observability systems. Develop high-performance C++ services, contribute to query engine and distributed systems architecture, lead projects from design through production support, and collaborate with product and engineering teams on technical roadmaps.
Top Skills:
Atlas Data FederationAtlas Stream ProcessingC++Change StreamsDistributed SystemsJavaScriptMongoDBMongodb AtlasObservability ToolingPythonVector Search
What you need to know about the San Francisco Tech Scene
San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area attracts more startup funding than any other region in the world. Home to Stanford University and UC Berkeley, leading VC firms and several of the world’s most valuable companies, the Bay Area is the place to go for anyone looking to make it big in the tech industry. That said, San Francisco has a lot to offer beyond technology thanks to a thriving art and music scene, excellent food and a short drive to several of the country’s most beautiful recreational areas.
Key Facts About San Francisco Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 365,500; 13.9% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Google, Apple, Salesforce, Meta
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, consumer technology, software
- Funding Landscape: $50.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins
- Research Centers and Universities: Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of San Francisco; Santa Clara University; Ames Research Center; Center for AI Safety; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
