Infrastructure/Platform Engineer

Who is Recruiting from Scratch:Recruiting from Scratch is a premier talent firm that focuses on placing the best product managers, software, and hardware talent at innovative companies. Our team is 100% remote and we work with teams across the United States to help them hire.Infrastructure / Platform EngineerLocationSan Francisco, CAOn-site role requiring five to six days per week in the San Francisco office.Compensation$175,000 - $275,000 Base + 0.4-0.8% EquityVisaOpen to visa transfers, including H-1B transfers, TN, and O-1. New H-1B sponsorship is not available.Company StageEarly-Stage / Venture-Backed AI Infrastructure CompanyIndustryArtificial Intelligence, Infrastructure, Platform Engineering, Developer Tools, Enterprise Software, B2B SaaS, Workflow Automation, AI Agents, Cloud Infrastructure, Integration PlatformsAbout the CompanyOur client is building an AI-native integration platform that automates mission-critical integrations for companies operating in the physical economy.The platform uses specialized AI agents to handle the full lifecycle of integrations, from understanding requirements through writing, testing, and deploying integration code into production.The company is solving a fundamental connectivity problem where businesses still rely heavily on custom integrations that are expensive, time-consuming, and difficult to maintain.The team is exceptionally small and highly technical, with infrastructure currently owned by the CTO. The company has paying enterprise customers with production integrations and significant demand, creating an immediate need for a dedicated infrastructure and platform engineer.As the first Infrastructure / Platform Engineer, you'll own the entire infrastructure layer from the ground up, working directly with the CTO to build the runtime, agent infrastructure, observability systems, and self-hostable deployment architecture that powers mission-critical enterprise integrations.This is a highly autonomous individual contributor role where you'll establish the technical patterns that future infrastructure engineers will build on, while eventually helping recruit and grow the infrastructure team.What You'll DoOwn the infrastructure and platform layer end-to-endBuild the core runtime infrastructure powering mission-critical integrationsDesign and build a scalable integration runtime similar to a "Vercel for integrations"Build durable execution systems for long-running integration workflowsDesign sandboxed execution environments for safely running integration codeBuild self-healing infrastructure that can detect and recover from failuresBuild and scale the agent infrastructure powering coding agentsSupport AI agents that write, test, and deploy integration code into productionDesign reliable execution environments for autonomous software agentsBuild infrastructure that allows agents to operate safely and reliably in productionDesign and implement the observability layer for integrations and AI agentsBuild monitoring, logging, tracing, and alerting systemsGive enterprise customers visibility into the health and behavior of their integrationsArchitect and ship single-tenant deployments for enterprise customersBuild self-hostable versions of the platform that customers can run inside their own cloud environmentsDesign multi-cloud deployment architectures across AWS, Azure, GCP, and similar environmentsBuild reusable infrastructure and platform components that can support future deploymentsOperate and scale production Kubernetes clustersDebug complex Kubernetes and cloud infrastructure issuesDesign reliable cloud infrastructure for high-growth production workloadsBuild deployment systems that support rapid and repeatable customer environmentsEstablish infrastructure patterns, standards, and best practices for the engineering organizationWork closely with the CTO on infrastructure architecture and technical strategyMake independent architectural decisions in a highly ambiguous environmentIdentify infrastructure bottlenecks and improve system reliability and performanceBuild infrastructure from scratch rather than simply maintaining existing systemsBalance speed of execution with reliability, security, scalability, and operational simplicityHelp identify opportunities to generalize customer-specific infrastructure requirements into reusable platform capabilitiesContribute to the architecture of the company's long-term infrastructure platformHelp recruit strong infrastructure engineers as the team growsEventually help build and lead the infrastructure engineering organizationTake ownership of infrastructure outcomes rather than simply completing assigned ticketsShip continuously in a fast-moving startup environmentOperate with high autonomy and minimal hand-holdingEstablish the technical foundation that future infrastructure engineers will build uponIdeal Candidate BackgroundExperience Requirements3-12 years of experience in cloud infrastructure, platform engineering, or closely related engineering rolesStrong experience owning core infrastructure end-to-endExperience at a venture-backed startup or high-growth technology company preferredExperience building infrastructure from scratchExperience working on greenfield infrastructure or platform projectsStrong production infrastructure engineering experienceExperience operating infrastructure in fast-moving environmentsExperience owning systems through architecture, implementation, deployment, and ongoing operationExperience working closely with engineering leadership or technical foundersExperience operating independently with significant technical ownershipExperience working in ambiguous and rapidly changing environmentsExperience building infrastructure for production software systemsExperience working with cloud platforms at meaningful scaleExperience with Kubernetes in production environmentsExperience building and shipping platform code rather than purely operating infrastructureExperience working on complex distributed systems preferredExperience working at high-growth startups or strong technology scale-ups preferredExperience with multi-cloud or self-hostable infrastructure preferredStrong individual contributor mentalityDemonstrated ability to solve difficult infrastructure problems independentlyTrack record of building reliable systems from the ground upTechnical RequirementsDeep production Kubernetes expertiseExperience operating, scaling, and debugging Kubernetes clustersStrong expertise in AWS, Azure, or GCPStrong understanding of cloud infrastructure architectureExperience designing production-grade infrastructureExperience with containerization and orchestrationStrong understanding of networking, compute, storage, and cloud primitivesExperience designing scalable deployment architecturesExperience building platform infrastructure rather than solely performing SRE or DevOps functionsExperience writing production platform or infrastructure codeStrong understanding of distributed systemsExperience with infrastructure automation and deployment systemsExperience designing reliable runtime environmentsExperience with observability systems including logging, metrics, tracing, and monitoringExperience building systems for production reliability and fault toleranceExperience designing secure and isolated execution environments preferredExperience with sandboxing or workload isolation preferredExperience building self-hostable or single-tenant deployments preferredExperience designing multi-cloud infrastructure preferredExperience working with AWS, Azure, or GCP deployment environmentsExperience with infrastructure-as-code and automated deployment workflows preferredExperience building systems that support AI or agentic workloads preferredFamiliarity with AI agent infrastructure and autonomous software systems preferredExperience supporting production workloads with complex operational requirementsStrong debugging and incident-response capabilitiesStrong understanding of reliability, scalability, and performanceAbility to quickly understand unfamiliar infrastructure systemsAbility to make pragmatic infrastructure trade-offs in an early-stage environmentComfortable building infrastructure with limited existing patterns or documentationEducationBachelor's degree preferredComputer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or equivalent technical disciplines preferredDegree from a top-30 Computer Science program preferred when professional experience is not sufficiently strongStrong practical infrastructure engineering experience can compensate for academic pedigreeSoft SkillsExtremely high agency and ownershipStrong bias toward actionComfortable operating independentlyStrong builder mentalityComfortable building infrastructure from scratchStrong technical judgmentComfortable making architectural decisions with incomplete informationComfortable operating in highly ambiguous environmentsStrong problem-solving abilityExcellent debugging instinctsStrong sense of urgencyComfortable shipping continuouslyComfortable working directly with technical foundersLow-ego and highly collaborativeStrong communication skillsAble to explain complex infrastructure concepts clearlyComfortable taking full responsibility for infrastructure outcomesStrong product and business judgmentComfortable balancing reliability with speedComfortable working without extensive processes or structureStrong ownership of production systemsComfortable operating as a true individual contributorWilling to help recruit future infrastructure engineersInterested in eventually helping build an infrastructure teamComfortable working in a very small engineering organizationExcited by greenfield infrastructure challengesComfortable with high-growth startup intensityStrong attention to operational reliabilityComfortable dealing with difficult production problemsComfortable working onsite five to six days per week in San FranciscoCompensation & BenefitsBase Salary: $175,000 - $275,000Competitive equity package of approximately 0.4-0.8%Opportunity to become the first dedicated infrastructure hireOwnership of the entire infrastructure and platform layerOpportunity to build a cloud platform from scratchOpportunity to design infrastructure patterns used by future engineersExposure to AI agents and autonomous software systemsOpportunity to build infrastructure for production AI workloadsHigh degree of technical ownership and autonomyDirect partnership with the CTOOpportunity to work on multi-cloud and self-hostable deploymentsOpportunity to build enterprise-grade observability and deployment systemsSignificant influence over the company's technical architectureOpportunity to help recruit and grow the infrastructure teamPotential path toward infrastructure technical leadershipFast-paced startup environment with significant technical growthFive-to-six-day in-office environment in San FranciscoH-1B transfers, TN, and O-1 visa options availableWhy JoinThis is an opportunity to become the first dedicated infrastructure and platform engineer at a highly technical AI startup and own the foundational infrastructure powering an agentic integration platform.You'll work directly with the CTO to build the infrastructure layer from the ground up, including the integration runtime, agent execution environment, observability platform, deployment systems, and self-hostable enterprise architecture.Rather than inheriting an established infrastructure organization, you'll define the patterns, architecture, and engineering standards that future infrastructure engineers will build on.The role offers unusually broad technical ownership. You'll work across Kubernetes, cloud infrastructure, distributed systems, deployment architecture, observability, AI agents, and enterprise infrastructure while solving problems that directly impact production customers.You'll also have the opportunity to shape the infrastructure organization itself by helping recruit future engineers and potentially growing into a technical leadership role as the company scales.If you enjoy greenfield infrastructure, Kubernetes, cloud architecture, AI agents, distributed systems, high ownership, and building foundational systems from scratch, this role offers exceptional scope and technical impact.