Founding Engineer

Hybrid Role: 85% remote, but requires 3 nights on-site in Miami or NYC every month. This is NOT a remote position. Candidates must live in these locations, have valid work authorization, and be fully bilingual (English/Spanish). Please apply only if you meet these specific criteria.About The CompanyOur partner is a stealth-stage legal technology company applying AI to plaintiff-side litigation at institutional scale, with eyes toward reinventing the way law is practiced end-to-end. They operate at the intersection of special situations litigation and litigation finance building infrastructure that doesn't yet exist in the legal industry. They raised a seed round that was 75% oversubscribed in February 2026, and they're building the team that will define how this company grows.Their engineering culture is small, deliberate, and high-stakes. This isn't a place where you hand off tickets and wait for feedback. It's a place where precision matters, where the domain has real consequences, and where the expectation is that you think in systems, not features.The RoleWe're looking for a Founding Builder Engineer; the next person to join the core team. This isn't a job description for an engineer slot. It's an invitation for someone who has already proven they belong in the top 1% of their craft and wants to build something that matters.You'll work across the full stack — backend-first, owning architecture end-to-end, and with taste for elegant and convenient UX/UI while collaborating closely with a product-leaning counterpart. You'll design systems around AI, not just use it. LLM orchestration, agentic workflows, MCP integrations.The domain is regulated and high-precision. Prior exposure to legal tech, compliance-adjacent data pipelines, or enterprise SaaS in a domain with real stakes is a strong signal. You understand why a wrong output has consequences and you build accordingly.What We're Looking ForYou have Software engineering depth with a backend-first instinct. You're comfortable owning complex platforms and products end-to-end without hand-holding, and you've shipped production-grade systems that you'd stand behind today.You're AI-native by default. You design systems with and for AI, not around it. You've built with LLMs in production not as a feature, but as infrastructure.You operate at high autonomy, low maintenance, low ego. You communicate precisely, flag blockers early, ship in fast-moving environments, and don't need structure imposed from above.You've worked in a domain where precision matters: legal, compliance, healthcare, fintech. You know what it means to be wrong in a regulated context.Tech StackFrontend: Next.js 16, React 19, TypeScript 5.9, Tailwind CSS 4, shadcn/ui, Radix UI, Recharts, MapLibre GL, Framer Motion, Lucide ReactAI: Anthropic Claude API (SDK), Server-Sent Events streaming, custom agentic tool system, dynamic skill loading from S3Backend: Next.js API routes, Auth.js (NextAuth v5), Drizzle ORM, PostgreSQL, DuckDB, S3-backed Parquet filesData Pipeline: Python 3.13, Hive-partitioned Parquet on S3, DuckDB analytical engineLogisticsBased in New York or Miami preferred; exceptional candidates in other locations consideredPerson fluent in English and Spanish85% remote with monthly in-person meetings in New York and Miami (3 nights)Monster equity: 0.20%–0.99% of the business as of May 2026 — meaningful, early-stage ownership in a well-funded company4-round interview process: founder screen (25 min) → blind work sample → half-day panel (ethics + adversarial assessments) → social event with the teamFounding Builder — New York / Miami