Founding AI Engineer

The Mission

We're building the first truly intelligent insurance brokerage, transforming a $100B+ Excess & Surplus(E&S) insurance market that runs on pre-internet systems. We are looking for exceptional engineers who can architect and deploy AI systems that make complex decisions at unprecedented speed. This isn't about adding chatbots to insurance - it's about building AI systems that can handle intricate, multi-step workflows autonomously, turning weeks of manual work into automated, instant processes.

You're Our Person If

• You ship features daily and think in weekly roadmaps, not months
• You're obsessed with velocity - if something can be built in a week, you'll do it in days
• You think in first principles and build complex systems in one-third the normal time
• You're comfortable throwing everything away and starting from scratch when needed
• You can look at complex workflows that "experts" say can't be improved, see through to the core problems, and build solutions at a speed that makes others uncomfortable
• You've architected complex AI applications from the ground up
• You have strong opinions about AI infrastructure and aren't afraid to defend them
• You judge systems by their real-world impact, not their theoretical elegance
• You think deeply about AI safety and reliability in production systems

Hard Requirements

• Must be in San Francisco during YC W25 batch (Jan-March 2025)
• Long term: Based in San Francisco or New York
• Deep experience with modern AI/ML stack
• Strong track record of shipping production AI systems
• Comfort with rapid iteration and constant change

Indicative Timeline Targets

Our pace is ambitious because we know what's possible. Here's what your impact could look like:

First Few Days: Master our data flows while simultaneously shipping your first feature - an AI form generation system with RAG capabilities. You'll be integrating Elasticsearch for intelligent document retrieval, proving we can move at unprecedented speed.

First Week: Transform how we handle customer interactions by deploying real-time voice AI that works alongside our human operators. This isn't just about transcription - it's about building AI that can understand complex insurance conversations and make intelligent decisions in real-time.

Second Week: Build intelligence into our market communications. Create systems that prioritize and route submissions to carriers, monitor for objections, and manage complex data flows - turning what typically takes weeks into an automated, instant process.

Third & Fourth Weeks: Take our AI systems to the next level - from handling complex voice conversations to deploying autonomous agents for payment processing and portal interactions. You'll build systems that can navigate the maze of insurance websites, extract critical information, and feed it back into our workflows.

Your Domain & Impact

You'll be building our core AI infrastructure:

• Decision Systems: Design AI that can handle complex insurance decisions
• Workflow Automation: Build systems that orchestrate human-AI collaboration
• Infrastructure: Create robust, scalable AI platforms that can evolve rapidly
• Tooling: Develop proprietary tools for insurance-specific AI challenges

Evolving Tech Stack

Building for velocity today, engineering for scale tomorrow:

Data & Pipelines:

• Unstructured, Airbyte
• Retool workflows, make.com, Zapier
• Proprietary fine-tuning data compilation workflows

AI/ML Infrastructure:

• Embedding Models: OpenAI, HuggingFace
• Vector Search: ElasticSearch, Exa.ai
• Development: Vercel AI Playground, abacus.ai

Orchestration & Operations:

• Retool workflows, Temporal workflows
• Custom wrapped LangChain and LlamaIndex
• Bland.ai, Braintrust.dev
• Weights & Biases, Langsmith

LLM Stack:

• APIs: Claude, OpenAI, Groq
• Hosting: Hugging Face, Together.ai, modal.com
• Caching: Vercel KV Logging, Claude caching

Platform & Frontend:

• Cloud: GCP
• Deployment: Vercel
• Interface: Retool
• CRM: HubSpot
• Communications: OpenPhone

How We Execute

1. Make Requirements Less Dumb: Question everything. If someone says "that's how insurance works," that's exactly where we start
2. Delete the Process Step: The fastest process is no process. Every step must justify its existence
3. Optimize: Make it smarter. If AI can do it better, it should
4. Accelerate: Speed compounds. What can be done in a day should be done in an hour
5. Automate: Transform human expertise into AI systems that scale

Our SDLC

• Boundaries of Separation: Build core IP, leverage existing tools for speed
• Micro Applications: Rapid prototyping with bolt.new, Replit agents
• AI-Assisted Development: Cursor for complex builds
• Automated Maintenance: Considering Devin for enhancements and maintenance
• Weekly Releases: Major features ship weekly, minor features ship daily

Our Philosophy

"Move fast. Break things. Fix them faster."

"Strong opinions, loosely held"

Join as an Owner, Not an Employee

Base compensation for this role ranges from $100-180K depending on your experience:

• Early Career (1-2 years): $100-125K
• Mid-Level (3-5 years): $125-150K
• Senior (6+ years): $150-180K

But let's be clear - if you're just comparing base salaries, you're missing the point.

We're building something that could transform a $100B+ industry, and we want our early team members to have meaningful ownership in that journey. That's why we offer significant equity packages that make you a true owner, not just an employee. We're looking for people who understand that the real upside comes from building and owning something revolutionary, not from maximizing their base salary.

Think like an owner because you will be one. If you're primarily optimizing for cash compensation, we're probably not the right fit. If you're excited about building something massive and owning a meaningful piece of it, let's talk.