Founding-Level Backend Engineer ( + Equity) at Series A AI Automation Startup

About the job

Job Title: Software Engineer (Backend)

Salary: $180K-$260K base + 0.2-0.4% equity

Location: San Francisco, CA (5 days in-office)

Visa sponsorship available for select cases

Relocation support available

Company Description

Venture-backed AI startup building the autonomous operations layer for a multi-trillion-dollar industry still powered by spreadsheets, PDFs, emails, and legacy software.

Recent advances in AI have made it possible to automate workflows that previously required human judgment and coordination. The company is using that shift to modernize one of the largest and most operationally complex sectors of the economy.

With exceptional growth, an imminent Series A, and a team of just 12, it's a rare opportunity to help define an entirely new category from the ground floor.

Job Description

Join a small, highly technical team building AI-powered workflows that automate mission-critical operations for real-world businesses.

This company operates in an industry worth trillions of dollars that still relies heavily on fragmented software, manual processes, spreadsheets, emails, PDFs, and legacy systems. Their platform uses AI agents and automation to orchestrate complex operational workflows across these disconnected environments.

As a Software Engineer (Backend), you'll design and build end-to-end automation systems, integrate with a wide range of external platforms, and work directly with customers to understand operational bottlenecks and deploy solutions that create immediate business impact.

This is a backend-heavy role with significant ownership, focused on automation, integrations, distributed systems, and applied AI.

Why this role is remarkable

• Build AI-powered automation that directly replaces hours of manual operational work in a massive industry still early in its digital transformation
• Join at a key inflection point as the company closes its Series A and scales rapidly following exceptional revenue growth
• Own projects end-to-end, working directly with customers and founders without layers of product management or bureaucracy
• Work on difficult engineering problems involving workflow orchestration, system integrations, reliability, and AI-driven automation
• Small team environment where your decisions materially shape both the product and engineering culture

What you will do

• Design and ship agentic workflows that automate critical business operations
• Build reliable integrations across numerous third-party and legacy systems
• Architect backend services and automation infrastructure using TypeScript and modern cloud tooling
• Work directly with customers to understand workflows, gather feedback, and rapidly iterate on solutions
• Contribute to system design, technical strategy, and greenfield product development
• Use modern AI engineering tools and coding copilots as a core part of your daily workflow

The ideal candidate

• 4-12 years of software engineering experience, ideally with strong backend expertise
• Deep experience building production systems in TypeScript
• Active user of modern AI engineering tools such as Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or equivalent
• Startup experience strongly preferred
• Experience integrating complex systems, APIs, workflows, or automation platforms
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and owning projects from concept through deployment
• Strong communication skills and ability to work directly with customers
• Curious builder who wants to understand both the technical problem and the business problem

Bonus points

• Experience in operationally complex or traditionally underserved industries
• Experience with workflow automation, browser automation, agentic systems, or AI-powered products
• Previous early-stage startup experience
• Experience working closely with non-technical stakeholders and customers

Why candidates should join

• Massive market opportunity: The company is modernizing a multi-trillion-dollar industry that remains heavily dependent on manual processes and outdated software.
• Exceptional growth: Revenue grew 6x last year and the company is targeting another major step-function increase this year.
• Timing matters: Series A financing is expected to close shortly, creating a rare opportunity to join before the next phase of scaling.
• High ownership: Engineers own projects end-to-end and work directly with founders, customers, and business stakeholders.
• Meaningful technical challenges: Build reliable automation and AI systems on top of fragmented, real-world infrastructure where the engineering problems are genuinely difficult.
• Strong compensation: Competitive salary, meaningful equity, relocation support, and visa sponsorship for qualified candidates.

Next steps

• Apply via this LinkedIn job post.
• We will review applications and reach out if there is a strong fit.
• If aligned, we will introduce qualified candidates directly to the hiring team.
• If this role is not the right fit, we may also introduce exceptional candidates to other high-signal startup opportunities we are actively supporting, always with your permission.

A quick note on authenticity of opportunity

This is a real, active role that CoffeeSpace is supporting in close partnership with the startup's hiring team. We do not post speculative opportunities and work directly with founders or their hiring manager on their actual hiring needs.