Software Engineer, AI Platform

Why You'll Actually Care

District Partners is supporting a heavily capitalized, early-stage technology company building a new AI-native enterprise platform around problems that require far more than wrapping an LLM in an existing application. The team is developing intelligent software capable of reasoning through complex scenarios, making decisions, and adapting based on changing inputs, while simultaneously building the application and platform foundation required to deliver that capability at enterprise scale. This is still early enough that core products, architecture, and engineering patterns are being built from 0-to-1, giving strong engineers considerably more technical ownership than they would inherit at a mature AI company.

The Basics

This is a hands-on software engineering role sitting at the intersection of full-stack product development and applied AI. The current environment includes Python on the backend, React on the frontend, TypeScript across the application layer, and AI/LLM technologies supporting increasingly autonomous product capabilities. The team cares about the stack, but they care more about finding engineers with strong computer science fundamentals who have already demonstrated they can take difficult technical problems from concept through production.

What You'll Be Owning

• Design and build net-new product capabilities from 0-to-1, including the architecture, application logic, APIs, data flows, and production implementation required to make them real.
• Build backend services primarily in Python and modern frontend experiences using React and TypeScript, with the ability to move across the stack when the problem requires it.
• Develop and integrate AI and LLM capabilities into production software, moving beyond prototypes into reliable systems that can reason, automate workflows, and respond dynamically to complex inputs.
• Make foundational architecture decisions around scalability, reliability, performance, and how new AI capabilities interact with the broader application platform.
• Take ownership through the full engineering lifecycle, from technical design and implementation through testing, deployment, iteration, and production.
• Help establish the engineering patterns and technical foundation for a platform and development organization expected to scale significantly.

The Environment

This is genuine greenfield engineering, not a modernization project disguised as one. The platform and engineering organization are both being built quickly, which means there are meaningful architectural decisions still to make and few layers separating an engineer from the problem they are solving. The strongest people here will be comfortable going deep technically, moving across traditional engineering boundaries, and operating without an established playbook.

What You Bring To The Table

• Strong professional software engineering experience with evidence of building technically complex products, ideally within startup, growth-stage, or other high-ownership environments.
• Demonstrated 0-to-1 experience taking a product, platform, or significant technical capability from an idea through production.
• Deep hands-on development experience across backend, frontend, or full-stack engineering, with Python, React, and TypeScript particularly relevant to the current environment.
• Experience building production SaaS, enterprise applications, distributed systems, or similarly sophisticated software products.
• Exposure to AI/ML, LLMs, intelligent agents, or AI-enabled application development is highly valuable, particularly where those capabilities have moved beyond experimentation into real products.
• Strong computer science and software engineering fundamentals, including the ability to reason through architecture and system-level tradeoffs rather than simply implement predefined requirements.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to collaborate with highly technical teammates while maintaining significant individual ownership.

A Few Things Worth Knowing

• Compensation: High $200Ks base with flexibility for the right candidate, plus meaningful early-stage equity.
• Equity: Meaningful ownership at an early stage, giving engineers the opportunity to participate directly in the company's growth.
• Housing Benefit: $2,500 per month for employees who live close to the office, representing up to $30K annually in additional housing support.
• Relocation: Relocation support is available for candidates moving to the Bay Area.
• Benefits: Comprehensive health benefits and unlimited PTO.
• Location: San Francisco Bay Area.
• Work Model: Full-time onsite. This is intentionally an in-person engineering culture built around close technical collaboration.
• Visa Sponsorship: Available for qualified candidates.
• Engagement Type: Direct hire