Forward Deployed Engineer

Clera

• $150K — $250K *
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 2 to 9 years of software engineering experience in startup or early-stage companies only.
  • Strong computer science fundamentals from a rigorous technical degree program.
  • Experience founding or engineering at a pre-seed to Series A venture-backed company.
  • Demonstrated ability to ship and maintain production systems end-to-end.
  • Proficient in TypeScript, React, PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, and AWS.
  • Familiarity with Effect-TS or Bun ecosystem is beneficial.
  • Comfortable using AI coding agents with strong quality control judgment.

Responsibilities

  • Own the complete agent platform and infrastructure runtime.
  • Establish engineering patterns and architectural guidelines for the codebase.
  • Continuously ship code to production while collaborating with founders.
  • Shape the system architecture for agent orchestration and self-healing infrastructure within the first year.
  • Participate in high-stakes projects that involve real working agents.

Benefits

  • Visa sponsorship available, specifically for O-1 visas.
Full Job Description
About the Role

This is a founding engineer opportunity at an early-stage AI infrastructure startup building an agentic integration platform. You will own core systems end-to-end alongside the founders, shaping the engineering foundation that every future hire builds on. The work is high-stakes and high-autonomy: real agents doing real work with real consequences in production.
What You'll Do
  • Own the agent platform, infrastructure, and integrations runtime end-to-end.
  • Set the engineering patterns and architectural decisions that define the entire codebase going forward.
  • Ship to production constantly, working directly with the founding team.
  • Help shape the system holistically across agent orchestration, durable execution, and self-healing infrastructure in your first year.
What We're Looking For
  • 2 to 9 years of professional software engineering experience, excluding staff, principal, lead, or manager titles at large companies.
  • Strong CS fundamentals from a rigorous technical degree program (Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD, completed or in progress).
  • Experience founding a startup or engineering at an early-stage (pre-seed through Series A) venture-backed company; candidates whose entire career has been at large tech, enterprise, consulting, or agency environments are not a fit.
  • Proven track record of shipping and owning real production systems end-to-end, multiple times.
  • Comfortable working across the full stack with TypeScript, React, PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, and AWS.
  • Familiarity with the Effect-TS or Bun ecosystem is a plus.
  • At ease using AI coding agents while exercising strong judgment over production quality.
  • Based in the San Francisco Bay Area or US-based with a concrete, dated plan to relocate to San Francisco for five-days-a-week on-site work.
Compensation & Benefits
  • Salary: $150,000 to $250,000 USD annually.
  • Visa sponsorship is available where an O-1 visa is a realistic path.
Location

On-site, five days a week in San Francisco, CA, United States.

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