Founding Engineer

Clera

$156K — $182K *
Finance & Insurance
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 2+ years of experience building and operating production systems end-to-end.
  • Hands-on experience with agentic AI or LLM applications in production.
  • Proficiency in Python (FastAPI) and TypeScript with React for full-stack development.
  • Solid knowledge of data infrastructure including ETL, data modeling, and SQL.
  • Experience with monitoring and debugging distributed systems.
  • Familiarity with AWS cloud infrastructure and deployment.
  • Understanding of real-time data systems and streaming updates.
  • Ability to discern when to use AI versus deterministic logic.

Responsibilities

  • Work across the full stack—frontend, real-time systems, and backend infrastructure.
  • Build data pipelines and tools to enhance coverage for analysts.
  • Enhance agentic parsing systems for better AI reliability in production.
  • Oversee end-to-end work including data inspection and production issues.
  • Deliver impactful contributions like new data sources and features on tight timelines.

Benefits

  • Founding engineering role with significant impact on product development.
  • Opportunity to work in a Y Combinator-backed startup environment.
  • Engagement with cutting-edge AI technology in finance.
  • Collaborative small team environment promoting innovation and ownership.
Full Job Description
About the Role

This is a founding engineering role at a Y Combinator-backed, AI-native financial research platform focused on healthcare investing. You'll be one of the first engineers on a three-person team, owning the infrastructure, tools, and systems that make AI agents reliable and capable at scale. The work directly shapes the core product used by professional investors.
What You'll Do
  • Work across the full stack - shipping frontend features, real-time systems, and backend infrastructure.
  • Build data pipelines and internal tooling that help analysts add new sources and maintain sector coverage faster and more reliably.
  • Improve agentic parsing and extraction systems to make AI agents more capable and dependable in production.
  • Own work end to end: inspecting data, QA-ing your builds, instrumenting, shipping, and fixing issues in production.
  • Contribute immediately - adding a new data source on day one, shipping a reliability or speed improvement within the first week, and delivering a company ontology and first version of a key product feature within 30 days.
What We're Looking For
  • 2+ years of experience building, shipping, and operating production systems end-to-end.
  • Hands-on experience building and deploying agentic AI or LLM-based applications in production.
  • Full-stack capability: Python backend (FastAPI or equivalent), TypeScript and React frontend, and data pipeline development.
  • Strong grasp of data infrastructure: ETL, data modeling, SQL, and PostgreSQL or similar relational databases.
  • Production observability, monitoring, and debugging of distributed systems.
  • Experience with AWS cloud infrastructure and deployment.
  • Comfort with real-time data systems and streaming updates.
  • Strong judgment about when AI agents should reason versus when deterministic logic is the right tool.
  • Deep ownership mentality - you want responsibility for the whole outcome, not just your slice.
  • Bonus: Capital markets, equity research, or financial services domain experience; familiarity with modern data tools (dbt, columnar stores, vector databases); edge computing or Cloudflare experience.
  • US citizenship required; no visa sponsorship available.
Compensation & Benefits

Salary range: $156,000 - $182,000 USD annually. No visa sponsorship available.
Location

On-site in New York, United States.

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