Founding Product Engineer

Clera

• $200K — $250K *
Consumer Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 8+ years of software engineering experience, owning product areas independently.
  • Deep backend skills with FastAPI, Python, and MongoDB or similar.
  • Full-stack proficiency in developing React and TypeScript UIs.
  • Proven ability to ship features from ambiguous customer problems without a dedicated product manager.
  • Experience in B2B SaaS monetization, including pricing models and billing processes.
  • Background in integrating AI features and agent-driven workflows.
  • High standards for accuracy in financial and money-handling logic.
  • Familiarity with compliance frameworks like SOC 2 or GDPR is advantageous.

Responsibilities

  • Scope, design, and build product modules collaboratively with customers.
  • Evolve architecture for AI systems across various interfaces and integrations.
  • Drive features operable by LLM agents through conversational interfaces.
  • Transition business logic to backend services to maintain financial integrity.
  • Maintain and enhance a typed pricing ontology using Pydantic models.
  • Lead architectural reviews to ensure robustness and security of systems.
  • Establish practices for testing, deployment, and performance monitoring for AI features.
  • Mentor peers and contribute to establishing the engineering culture.

Benefits

  • Opportunity to shape engineering culture and product strategy in a startup environment.
  • Impactful role in a company developing AI-driven solutions for pricing and monetization.
  • Engagement with customers directly to iterate on product features.
  • Mentorship opportunities within a small, agile team.
Full Job Description
About the Role

This is a founding product engineering role at an early-stage B2B SaaS startup building an AI-driven pricing and monetization platform. You will own entire product modules end-to-end, working directly with customers and leadership to shape architecture, ship production-quality systems, and ensure every feature is operable by LLM agents. On a small team, your technical and product judgment will directly define what gets built and how.
What You'll Do
  • Scope, design, build, and iterate on whole product modules, from versioned API to React UI, in direct collaboration with customers.
  • Design and evolve architecture for agentic AI systems across conversational interfaces, web, and vendor integrations.
  • Ensure features are drivable by LLM agents via MCP/FastMCP servers and conversational interfaces.
  • Move pricing and business logic off the client into backend services to preserve financial fidelity.
  • Extend and maintain a typed pricing ontology using Pydantic models covering SKUs, propositions, personas, pricing, and more.
  • Lead architectural reviews and technical discussions to keep systems robust, extensible, and secure.
  • Establish testing, observability, deployment, and performance monitoring practices for AI-driven features.
  • Mentor peers, shape engineering culture, and contribute to product strategy.
  • Treat money-handling code as load-bearing infrastructure, with rigorous root-cause analysis for production issues.
  • Adopt and improve an AI-native software development lifecycle where agents assist with code and automated review gates.
What We're Looking For
  • 8 or more years of software engineering experience, with demonstrated ownership of entire product areas at startup or staff-level scope.
  • Deep backend expertise with production experience in FastAPI, Python, and MongoDB or a comparable stack.
  • Credible full-stack skills: able to ship a clean, data-dense React and TypeScript UI independently.
  • Track record of taking ambiguous customer problems to shipped features without a dedicated product manager.
  • Experience with B2B SaaS monetization concepts: pricing models, packaging, quoting, billing, or CPQ.
  • Experience building or integrating AI-assisted features and agent-driven workflows, including LLM interfaces and MCP-style endpoints.
  • High standards for correctness, especially around financial logic and money-handling code.
  • Familiarity with data residency, SOC 2, or GDPR constraints is a plus.
  • Prior experience as a technical founder, co-founder, or early employee who shipped a 0-to-1 B2B product to paying customers is a plus.
  • US work authorization required; visa sponsorship is not available.
Compensation & Benefits

The base salary range is $200,000 to $250,000 USD annually. Visa sponsorship is not available.
Location

This role is fully on-site in San Francisco, CA. Candidates must be based in San Francisco or willing to relocate.

Similar Jobs

More Jobs at Clera

  • Founding Product Engineer
    $200K — $250K *
    San Francisco, CA 94112 (San Francisco County)
    Consumer Technology
    In-Person
  • Account Executive, Frontier AI
    $360K — $400K *
    San Francisco, CA 94112 (San Francisco County)
    Consumer Technology
    In-Person
  • Marketing & Events Lead
    $100K — $150K *
    San Francisco, CA 94112 (San Francisco County)
    Consumer Technology
    In-Person
  • Founding Engineer
    $156K — $182K *
    New York, NY 10025 (New York County)
    Finance & Insurance
    In-Person
  • Design Engineer
    $110K — $130K *
    San Francisco, CA 94112 (San Francisco County)
    Consumer Technology
    In-Person

More Consumer Technology Jobs

Find similar Founding Product Engineer jobs: