Founding Engineer (AI & Product, US)

About the Role

We’re seeking a Founding Engineer (AI & Product) as our first dedicated technical leader on the ground in the US. This role acts as the primary technical bridge between our Shanghai core R&D team and fast-growing US enterprise customers.You will focus on three core pillars:

1. Drive the global AI product roadmap
2. Deliver high-impact US‑specific features and solutions
3. Translate US customer insights into actionable product requirements

This is not a pure backend role, nor a pure presales role. It’s a customer‑facing AI engineer with strong product sense, building real features while owning the US market technical feedback loop.

Core Responsibilities

1. Global AI Product Engineering（ 60–70%）

• Contribute to the shared global engineering roadmap alongside the Shanghai team.
• Build, test, and ship production‑grade AI features (LLM workflows, agent pipelines, integrations).
• Maintain high engineering standards: code quality, observability, security, and scalability.

2. US Market Feature Delivery（ 20–30%）

• For strategic US enterprise deals only: scope, prototype, and ship small, high‑impact features or workarounds to unblock key customers.
• Fast‑turnaround execution: days, not weeks; lightweight but production‑safe.
• Clear boundary: No endless customization; only support high‑value, repeatable use cases.

3. US Customer Technical Voice & Feedback Loop

• Regularly engage US enterprise customers to understand real usage, pain points, and willingness‑to‑pay features.
• Translate insights into clear PRDs/technical proposals, with build‑cost awareness (not just wishlists).
• Filter US AI ecosystem noise: track frameworks, models, and patterns from OpenAI/Anthropic/open‑source; surface only relevant, actionable signals for our roadmap.

4. Strategic GTM & Collaboration

• Lead high‑level product demos, solution architecture reviews, and complex integration scoping for top US deals.
• Partner closely with Shanghai R&D: align specs, acceptance criteria, release plans, and post‑launch feedback.
• Document and reuse: demo templates, integration patterns, solution playbooks for US enterprise scenarios.

Qualifications & Requirements

• 5+ years building and shipping production‑grade software; strong full‑stack or backend engineering skills.
• Proven AI/LLM experience: hands‑on building with LLMs, vector databases, and agent frameworks; track record from prototype to production.
• Product‑minded engineer: comfortable talking to enterprise customers, framing problems, and proposing technical solutions.
• Extreme ownership & speed: thrive in ambiguity; bias for shipping working code over process.
• Cross‑border collaboration: work overlapping hours with Shanghai; comfortable with async specs, written reviews, and clear communication.
• English fluent; Mandarin fluent

What We Offer

• Early founding impact: shape a product with proven PMF and scale directly into the US market.
• High autonomy, minimal bureaucracy, and direct influence on roadmap and US growth.
• Competitive salary, meaningful equity, and comprehensive benefits.