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Clera

Founding Engineer

San Jose
Salary
$400,000
Level
Mid
Work type
Remote · US only
Visa
Not offered

Open. First seen 20 October 2026.

Apply on the company's site →

About the role

About the Role

Join an early-stage AI startup as its first engineer, partnering closely with the founding team to build a foundational model from the ground up. This hands-on individual contributor role spans novel model architecture, training, and reinforcement learning.

What You'll Do

  • Contribute directly to the development of a foundational model using a novel architecture rather than fine-tuning existing models.
  • Work across the model-building pipeline, including architecture, training, and reinforcement learning.
  • Help establish the engineering foundations for an early-stage AI team.

What We're Looking For

  • A PhD and experience at a frontier AI lab.
  • Hands-on experience contributing as an individual engineer rather than primarily in a management role.
  • Experience spanning foundational model architecture, training, and reinforcement learning.

Compensation & Benefits

Base salary up to $400,000, flexible for the right candidate, plus equity. Visa sponsorship details were not provided.

Location

On-site in San Jose, California.

The team: Engineering HIRES STEADILY

This role is one of 322 open in Engineering. 256 were posted in the last 30 days and the oldest in March: a team that hires all year rather than one being built.

WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS

LLM (147 of 322), TypeScript (136 of 322), Python (135 of 322), React (110 of 322), Machine Learning (76 of 322), PostgreSQL (59 of 322), JavaScript (56 of 322)

OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM

From the team and dates on Clera's own job board.

Salary context

85 other open postings titled Founding Engineer state a salary: median USD 150,000 to USD 250,000 a year.

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