TA
Founding Engineer
Accepting applicationsThe Arena · San Francisco Bay Area
Full-Time Mid_senior AIAiaiate
Posted
28 May
Category
Manufacturing
Experience
Mid_senior
Country
United States
Founding Engineer
Location: Onsite | San Francisco, CA
Clearance: U.S. Citizen required | Active clearance a plus, not required
Employment Type: Full-time, salaried, with full benefits
The Company & Mission:
Our Client is building the AI operating system for military administrative work. Their platform replaces the spreadsheets, email chains, and disconnected legacy systems that burden service members daily — automating readiness, scheduling, deployment, and compliance workflows end to end. Already deployed with Air Force units and backed by the Pentagon's Chief Data and AI Office, the team is cutting admin time by 90% for the highest-tempo military units in the DoD. The goal: give service members back the time they need to focus on training and mission execution.
What This Role is All About:
This is a founding engineer role — one of the first two engineers hired. You'll work side-by-side with the founders to shape the product, engineering culture, and company from day one. You'll own the full development lifecycle, travel to military bases to work directly with service members, and translate real operator needs into software that matters. High ownership, high impact, high autonomy.
What You’ll Be Doing:
Own and ship full-stack features from user research through production
Work directly with service members at military bases (~1x/month) to understand workflows and iterate fast
Help shape engineering standards and culture from the ground up
Ship production-quality code at high frequency
Partner with founders on product strategy and roadmap decisions
What You Bring:
U.S. citizenship required
Strong full-stack engineering skills across TypeScript, Next.js/Express, PostgreSQL, and AWS
A bias toward shipping — high output, production-quality work
Comfort working in ambiguous, fast-moving early-stage environments
Low ego, high attention to detail, and willingness to learn
Genuine mission motivation — care about national security outcomes
Bonus Points:
Experience with Kubernetes or open-source infra (Grafana, Loki, Keycloak) in secure deployments
Familiarity with DoD security and compliance frameworks
Hands-on experience integrating LLMs into production applications
Military background or veteran experience
Active U.S. security clearance
Benefits:
0.5% – 1.5% equity
Competitive health benefits
Show more Show less
Location: Onsite | San Francisco, CA
Clearance: U.S. Citizen required | Active clearance a plus, not required
Employment Type: Full-time, salaried, with full benefits
The Company & Mission:
Our Client is building the AI operating system for military administrative work. Their platform replaces the spreadsheets, email chains, and disconnected legacy systems that burden service members daily — automating readiness, scheduling, deployment, and compliance workflows end to end. Already deployed with Air Force units and backed by the Pentagon's Chief Data and AI Office, the team is cutting admin time by 90% for the highest-tempo military units in the DoD. The goal: give service members back the time they need to focus on training and mission execution.
What This Role is All About:
This is a founding engineer role — one of the first two engineers hired. You'll work side-by-side with the founders to shape the product, engineering culture, and company from day one. You'll own the full development lifecycle, travel to military bases to work directly with service members, and translate real operator needs into software that matters. High ownership, high impact, high autonomy.
What You’ll Be Doing:
Own and ship full-stack features from user research through production
Work directly with service members at military bases (~1x/month) to understand workflows and iterate fast
Help shape engineering standards and culture from the ground up
Ship production-quality code at high frequency
Partner with founders on product strategy and roadmap decisions
What You Bring:
U.S. citizenship required
Strong full-stack engineering skills across TypeScript, Next.js/Express, PostgreSQL, and AWS
A bias toward shipping — high output, production-quality work
Comfort working in ambiguous, fast-moving early-stage environments
Low ego, high attention to detail, and willingness to learn
Genuine mission motivation — care about national security outcomes
Bonus Points:
Experience with Kubernetes or open-source infra (Grafana, Loki, Keycloak) in secure deployments
Familiarity with DoD security and compliance frameworks
Hands-on experience integrating LLMs into production applications
Military background or veteran experience
Active U.S. security clearance
Benefits:
0.5% – 1.5% equity
Competitive health benefits
Show more Show less