Product Engineer

Product Engineer

Location: San Francisco, CACompany Stage of Funding: Venture-Backed Early-Stage StartupOffice Type: Hybrid – 3 Days/Week OnsiteSalary: $180,000–$250,000 + Equity

Company Description

We’re representing an early-stage AI company building an AI-native platform for global trade and customs. The company helps businesses identify, prepare, and file tariff and duty refund claims by turning complex trade and shipping data into structured, actionable workflows.

Unlike a traditional software layer sitting on top of the process, the company has the regulatory infrastructure to execute these workflows directly. It holds its own CBP-approved customs broker license and ABI certification, creating a meaningful regulatory advantage within the market.

Since obtaining its license approximately 15 months ago, the company has grown from $0 to a $4M revenue run rate with a team of just 10 people. It is backed by institutional venture investors and is currently closing an additional financing round.

What You Will Do

• Own product features end-to-end across the full stack, from initial problem definition through production and ongoing iteration.
• Work directly with customers and the business team to determine what should be built next.
• Build AI-native workflows that automate complex trade, customs, and shipping processes.
• Apply AI and LLM tooling to messy, real-world operational data and turn it into reliable structured workflows.
• Own both backend and frontend development rather than working within a narrowly defined technical area.
• Build production systems designed to evolve over time rather than one-off prototypes.
• Take substantial ownership over major areas of the product within a small engineering organization.
• Work without relying on a dedicated Product Manager or Designer to define requirements.
• Develop your own point of view around customer problems, product requirements, and technical solutions.
• Ship quickly, gather feedback from real users, and continuously improve what you've built.
• Help establish the product and technical foundations as the company scales its customer base and expands into new workflows.

Ideal Background

• 4–10 years of professional software engineering experience.
• At least one 2+ year tenure where you meaningfully built, owned, and evolved a production system over time.
• Strong full-stack engineering capabilities and comfortable owning a feature from backend through frontend.
• Experience building B2B software or internal workflow products where the primary users are business operators rather than consumers.
• Demonstrated ability to independently determine what should be built rather than relying on highly prescriptive product requirements.
• Strong product instincts and comfort working directly with customers and business stakeholders.
• Experience taking significant technical ownership in a small or fast-moving engineering environment.
• Able to build durable production systems rather than primarily prototypes or experimental projects.
• Comfortable operating in an environment without dedicated PM or Design support.
• Strong applied engineering orientation, particularly around using AI to solve real product and operational problems.
• Interested in working across product, engineering, AI, and customer problems rather than specializing narrowly within one technical layer.

Preferred

• Experience building AI-enabled products or integrating LLMs into production workflows.
• Previous experience at an early-stage startup with significant individual ownership.
• Experience building products where engineers work directly with customers.
• Background in fintech, regulated software, or other operationally complex B2B environments.
• Exposure to trade, customs, logistics, freight, or supply chain software is helpful but not required.
• Experience at an applied AI company or vertical AI startup.
• History of building or owning meaningful product areas with a very small team.
• Comfortable balancing product judgment, technical architecture, and execution rather than focusing exclusively on implementation.

Compensation and Benefits

• Base salary: $180,000–$250,000.
• Equity included.
• Signing bonus available.
• At the top of the compensation band, there may be line of sight to approximately $100,000 per year in equity value.
• Location: San Francisco, CA.
• Office: Hybrid, with approximately three days per week onsite.
• Some flexibility may be available for exceptional candidates relocating from outside the San Francisco market.
• Full-time position.
• Joining a small team of approximately 10 people with substantial individual ownership.
• The company is currently closing an additional financing round.
• This is one of three Product Engineer hires the company is planning in the near term.
• Best suited for a product-minded full-stack generalist who wants to own significant areas of a product rather than work within a narrowly scoped engineering function.