What are the responsibilities and job description for the Founding Engineer position at Harrison Clarke?
Founding Engineer
Early-Stage AI Cloud Infrastructure Startup | San Francisco
Harrison Clarke is partnering with a well-funded, early-stage startup at the intersection of cloud infrastructure, data systems, and AI. They are building foundational technology that will power the next generation of intelligent applications.
We are seeking a Founding Engineer - one of the very first few technical hires - to join this ambitious founding team in San Francisco.
About the Role
As a Founding Engineer, you will work directly with the founders to define the technical direction and build core systems from the ground up. This is a high-ownership role where your technical decisions will shape the company’s architecture, engineering culture, and long-term success.
You’ll tackle complex, high-impact problems in areas such as:
- Distributed systems and high-performance cloud infrastructure
- Large-scale data processing, storage, and query engines
- AI/ML platform infrastructure, model serving, or agentic systems
- Observability, reliability, and developer experience at the intersection of cloud and AI
Expect significant autonomy and the opportunity to work across the full stack - from low-level systems to rapid product iteration.
Who We’re Looking For
We are targeting exceptional engineers who graduated (or are graduating) from top computer science programs - Stanford, MIT, CMU, Berkeley, UIUC, Waterloo, and similar institutions - or have demonstrated equivalent caliber through elite experience.
Key qualifications:
- Strong computer science fundamentals (algorithms, distributed systems, databases, computer networks)
- Hands-on experience with modern cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure), Kubernetes, or large-scale data/AI infrastructure
- A track record of shipping high-quality code quickly while maintaining long-term technical vision
- Intellectual curiosity, low ego, and genuine excitement for solving hard technical problems
- Comfort with ambiguity and a strong ownership mindset
Prior background in AI infrastructure, data systems, or cloud-native platforms is a plus, but we prioritize raw talent, engineering taste, and builder mentality above all.
What’s On Offer
- Significant founding-level equity with real upside potential
- Competitive salary and benefits
- Direct influence on both product and technical roadmap
- The opportunity to help build a category-defining company in the cloud data AI space
If you’re a high-caliber engineer who thrives on ownership, loves deep technical challenges, and wants your early-career work to have outsized impact, this is a rare opportunity.