Founding Engineer

📍 New York City (In-Person, Full-Time) | Competitive Salary Equity Benefits (Lunch and Dinner)

Meela is an AI voice companion for seniors, we're backed by Bain Capitial Ventures, have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and CBS, and are building a phone-based AI companion that brings intelligent, emotionally attuned conversation to the people who need it most—those often left behind by traditional tech, seniors!

We’re building Meela with love, purpose, and deep technical ambition. Pushing the limits of LLMs, RAG, and personalized memory systems. Every call from Meela is a chance to make someone feel seen, heard, and remembered.

We’re looking for a mission-driven Founding Full-Stack Engineer to join us in shaping this transformative product.

What You’ll Do

• Architect and build full-stack features across a voice-first AI platform—from backend memory pipelines to intuitive tools for conversation review and analysis.
• Design reliable infrastructure to support AI companions that stay helpful, personal, and engaging over hundreds of calls with the same user.
• Work across the stack using Python, React, vector databases (Pinecone), and LLM tools to create production-ready systems.
• Collaborate directly with the CEO on product strategy and the CTO on technical design.
• Wear multiple hats—this is a founding role, and you'll shape everything from engineering practices to product culture.
• Continuously improve Meela’s AI quality through data tooling, observability, and iteration on how we personalize memory and conversation flows.

What You Bring

• Full-stack engineering experience with a strong backend focus. You’ve worked in early-stage environments or shipped entire systems solo.
• Fluency in Python and ReactJS, and confidence working with modern web frameworks and API design.
• Experience (or deep interest) in LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and/or conversational AI systems.
• A mind for scalable design, clean abstractions, and operational excellence.
• Strong product intuition and the ability to translate user experience into technical architecture.
• A builder’s spirit. You’re hands-on, proactive, and take ownership like a founder.
• Deep alignment with our mission to improve the lives of older adults.

Why Meela

• Your work will be felt—every line of code will improve someone’s day.
• You’ll build the kind of product that your family would love, and that society needs.

What We Offer

• The opportunity to build something that actually makes a real impact, every day
• Six figure competitive base salary meaningful equity
• Full health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401k
• Commuter Benefit
• Paid lunch every day
• Office-based role (NYC) with a tight-knit, mission-driven team
• Salary range $110,000 - $225,000