Demo

Founding Engineer

TechTree
San Francisco, CA Full Time
POSTED ON 4/4/2026
AVAILABLE BEFORE 5/3/2026
About The Company

Altara's mission is to build the “AI co-scientist” for the physical world to accelerate breakthroughs in semiconductors, batteries, advanced materials, specialty chemicals, aerospace, and more. The company operates in an on-site customer environment, visiting semiconductor factories, battery R&D, chemical labs, etc., and ships products that get deployed into real industrial R&D. Altara is at the seed stage, having raised $7M, and was founded in 2025. The team is based in San Francisco and works in-person.

About The Role

Founding Engineer at Altara in SF, onsite 5 days/week, 0-4 years experience, fullstack/product engineering, $140K-$200K salary, competitive equity, AI co-scientist development.

The role of Founding Engineer at Altara involves working onsite in San Francisco for 5 days a week, with a focus on building the "AI co-scientist" for the physical world.

This position requires candidates to engage in on-site customer work, including visits to semiconductor factories, battery R&D, and chemical labs, and to ship products that are deployed into real industrial R&D environments. The role emphasizes high autonomy and ownership from day one, with a product-first engineering mindset.

Candidates will be involved in fullstack development using Python and React/TypeScript, and will need strong backend/infrastructure skills with AWS, Terraform, Kubernetes, and Docker. Applied AI/ML engineering and research experience, particularly with LLM applications and agentic workflows, is also important. The role requires strong communication skills and a commitment to working onsite in San Francisco. Candidates should be prepared to work closely with a small, in-person team and enjoy a fast-paced, ambiguous environment.

The position offers the opportunity to build the foundation of the next industrial revolution, with direct impact on real-world R&D and high autonomy in product and engineering decisions.

Requirements

  • 0-4 years experience in fullstack or product engineering
  • 0→1 experience building something meaningful in a high-growth environment
  • Product-first engineering mindset
  • Applied AI/ML engineering and research experience
  • Strong communication skills

Required Skills

  • Python
  • React/TypeScript
  • AWS
  • Terraform
  • Kubernetes

Team members

  • Team size 5

Salary: 140000 - 200000 USD

Equity: Competitive equity

Salary : $140,000 - $200,000

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