Senior Software Engineer
SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER - SAN FRANCISCO
Job Title: Senior Software Engineer - AI & Real-Time Systems
Location: San Francisco, CA (Onsite)
Salary: $190,000 - $230,000 + 0.5-0.7% equity
We're partnering with a well-funded AI startup in San Francisco - Series A/B, founder-led, small and deliberately so - who are building something genuinely new in the customer support space.
They're using AI, generative tech, and real-time simulation to solve a problem most companies haven't cracked yet: how do you scale human customer support without losing what makes humans brilliant at it?
They need a Senior Software Engineer who wants to own something, not just contribute to it.
This is a hands-on, full-stack role. You'll architect real decisions, ship real features, and work directly with founders who have done this before.
The tech: Next.js, OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Vapi, real-time distributed systems, Docker/Kubernetes, CI/CD.
What makes this different:
- 0.5-0.7% equity - meaningful, not ceremonial
- Direct founder access from day one
- You shape how the product feels, works, and scales
- Small team that takes craft seriously
This won't suit everyone.
- You need 4+ years of hands-on engineering experience, ideally from a startup (Series A-C).
- You need to be comfortable making architectural calls without waiting for permission.
- You need to be genuinely excited about AI integrations - not just familiar with them.
- And you need to be able to work fully onsite in San Francisco five days a week.
If you've shipped 0-to-1 products, led technical decisions in small teams, and want your next role to genuinely stretch you - this is worth a conversation.
HFBAC is proud to be partnering on this search.
This is new headcount - a newly created role at a company scaling fast.
Interested? Apply here or connect with Helen Wingrove-Sanders directly at hfbac.com.