Apply Now

Founding AI Product Engineer

San Francisco, CA, US • Posted 6 hours ago • Updated 6 hours ago

Full Time

On-site

USD $200,000.00 - 260,000.00 per year

LHi Group Ltd

Fitment

Dice Job Match Score™

⏳ Almost there, hang tight...

Job Details

Skills

Reporting
Product Development
Apache Velocity
Customer Engagement
Durable Skills
Software Engineering
Communication
Computer Science
Value Engineering
IDEA
Artificial Intelligence
Product Design
Sales
Adobe
Product Strategy
Apache Flex
SAP BASIS
Open Source
Python
Rust
Startups

Summary

Title: Founding AI Product Engineer

Reporting to: Krrish CEO (Co-Founder)

Business Need for the Hire:

Build LiteLLM's second major product alongside the founders.
Bring on an engineer who can own product development end-to-end, from customer discovery through production.
Increase product velocity while maintaining close relationships with users.
Help define product direction as one of the company's first dedicated Product Engineers.

Wider Team and Where This Role Sits:

Reports directly to Krrish.
Founding Product Engineer working closely with the founders and engineering team.
Approximately 50% coding / 50% customer interaction, speaking directly with developers to validate ideas and improve the product.
One Product Engineer is currently transitioning internally, making this a foundational hire for the team.

Essential Skills Required to Interview a Candidate:

2+ years of software engineering experience.
Strong Python fundamentals (expertise not required).
Experience building production software from idea to launch.
Comfortable working across backend APIs, infrastructure, and developer tooling.
Strong customer empathy and communication skills.
Startup mentality-comfortable operating in ambiguity and moving quickly.
Experience building products that gained real users is a significant plus.
Strong Computer Science fundamentals (top CS programs are viewed favorably but not required).

Questions to Screen Candidates:

In your ideal role, how much time would you spend coding versus talking to users?
Tell me about a time you shipped something quickly with incomplete information.
Tell me about a product you've built from idea to launch.
Have you built anything that attracted real users? How did you find those users?
How do you gather customer feedback and decide what to build next?
Why are you interested in building developer tools and AI infrastructure?

Interview Process:

30-minute introductory conversation with Krrish.

Virtual technical interview (coding and product-thinking; no AI assistance) including:

Whiteboard and coding exercise.

San Francisco onsite mock customer discovery/product design session.

Selling Points of the Role/Company:

Founding Product Engineer role with significant ownership.
Work directly with the founders every day.
Build LiteLLM's second major product from the ground up.
50/50 balance between engineering and product/customer discovery.
Gateway powering 100+ LLM providers.
Trusted by companies including Adobe, Netflix, NASA, NVIDIA, and OpenAI.
~$15M ARR and growing rapidly while remaining profitable after only a Seed round.
Small, high-impact engineering team where work ships to production quickly.
Opportunity to influence product strategy rather than simply implementing features.
Build products used by thousands of engineering teams worldwide.

Location:

San Francisco, CA
5 days/week onsite

Salary:

$200K-260K base
Exceptional candidates on case to case basic can flex to $300K base. This range will be reviewed directly by the founders.

Benefits:

Competitive equity package
Medical, Dental & Vision
401(k)
Health benefits

Bonus:

Performance bonus on a case-by-case basis.

Equity:

0.1-0.2%, depending on experience and level.

Visa Sponsorship/Relocation Package:

Visa sponsorship available.
Relocation assistance available.
Potential sign-on bonuses typically $5K-10K to offset forfeited equity, with flexibility for exceptional candidates.

Ideal Start Date:

ASAP

CV Feedback & Interview Feedback Agreed SLAs:

Feedback provided immediately after interviews whenever possible.

Additional Notes:

Looking for builders who naturally create products people actually use.
Open-source contributions or side projects are strong differentiators.
Values curiosity, customer empathy, and hustle over being a Python or Rust expert.
Typical workload is approximately 60 hours/week, reflecting an early-stage startup environment.
Founders care more about a candidate's ability to build meaningful products than years of experience alone.
Candidates with exceptional backgrounds or standout products should be surfaced directly to the founders.

Employers have access to artificial intelligence language tools (“AI”) that help generate and enhance job descriptions and AI may have been used to create this description. The position description has been reviewed for accuracy and Dice believes it to correctly reflect the job opportunity.

Dice Id: 91115974
Position Id: UQwnIHa43rDd
Posted 6 hours ago

Company Info

About LHi Group Ltd

At Lawrence Harvey, we are dedicated tech recruitment specialists focused exclusively on the North American market. Our expertise lies in connecting top talent with leading technology companies, driven by a deep understanding of the dynamic tech landscape in the region. By concentrating on North America, we build strong industry relationships and navigate the unique challenges and opportunities within the sector. Our commitment to excellence and specialised knowledge ensures a tailored recruitment experience for both clients and candidates. Join us in redefining tech recruitment in North America, where innovation meets talent, and success becomes a shared reality.

Go to company profile

Create job alert

Never miss an opportunity! Create an alert based on the job you applied for.

Similar Jobs

Head of Engineering

San Francisco, California

•

Today

Title: Head of Engineering Reporting to: Ishaan (CEO & Co-Founder) Business Need for the Hire: Build and scale the engineering organization as the company enters its next stage of growth. Own engineering execution, hiring, and day-to-day engineering operations. Lead hiring efforts with a goal of adding approximately 8 engineers by the end of the year. Allow the founders to spend more time on product and company strategy while establishing scalable engineering processes. Wider Team and Where T

Full-time

$300k - 400k per year

Senior Security Engineer

San Francisco, California

•

Today

Role: Senior/Staff Security Engineer - LiteLLM (first dedicated Security Engineer hire) Title: Senior / Staff Security Engineer (seniority flexible for the right candidate) Reporting to: Ishaan Business need for the hire: LiteLLM (AI Gateway used by Adobe, Netflix, NASA) is hiring its first Security Engineer. Urgency is heightened by a supply chain attack affecting the security industry this year. LiteLLM wants to get ahead of application, infrastructure, and software-supply-chain risk befor

Full-time

USD 220,000.00 - 260,000.00 per year

Rust Engineer

San Francisco, California

•

Today

LiteLLM - Rust Engineer (Founding Rust Engineer) Role: Rust Engineer Salary Up to $260,000 base 0.1-0.3% equity Benefits Comprehensive Medical, Dental & Vision 401(k) with company match Breakfast, lunch, dinner and coffee provided daily Onsite perks and collaborative engineering environment Location Onsite - San Francisco (North Beach) 5 days/week in office ~60 hour/week culture (weekend work optional but common) Reporting Into Ishaan (CTO & Co-Founder) Extremely high visibility role worki

Full-time

$200k - 260k per year

Search all similar jobs

More jobs at LHi Group Ltd in San Francisco, CA