Founding Engineer

Founding Engineer – AI/ML (Stealth Start-Up) Location: Fully Remote (UK) Salary: £120,000 +1.25% equity

Company Overview:

A stealth-mode e-commerce AI start-up is building a conversational AI sales agent that acts like a knowledgeable in-store salesperson online. Unlike static browsing or basic recommendation systems, this AI engages in real conversations, understands product attributes, compatibility, visual features, and domain expertise, and provides genuinely expert guidance. Every interaction generates high-intent data on customer needs, objections, and unmet demand. This intelligence powers segmentation, product development, and personalisation — far beyond traditional analytics. Long-term, the company is building the cognitive core for future robotic sales agents: the mind that makes expert guidance possible. The founding team brings deep experience: one founder is a 3x founder, investor, and executive with 14+ years building software, consumer, and supply chain start-ups, and the other is an ex-FAANG engineer with deep technical expertise.

Role Overview:

As the Founding Engineer – AI/ML, you will be at the forefront of developing the intelligence that powers the AI agent. You will design, build, and scale the AI models, data pipelines, and cognitive systems that drive conversational recommendations and insights. This is a unique opportunity to shape the core AI and influence the company's product strategy from day one.

Responsibilities:

Design, develop, and optimise AI/ML models for conversational understanding, product recommendation, and decision-making. Build pipelines and systems to capture and leverage high-intent customer interaction data. Collaborate closely with founders to define technical roadmap and product strategy. Contribute to designing the memory, reasoning, and cognitive architecture for expert-level AI guidance. Implement scalable solutions that can operate in real-world commerce settings.

Requirements:

Strong expertise in AI/ML, NLP, and recommendation systems. Proven experience building scalable AI systems end-to-end. Ability to work in an early-stage, high-autonomy environment. Interest in product intelligence, customer experience, and cognitive AI systems. Excellent problem-solving skills, growth mindset, and passion for building cutting-edge AI.

Perks & Benefits

Competitive salary: £120,000 + 1.25% equity

Fully remote within the UK Ground-floor opportunity in a stealth start-up

Significant impact on AI architecture, product strategy, and company direction