HOME Software Engineering & Dev Founding Engineer
  • Clera
  • London, Greater London
  • Full-Time
  • 24 days ago
Clera VERIFIED EMPLOYER

Founding Engineer.

Software Engineering & Dev Full-Time

Founding Engineer: our view in 3 lines...

  • The Role:This is a founding engineering role for someone building backend infrastructure for production AI systems at a seed-stage company.
  • The Person:The person will design and build an LLM gateway and microservices, work across backend services and data infrastructure, make architectural decisions, own deployment and caching choices, and help shape the technical roadmap.
  • Requirements:The ideal candidate has 5+ years of backend development experience, strong proficiency in Go, deep understanding of concurrency, and experience with microservices architectures, API gateways, SQL, distributed databases, and Kubernetes-based deployments.

About the role

About the Role

This is a founding engineering role at a seed-stage AI infrastructure company building the backbone for production AI systems — powering LLM routing, observability, and governance at scale. You'll work directly with the founders to shape both the product and the technical direction of the company, with significant autonomy and real ownership.

What You'll Do

  • Design, build, and evolve a high-performance LLM gateway and supporting microservices.

  • Work across the full backend stack — including core Go services, Python-based ML/AI utilities, and distributed data infrastructure.

  • Make pragmatic architectural decisions that balance scalability, speed, and quality depending on the product's stage.

  • Own infrastructure concerns including Kubernetes-based deployments, caching strategies, and database selection.

  • Collaborate closely with founders to define technical roadmap and redefine the stack as the product evolves.

What We're Looking For

  • 5+ years of backend development experience, with strong proficiency in Go (Golang).

  • Deep understanding of concurrency and practical experience with concurrent programming patterns.

  • Experience designing and maintaining microservices architectures and API gateways.

  • Familiarity with multiple database types (SQL and distributed) and caching solutions, with the judgment to choose the right tool for the job.

  • Ability to design both pragmatic and scalable architectures depending on context — you know the difference between minimal and broken.

  • A self-starter mindset: comfortable picking up new technologies independently and thriving in a fast-moving startup environment.

  • Right to work in the United Kingdom without visa sponsorship (required).

Compensation & Benefits

Competitive total compensation package with significant equity. Visa sponsorship is not available — candidates must have the right to work in the UK.

Location

On-site in London, England, United Kingdom.

Published September 2, 2026
Location London, United Kingdom
Job Type Full-Time