Founding Member of Technical Staff - Software

Role: Founding Member of Technical Staff – Software (Architect)

Employment Type: Full-time

Location: On-site, Palo Alto, CA (5 days/week, no remote option)

Compensation: $160,000 – $240,000 base salary + competitive equity

This Palo Alto–based startup, spun out of Stanford research, is reimagining how chips are designed by combining high-performance developer tooling with AI-driven automation. The company has raised a multi-million-dollar pre‑seed round backed by top‑tier investors, including semiconductor founders and ex‑senior leaders from Google Deep Mind and Gemini.

The founding team of ~7 engineers is focused on creating a next‑generation integrated development environment (IDE) and AI agent workflow that makes silicon engineers 4x more productive. Their mission: enable chip design to move at the pace of modern software.

As one of the first engineers, you will architect and ship a lightning‑fast IDE purpose‑built for chip design. This is not a typical full‑stack role: you’ll be creating core developer environments, integrating AI and multi‑agent systems, and optimizing performance for massive RTL codebases. You’ll work directly with the ML team to embed advanced AI features and define both product direction and engineering culture.

• Architect and develop the core chip‑design IDE using Type Script/React, Node.js, and modern frameworks.

• Integrate AI/ML APIs into the developer environment—features such as autocomplete, refactoring, and low‑latency model streaming.

• Drive performance optimization to handle massive semiconductor codebases.

• Build workflows analogous to Cursor/Windsurf, adapted for RTL and hardware design.

• Make technical decisions on architecture, developer experience, and UI/UX.

• Ship features rapidly with high quality—meaningful contributions expected every few days.

• Strong track record of shipping polished, full‑stack products end‑to‑end.

• Deep expertise with Type Script, React, Node.js, and related tooling.

• Experience building high‑performance platforms (IDE, dev tools, or similar).

• Familiarity with AI/ML APIs, real‑time outputs, and performance optimization.

• Comfort working in a Linux‑based environment.

• Excitement for startup velocity, ownership, and hands‑on product building.

Type Script, React, Node.js, Python, Next.js, Electron, VSCode APIs, AI/ML APIs, Linux.

• High impact: Shape the future of chip design and set the foundation of the product.

• Early ownership: Join as a founding engineer with significant equity upside.

• Cutting‑edge innovation: Combine AI, multi‑agent systems, and custom developer tooling.

• Fast‑paced environment: Expect rapid iteration, in‑person collaboration, and high technical standards.

• Mission‑driven team: Tight‑knit group obsessed with reinventing hardware design productivity.

• Competitive salary ($160K–$240K) + meaningful equity.

• On‑site collaborative office in Palo Alto.

• J‑1 visa sponsorship available (no standard visa sponsorship).

• Opportunity to define engineering culture and product architecture at seed‑stage.