Founding Backend Engineer

ABOUT Plaud.ai

Plaud is building the world's most trusted AI work companion for professionals to elevate productivity and performance through note-taking solutions, loved by over 1,000,000 users worldwide since 2023. With a mission to amplify human intelligence, Plaud is building the next-generation intelligence infrastructure and interfaces to capture, extract, and utilize what you say, hear, see, and think. Plaud Inc. is a Delaware-incorporated, San Francisco-based company pushing the boundary of human–AI intelligence through a hardware–software combination. With full SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and EN18031 compliance, Plaud is committed to the highest standards of data security and privacy protection. To learn more about Plaud, please visit https://www.plaud.ai and follow along on Instagram, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube

WHY JOIN US

• Join a skyrocketing team where your impact drives success and your career reaches new heights, along with what we have achieved, as shared below.

• Global Leadership: Positioned uniquely to lead the future of work by leveraging innovative AI-driven devices and solutions.

• Bootstrapped, profitable, and hypergrowth since Plaud's launch in 2023: Achieved 10x revenue growth for two consecutive years, reaching a $300 million run rate, with expectations for even greater expansion by the end of 2025.

• Proven Product-Market Fit: Over 1,000,000 devices shipped globally since November 2023, with power users engaging for an average of 30 hours per month to enhance productivity.

• New Initiatives: Expanding from consumer-focused products to team-native experience and vertical-specific solutions.

• Loved by Professionals: Our products are trusted by professionals in sectors such as healthcare, legal, consulting, and sales, where conversations drive success.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We’re hiring a highly motivated and entrepreneurial Founding Backend Engineer to lead the technical execution of our "Plaud for Teams" product experience across all professions. In this role, you'll be at the forefront of shaping the architecture, systems, and interfaces of our AI-native product experience and agentic AI platforms, with a strong focus on fostering privacy-minded collaboration among humans, and human-with-agents, powered by large language models (LLMs).

You’ll take ownership of critical backend systems while partnering with global teams spanning product, design, research, hardware, and go-to-market functions. Together, you'll transform ambitious ideas into scalable solutions for consumers and business alike.

WHO SHOULD APPLY

You’re a seasoned engineer with a builder’s mindset—someone who thrives in early-stage environments and has successfully taken business products from zero to launch. You bring several years of hands-on experience as a high-impact individual contributor and have also recruited and led small, agile teams through fast-paced product development cycles.

We're looking for a technically strong leader who combines engineering depth with sharp organizational instincts. You know how to guide a team toward execution while fostering alignment, clarity, and momentum across the company.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Take full ownership of the technical strategy and execution for our "Plaud for Teams" product roadmap, ensuring it stays tightly aligned with business goals and evolving customer needs.

• Guide the complete lifecycle of our "for Team" stack—from initial vision through to product launch—by setting clear, measurable milestones guided by Product Led Growth (PLG) principles.

• Architect and deliver scalable permission and collaboration systems and API integrations that enrich functionality and user experience, all while upholding the highest standards for privacy, security, and quality.

• Continuously explore, evaluate, and implement cutting-edge AI technologies that advance the capabilities of our agentic platforms.

• Clearly communicate technical direction, tradeoffs, and progress to leadership, cross-functional collaborators, and stakeholders across all levels of technical fluency.

• Build and lead a top-tier engineering team by recruiting, mentoring, and inspiring a culture of innovation, ownership, and hands-on problem solving.

• Foster seamless collaboration and alignment across U.S. and international teams to ensure fast, focused execution across disciplines.

WHAT YOU WILL BRING

• Hands-on builder: 3+ years of experience in building and scaling productivity SaaS tools.

• Our tech stack: Experience with Python, FastAPI, Go, PostgreSQL, or similar technology.

• Infrastructure: Familiar with cloud-based infrastructure like Azure, AWS, or GCP.

• Proven track record: Experience envisioning and delivering an effectively zero-to-one product to global customers.

• Passionate about AI: A deep understanding of LLMs, their capabilities, limitations, and potential applications.

• Technical depth: Demonstrated proficiency in a variety of technologies with the ability to quickly learn and adapt to new tools and languages.

• Ownership: Ideal candidate will have previously been the first technical lead at an early-stage high-growth startup, with an emphasis on owning a project from conception to deployment.

• Inspirational vision: Strong leadership and team-building skills with a collaborative approach.

• Structured thinker: Excellent strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities.

• Academic achievement: Bachelor's or Master’s degree in a technical field (Computer Science, Engineering or a related discipline).

GREAT TO HAVE

• Interested in agentic team collaboration software, SaaS, AI, and LLMs.

• Solid understanding of core application security concepts and threat mitigation strategies.

• Solid understanding of permission systems and design principles.

• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, startup environment.

• Experience managing or collaborating with international teams.

• "Always Day 1" entrepreneurship drive.

WHAT WE OFFER

• Founding Team: Opportunity to be part of the founding team and have ownership and impact at a startup rocketship.

• Competitive Compensation: $180K-$250K base salary and performance bonus.

• Employee Friendly Equity: Equity for all full-time employees.

• Comprehensive Benefits: Top-tier healthcare for employees and dependents, including dental and vision, and a generous employer subsidy.

• Paid Time Off: Unlimited PTO, plus 13 paid holidays.

• Retirement Planning: 401(k) plan for US employees with company matching.

• New Parent Leave: 12 weeks of paid time off to spend time with your new family, regardless of gender.

• Professional Development: $1,500 per year for coaching, courses, workshops, conferences, etc.

• Gear: New hires are equipped with their choice of new top-of-the-line laptops and workstation setups.

• Hybrid Office: Minimum of 3x in office per week.

If you're passionate about building impactful products and want to be on the ground floor of a fast-growing company, we invite you to bring your expertise and vision to help shape the future of Plaud AI. Plaud Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.