---
title: 'Founding Engineer - Applied AI at antes.ai'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/founding-engineer-applied-ai-antes-ai-san-francisco-rh6d9nanmkpr'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-08'
---

# Founding Engineer - Applied AI at antes.ai

- **Company:** antes.ai
- **Location:** San Francisco, CA
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2025-10-23
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-08
- **Apply:** https://jobs.gem.com/antes-ai/am9icG9zdDqNGS38gaqaL715-F55AaIE

## Job description

## About the Role

We’re looking for a world-class Applied AI Engineer to build the core systems behind our automation engine for hardware engineering. In this role, you’ll design, implement and post-train AI agents that power critical product development workflows for global enterprise customers. You’ll work on novel AI systems that retrieve, interpret, and manipulate complex engineering design data, integrating deeply into real-world engineering environments. This is a deeply technical, high-impact role. You’ll be among the first technical hires, and will own mission-critical systems end to end. If you move fast from idea to production, care deeply about customer experience, and want to build foundational AI infrastructure for the world's most impactful industries, this role is for you.

## What You’ll Do

- Engineering Agent Workflows
- Design and implement core workflows and infrastructure for hardware engineering agents, including intelligent context management, novel indexing approaches and post training.
- Design Data Interpretation
- Build agents and ML models that can interpret, reason over, and manipulate complex engineering design data, integrating with enterprise-grade engineering tools and systems.
- Direct Customer Collaboration
- Work closely with customers and the engineering team to deliver AI-powered workflows that are reliable, intuitive, and trusted in production environments.
- Move Fast, Learn Fast: Prototype rapidly, validate ideas with real users, and ship frequently.
- Help Shape the Company: Influence engineering culture, architecture decisions, and the future of the product. Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's or higher in Computer Science, Machine Learning, or equivalent experience
- Strong familiarity with LLM architectures and agent research trends
- Excellent programming skills and experience with ML libraries (e.g., PyTorch, Hugging Face, W&B)
- Experience building production ML or AI systems
- Solid practical experience with search and information retrieval

## Preferred Qualifications

- 2+ years of experience in applied machine learning, backend engineering or AI infrastructure
- Experience working with machine learning over geometric data
- Track record of high-impact contributions or papers

## About antes.ai

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Antes builds AI-driven compliance software for complex manufacturers, automating the interpretation of regulations and bridging engineering and legal workflows.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage)
- **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, USA
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Rongfei Lu and Nick Goodson

## Core Business
- **Primary industries**: Artificial Intelligence, Manufacturing, Legal Tech, RegTech, Hardware
- **Target customers**: B2B, Enterprise (complex manufacturers in automotive, aerospace, and industrial sectors)
- **Mission or purpose**: To automate engineering compliance and accelerate innovation at the intersection of AI, hardware, software, law, and policy.

## Products & Services
- **Antes Compliance Platform**: An AI-driven platform that automates the interpretation of complex regulations for manufacturers. It integrates legal, policy, and engineering requirements into structured workflows, helping in-house teams align product specifications with regulatory requirements.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available (Seed stage)
- **Key Metric**: Raised a **$4.6 million seed round** in April 2026.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Backed by **General Catalyst**, **Kleiner Perkins**, and **Lingotto** (the parent company of Ferrari). Advisory board includes a former president of Hyundai, a former CTO of Caterpillar, and a former Chairman of the FAA and FCC.
- **Growth Signals**: Antes is a very early-stage startup (founded in 2024, team size of 1-10). The company has already partnered with "some of the world's most iconic automotive, aerospace, and industrial manufacturers," per their career page. They are hiring for their first few technical roles (Founding Engineers) to build the core product.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Deep Domain Expertise**: The founding team uniquely combines AI research, advanced engineering, and regulatory policy expertise, including an America's Cup world champion and a former global legal compliance lead at Uber.
- **High-Impact Partnerships**: Early partnerships with globally recognized manufacturers in heavily regulated industries provide a strong starting point for product validation and customer development.
- **Novel AI Application**: The company is building AI agents that can interpret and manipulate complex engineering design data, a technically challenging and specialized niche.
- **Elite Investor Backing**: Backed by top-tier VC firms (General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins) and a strategic corporate investor (Lingotto/Ferrari).

## Strategic Focus
- **Product Development**: The current focus is on building the core AI infrastructure and automation engine for hardware engineering compliance workflows.
- **Talent Acquisition**: As a seed-stage company, the immediate priority is hiring the first few founding engineers who will own mission-critical systems and set the technical and cultural direction.
- **Customer Adoption**: The company plans to use its seed funding to further develop the platform and expand adoption among manufacturing customers.

## Why Work Here
- **Massive Ownership & Impact**: As one of the first technical hires, you will own mission-critical systems end-to-end, shaping the architecture, product, and engineering culture.
- **World-Class Team & Backing**: Work alongside a founding team with deep expertise in AI, engineering, and policy, supported by premier investors.
- **Hard Technical Problems**: Tackle novel challenges in AI, hardware engineering, and information retrieval, building systems that directly impact real-world manufacturing.
- **Culture**: Described as fast-moving, high-impact, and collaborative. The company values rapid prototyping and direct customer collaboration.
- **Work Policy**: **In-office** in San Francisco, CA (posting states "SF in-person highly preferred; open to exceptional remote").
- **Compensation & Equity**: For Founding Engineer roles, the salary range is **$180,000–$250,000** with **0.1%–1% equity**. Visa sponsorship (H-1B, O-1, OPT) is available.

## Sources
1. [gem.com](https://jobs.gem.com/antes-ai)
2. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/company/antes)
3. [preqin.com](https://www.preqin.com/data/profile/asset/antes/797135)
4. [builtin.com](https://builtin.com/job/founding-engineer-applied-ai/9963738)
5. [careers-page.com](https://www.careers-page.com/davidjoseph-co/job/4R667787)

## Other roles at antes.ai

- [Regulatory Data Operations Lead](https://feeny.ai/job/regulatory-data-operations-lead-antes-ai-berlin-w3ptz3av0pdd) — Berlin, Germany
- [Founding Engineer - Backend](https://feeny.ai/job/founding-engineer-backend-antes-ai-san-francisco-1s7ee0gm4wkv) — San Francisco, CA