--- title: 'Software Engineering Intern at Instead' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineering-intern-instead-san-francisco-fdaj4k7njge7' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-14' --- # Software Engineering Intern at Instead - **Company:** Instead - **Location:** San Francisco, CA - **Posted:** 2026-06-17 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/instead/jobs/7761472003 ## Job description ## About Instead Instead is where tax work gets done. Our AI agent orchestrates the entirety of how work gets done in tax, from preparation and compliance to filing and advisory. It's a fundamentally new way of doing tax work, and it's why top 500 firms, Big Four teams, and enterprise corporate tax departments are choosing Instead. What makes us unique: we hold full government approvals with the IRS, 48 states, and all cities to e-file 1040, 1041, 1120, 1120S, and 1065, with 706, 709, 990, 5500, 2290, and PPT coming for tax year 2026. Instead is a full replacement for CCH Axcess, GoSystem, UltraTax, OneSource, CorpTax, Lacerte, ProConnect, Drake, and more. No other tax startup will be able to offer these capabilities for years as we are two to three years ahead of everyone else in government approvals. This lets us build product experiences that are simply unmatched in the market. Instead is backed by Conviction, IRIS (the largest tax software provider in the UK), Skylark, Aprio, and many of our partners and customers. Our team includes leaders from Intuit, Gusto, Zenefits, Thomson Reuters, Wolters Kluwer, PwC, BDO, RSM, and KPMG. ## The Role We're looking for Software Engineering Interns to join our San Francisco team and build real features on our AI-powered tax platform. This is not a coffee-fetching internship. You'll ship production code that hundreds of accounting firms use, work alongside senior engineers, and get hands-on experience building with AI tools from day one. Our stack: Vue, Nuxt, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS on the frontend. Go, Docker on AWS ECS/Fargate, and PostgreSQL on AWS RDS on the backend. For AI, we use Cursor, Claude Code, Helicone, Gemini, and OpenAI, and we're constantly evaluating new tools. ## What You'll Do - Ship product features end to end on our live customer platform alongside senior engineers - Build and test AI-powered components including inference pipelines and prompt engineering - Fix bugs and make product improvements based on real customer feedback - Create internal tools that make the engineering team more productive - Learn our full stack and contribute across frontend, backend, and AI layers - Participate in code reviews, architecture discussions, and product planning ## What You Bring - Currently pursuing or recently completed a degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field - Strong programming fundamentals. You can write clean code, debug efficiently, and think about edge cases - Familiarity with web development (frontend or backend). Experience with any modern framework counts - Curiosity about AI and willingness to learn. Experience with AI coding tools (Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) is a plus - High attention to detail and a bias for shipping - Ability to work on-site in San Francisco What Makes Someone Exceptional - You've built and shipped side projects or open-source contributions that demonstrate your ability to go from idea to working product - You already use AI tools in your coding workflow and understand how they change the way software gets built - You learn fast and don't wait to be told what to do. When you see something broken, you fix it - You care about the end user, not just the code. You want to understand why something matters before you build it - You're excited about working at a startup where your work ships to real customers on day one Location San Francisco (on-site) Instead is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate candidates based on capability, judgment, ownership, and fit for the role's responsibilities. We welcome candidates who can help us build a category-defining company in tax technology. ## About Instead ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Instead builds an AI agent that orchestrates end-to-end tax preparation, compliance, filing, and advisory for CPA firms, corporate tax teams, and family offices. - **Entity Type**: Private (Seed‑II) - **Headquarters**: San Francisco, California, United States - **Founded**: 2023 - **Founders**: Not publicly available ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: AI‑powered tax software / financial technology (tax preparation and filing) - **Target customers**: B2B – CPA firms, Big Four teams, enterprise corporate tax departments, family offices, high‑net‑worth individuals, and tax preparers - **Mission or purpose statement**: “Build the AI agent for accountants. We start with tax, the most complex and highest‑stakes service line, and expand into every area where intelligent agents can help professionals deliver more for their clients.” ## Products & Services - **Instead Agent** (SaaS / AI Agent): A dedicated AI agent assigned to each client that handles research, planning, preparation, filing, and defense across all entity types (1040, 1041, 1120, 1120S, 1065). Supports e‑file to IRS and 48 states, document extraction, tax research from 1,500+ sources, and voice interaction. - **Instead Platform** (SaaS): The underlying infrastructure that powers tax workflows, multi‑entity compliance, report generation, workpapers, and tax planning. Includes free tier with unlimited users and entities; paid via credits used only when the agent performs work. - **Tax Research & Planning Tools**: Integrated research engine and strategy memo generation, designed to replace manual offshore prep and seasonal contractors. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed - **Key Metric**: Total funding raised – $15M (Seed‑II) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Conviction, IRIS (largest tax software provider in the UK), Skylark, and several partner/customer firms - **Growth Signals**: - First company in decades to receive IRS approval to e‑file across all five entity types. - Authorized e‑file provider for 140+ government jurisdictions. - SOC 2 Type II certified. - Used by top 500 firms, Big Four teams, and enterprise corporate tax departments. - Expanding to additional form types (706, 709, 990, 5500, 2290) for tax year 2026. ## Competitive Advantages - **Regulatory moat**: Full government approvals from the IRS, 48 states, and all cities for e‑filing – a barrier that takes years for competitors to replicate. - **End‑to‑end AI agent**: One agent that owns the entire tax workflow, from research and planning to preparation, filing, and defense, rather than piecemeal tools. - **Multi‑entity support**: Handles individuals, trusts, partnerships, S‑corps, and C‑corps within a single platform. - **Pricing model**: Free access to the platform; only pay credits when the agent performs work, enabling firms to scale without adding headcount. ## Strategic Focus - **Current priorities**: Deepening the AI agent’s capabilities, expanding e‑file approvals to additional form types, and scaling the platform to serve more CPA firms and corporate tax departments. - **Growth direction**: Moving beyond tax preparation into advisory and strategic work, positioning accountants as “orchestrators” of AI agents. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Mission‑driven, focused on transforming the accounting profession; team includes leaders from Intuit, Thomson Reuters, Wolters Kluwer, Gusto, PwC, BDO, RSM, and KPMG. - **Remote/hybrid policy**: Remote‑friendly with offices in San Francisco, CA (515 Folsom Street). “Work where you do your best work.” - **Notable perks**: - Medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents. - Competitive salary, equity, and performance bonuses. - Annual learning budget for conferences, courses, and books. - Generous PTO and flexible schedules. - MacBook Pro, monitor, and equipment provided. - **Engineering culture**: Building an AI‑first product; hiring across platform engineering, software engineering (SF and Bangalore), and product design. ## Sources 1. [instead.com](https://www.instead.com/) 2. [instead.com/resources/careers](https://www.instead.com/resources/careers) 3. [job-boards.greenhouse.io/instead](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/instead) 4. [cbinsights.com](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/instead) 5. [linkedin.com/company/tryinstead](https://www.linkedin.com/company/tryinstead) ## Other roles at Instead - [Senior Director of Data Analytics & Business Systems](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-director-of-data-analytics-business-systems-instead-san-francisco-1w6tfmtwnam8) — San Francisco, CA - [Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-instead-san-francisco-8xchcf3kcaf2) — San Francisco, CA - [Tax Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/tax-manager-instead-salt-lake-city-q4vhxs4bv2qp) — Salt Lake City, UT - [Tax Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/tax-manager-instead-san-francisco-5z10g7110a9t) — San Francisco, CA - [Product Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-instead-san-francisco-8hs5y46hmeyx) — San Francisco, CA - [Engagement Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/engagement-manager-instead-lehi-esxz64f61psh) — Lehi, UT - [Software Engineer (Bangalore)](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-bangalore-instead-bengaluru-m2agqqf3qcye) — Bengaluru, India - [Director of Talent Acquisition](https://feeny.ai/job/director-of-talent-acquisition-instead-bengaluru-9cty014apmas) — Bengaluru, India - [Forms Specialist](https://feeny.ai/job/forms-specialist-instead-hyderabad-qj69ab2g1hqa) — Hyderabad, India - [Product Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/product-designer-instead-bengaluru-fdma1zmvnbbb) — Bengaluru, India