Founding AI Product Engineer(s)

Location:

Capital Region, NY (Hybrid Preferred, Remote Considered)

Position:

Part-Time (15-25 hours/week to start), with the opportunity to grow into a full-time founding engineering role.

Compensation:

Hourly or project-based compensation commensurate with experience. Potential for long-term growth and equity for the right individual.

Expected Start Date:

Flexible (Fall 2026/Winter 2026) About the Company This company is being founded by the owner and operator of Simone's Kitchen , a rapidly growing restaurant concept originating in the Capital Region. Over the past several years, we've managed hundreds of maintenance requests across multiple restaurant locations and experienced firsthand how fragmented and outdated the service industry remains. When something breaks, restaurants still rely on Google searches, phone calls, voicemails, and spreadsheets. We're building the platform we always wished existed. Unlike many startups that begin with only an idea, we're building alongside real customers and real restaurants. That means you'll have the opportunity to see your work tested, validated, and improved by actual users from day one. About the Opportunity We're building something that doesn't exist. Every restaurant depends on dozens of critical systems operating flawlessly every day—from refrigeration and HVAC to plumbing, electrical, cooking equipment, fire suppression, networking, security, and more. Yet when one of those systems fails, restaurants are still forced into an outdated process of searching Google, calling multiple service companies, leaving voicemails, waiting for callbacks, comparing quotes, and hoping someone is available. Despite billions of dollars being spent annually on restaurant maintenance and repair, there is still no modern technology platform purpose-built to manage this experience. We're changing that. Our vision is to build the operating system for restaurant service and maintenance—a platform that allows restaurants to quickly request service, connect with vetted professionals, authorize payments, communicate throughout the repair process, maintain equipment history, store warranties and documentation, and eventually leverage AI to help prevent failures before they happen. We're currently building our Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and are looking for Founding AI Product Engineers to help bring this vision to life. This isn't a traditional software engineering position. This is an opportunity to help architect, design, and build an entire product—and ultimately an entire company—from the ground up. What You'll Be Building You'll help design and develop a modern platform that includes: Restaurant and service provider accounts Intelligent service request and dispatch workflows Equipment and asset management Photo, video, messaging, and real-time communication Payments, invoicing, and customer billing Customer and technician rating systems Administrative dashboards and reporting AI-powered workflows and automation Our initial product focuses on connecting restaurants with trusted service professionals quickly and seamlessly. Our long-term vision is significantly larger. We believe every restaurant should have one place to manage every repair, every piece of equipment, every warranty, every invoice, every technician, every inspection, every maintenance schedule, and eventually every AI-powered recommendation that helps keep their business running. You'll have the opportunity to shape that vision from its earliest stages. This Is NOT a Traditional Development Job Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing software development. We're not looking for someone who wants to spend months writing every line of code manually. We're looking for someone who embraces modern AI-assisted development and understands how to use today's tools to build exceptional software faster and more intelligently. The ideal candidate enjoys leveraging AI to accelerate development while applying engineering judgment where it matters most—architecture, scalability, security, testing, and user experience. If your first instinct is to ask, "How can AI help me build this better and faster?" ...you're probably the type of person we're looking for. Technologies You May Work With We're intentionally technology-agnostic during the early stages, but experience with any of the following is valuable: Cursor, Claude, GitHub Copilot, or similar AI development tools React, Next.js, TypeScript Firebase or Supabase PostgreSQL Stripe OpenAI APIs Twilio Vercel GitHub Don't know every technology listed? That's perfectly okay. We're far more interested in how you think, how quickly you learn, and how effectively you solve problems. What You'll Actually Do Help architect the platform from the ground up. Translate product ideas into scalable software. Collaborate directly with the founder on product strategy and user experience. Rapidly prototype and iterate using AI-assisted development tools. Design scalable databases and backend systems. Build customer-facing and technician-facing experiences. Integrate payments, messaging, notifications, and third-party APIs. Test, deploy, and continuously improve the platform based on feedback from real customers. What You'll Learn This role is intentionally structured as a hands-on startup experience. You'll gain practical experience in: AI-assisted software development Startup product development Software architecture and system design Modern web application development Customer-driven product iteration API integrations Payment systems Product strategy Working directly with founders to build and launch a technology company You'll be mentored throughout the process and will participate in product discussions—not simply receive programming tasks. Who We're Looking For We're much more interested in mindset than years of experience.

The ideal person is:

Self-directed Curious and technically strong Excited about AI and the future of software development Comfortable building products from scratch Passionate about creating exceptional user experiences Willing to challenge ideas and continuously improve them Whether you're an undergraduate, graduate student, recent graduate, or experienced engineer, what matters most is your ability to build, learn, and solve difficult problems. Bonus Experience Experience with any of the following is a plus: SaaS products Marketplace platforms Mobile applications Workflow automation Payment systems Product design and UI/UX Startup environments Why This Opportunity Is Different Most internships involve maintaining someone else's software. Most entry-level engineering jobs involve fixing bugs or implementing small features. This isn't one of those opportunities. You'll work directly with the founder to build a company from day one. You'll have meaningful influence over the product, engineering decisions, technology stack, architecture, user experience, and long-term direction of the business. This isn't about joining an engineering team. It's about helping create one. If you're the kind of person who enjoys turning ambitious ideas into real software—and believes AI is fundamentally changing what a single engineer can accomplish—we'd love to meet you. If successful, you'll be able to point to a platform used by restaurants across the country and say: "I helped build that from the very beginning." To Apply Please submit: Résumé GitHub (if applicable) Portfolio or personal projects (if applicable) Please also answer the following: What project are you most proud of building, and why? Which AI development tools do you currently use most? If you were architecting this platform, what technologies would you choose and why? What excites you most about this opportunity? We care far more about what you've built, how you think, and how you solve problems than where you've worked.

Pay:

$25.00 - $30.00 per hour Ability to

Commute:

Schenectady, NY 12305 (Required)

Work Location:

In person