Founding Engineer

item (YC F25) is building the first agentic CRM, reinventing patterns for how work gets done when humans and agents collaborate. The company runs 100k+ agentic tasks per month.

As Founding Engineer, you will:

• Build core functionality for an AI-native CRM platform
• Invent collaboration patterns between humans and agents
• Architect systems for AI to execute business processes at scale
• Rapidly experiment with models and tools
• Translate customer needs into features

Ideal Candidate Profile:

• Independent operator who takes initiative
• Values craft across entire tech stack
• High personal standards; comfortable deciding with incomplete information
• Already building with AI tools; power user of Cursor or Claude Code, constantly exploring new tools, and genuinely excited about how AI changes the way you work
• Deep Next.js/TypeScript experience
• Prior agent/multi-agent system development preferred
• Founding experience at any level is a strong advantage
• 3+ years experience

Tech Stack: Next.js, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Vercel AI SDK, Tailwind, React AI-native tooling: Cursor and Claude Code

Salary: $140K - $200K Equity: 0.75% - 1.50% Visa Sponsorship: Yes

Why This Role: Ship production AI agents used by top startups, shape engineering culture and technical standards, and gain experience working with previous founders. Design is a core competitive advantage. Low ego, high trust culture.