Founding AI Engineer
Rockstar · San Francisco
Rockstar is recruiting for a market infrastructure company that accelerates the commercialization of clean energy and industrial technologies. The client helps scale solutions in clean firm power, fuels, industrial heat, cement, and steel, sectors responsible for over one-third of global emissions. They are building an AI-native platform that connects energy suppliers with hyperscalers and data center developers, automating site screening and diligence to help both sides move from evaluation to signed agreements faster. Backed by leading climate investors and advised by individuals from the DOE and leading energy infrastructure investment firms, the client has already closed deals and facilitated connections between leading data center developers and clean energy projects.
Why Join Now
- High-ceiling climate impact: Industrial decarbonization is responsible for over one-third of global emissions, and energy systems are the shared constraint underneath it. The client is going after the intersection: powering industry and data centers with clean, reliable electricity.
- True founding ownership: This is a founding engineering role with high leverage. The candidate will shape what the client builds and how they build it.
- Work on the real constraint: Power is the binding constraint for data centers today. The candidate will build the tooling that turns messy infrastructure reality into decision-grade diligence.
- Meaningful upside: Get meaningful equity and compensation that scales with funding and traction.
- World-class backers and community: The client is backed by leading climate investors and advised by individuals from the DOE and leading energy infrastructure investment firms.
- Strong early traction: The client has closed deals and facilitated connections between leading data center developers and clean energy projects.
About the Role
The client is hiring a founding AI engineer to build the core intelligence layer of their product.
This is a true founding role: the candidate will take high ownership and exercise real technical leadership. They will shape the client’s technical direction, set the standards for how they build, and help lay the foundations for a world-class engineering organization.
The candidate will work directly with the founder to automate structured contracting, extract insights from messy data and compliance documents, and support smarter purchasing decisions.
The client is seeking strong GenAI/agent systems experience (LLM orchestration, retrieval, tool use) and solid backend skills (Python/TypeScript, APIs, data pipelines, security). The candidate will translate energy procurement workflows into usable software, prototype quickly, and ship to production.
The candidate works autonomously, prioritizes ruthlessly, sets clear milestones, and brings a calm, analytical, low-ego presence. Ready for co-founder-level responsibility and startup volatility.
What You’ll Do
- Own technical strategy and execution: Set architecture and technical plan (data model, AI systems, infra, security), write production code, and set the quality bar (tests, reviews, observability).
- Build AI agents: Design and ship agentic workflows that enable top datacenter developers to contract, diligence, and close 10 GW sites and $500 million contracts faster than ever before.
- Build software features end-to-end: Turn procurement and project finance workflows into usable product; be forward-deployed with users and iterate in real time.
- Build data engineering + geospatial pipelines: Ingest and enrich datasets (EPA GHGRP, EIA, NREL, parcels, utility filings) capturing grid access, substations, transmission, and land availability.
- Drive PMF through engineering: Work closely with the founder to find PMF through user conversations and rapid iteration.
Who You Are
- The candidate is familiar with AI engineering, agents, harnesses, vector DBs, and orchestration frameworks including LangChain or LlamaIndex
- The candidate cares about usability and building things that matter
- The candidate has strong engineering skills and can take projects end-to-end, making good technical tradeoffs throughout
- The candidate has shipped products to real users and has experience working directly with customers to translate workflows into product
- The candidate is adaptable and embraces ambiguity, pivoting as needed
- The candidate has experience setting direction, and providing leadership and mentorship as the team grows
Bonus Points
- Power markets knowledge
- AWS/GCP experience
- Unit-economics modeling
- Experience with contracts, procurement systems, or trading
- Enjoys team hikes and bike rides
What the Client Is Looking For
The client is looking for someone who is deeply motivated by climate impact and energized by the challenge of building from zero to one. The candidate might be a fit if they are:
- Wildly driven and curious, and excited to throw themselves into the fire of an early-stage startup
- The kind of person who keeps building and learning outside of work because they genuinely cannot help it
- Someone with deep, niche intellectual obsessions who loves going down rabbit holes until they understand the thing better than almost anyone else
Values
The candidate will thrive at the client if they:
- Exhibit high agency and take ownership end-to-end
- Are highly collaborative and bring a low-ego, team-first approach
- Bring compassion and deep care for the people they work with, and help create a supportive, high-trust community
- Have real comfort with ambiguity, and can create structure where none exists
More jobs at Rockstar · Data & Analytics jobs in San Francisco