Build and ship AI-powered products end-to-end, design architectures for retrieval, memory, and agentic systems, and implement evaluation pipelines. Work in small, ambiguous startup teams, communicate effectively, and demonstrate strong software engineering fundamentals alongside deep LLM and agentic systems expertise.
Founding Engineers: Let 100+ Companies Compete For You
Fonzi is an AI recruiting company.
No job boards. No recruiter spam. Companies request to interview you and submit salary bids upfront.
Every week, hiring managers at 100+ pre-vetted startups in NYC and San Francisco review a curated group of engineers. They're reading profiles optimized by our team to surface what matters: what you've built, how you think about systems, and whether you're the kind of engineer who ships.
Companies on Fonzi are Applied AI startups, Frontier labs, Hypergrowth startups, PE firms starting lean AI teams and more. They're backed by investors like A16z, Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Y Combinator and more.
How It Works
- 5-minute application
- We reach out, learn what you're building and what excites you, and optimize your profile
- Hiring managers review the cohort and request interviews with candidates they want
- Companies submit competing salary bids directly to you
- You only interview where you're genuinely interested
- Completely free. We have an iMessage agent + humans in the loop you can text anytime w/ questions or requests to help handle scheduling and coordination
Who We're Looking For
The engineers who do best on Fonzi:
- Have built AI-powered products end-to-end, not just prototypes, but systems handling real users
- Can talk fluently about retrieval, memory, agent frameworks, context engineering, eval pipelines and anything else at the cutting edge
- Combine strong software engineering fundamentals with deep awareness of what's happening at the frontier of LLMs and agentic systems
- Thrive in startup environments where the problem is ambiguous and the team is small
- Have 2-8 years of experience, ideally with experience at at least one high-growth company
Compensation
- $150,000 – $300,000+ base salary depending on experience and role. Many positions include meaningful equity at pre-seed through Series B stage companies.
The Interview Process (Typical)
- Screening conversation looking for communication skills, cultural fit, genuine curiosity about AI
- Technical deep-dive talks on architecture thinking, how you'd design an AI system for a real problem
- Coding or pairing sessions building
If you're an engineer who's been building with AI because you can't stop thinking about it we want to hear from you.
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What you need to know about the NYC Tech Scene
As the undisputed financial capital of the world, New York City is an epicenter of startup funding activity. The city has a thriving fintech scene and is a major player in verticals ranging from AI to biotech, cybersecurity and digital media. It also has universities like NYU, Columbia and Cornell Tech attracting students and researchers from across the globe, providing the ecosystem with a constant influx of world-class talent. And its East Coast location and three international airports make it a perfect spot for European companies establishing a foothold in the United States.
Key Facts About NYC Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 549,200; 6% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Capgemini, Bloomberg, IBM, Spotify
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, Fintech
- Funding Landscape: $25.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Greycroft, Thrive Capital, Union Square Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Tiger Global Management, Tribeca Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Two Sigma Ventures
- Research Centers and Universities: Columbia University, New York University, Fordham University, CUNY, AI Now Institute, Flatiron Institute, C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, NASA Space Radiation Laboratory
