Empathic — Founding Engineer

Type: Full-time | On-site | San Francisco, CA Compensation: $175,000–$250,000 + 1%–6% equity Hiring count: 1 Visa sponsorship: Yes — H-1B, O-1 Reports to: Founder (name/LinkedIn not provided on the role page)

About Empathic

Empathic is building an iMessage friend for young women — what the founder believes will be the most important cultural and social change of our lifetime. The company is at the frontier of human-AI interaction, designing realistic real-time interfaces that feel present and proactive rather than sterile and turn-based. Currently in market with 130 paying customers, day-one retention at 80%+, and week-two retention at 70%+. Raised $2.7M led by BoxGroup at a $30M valuation; founder is a Thiel Fellow and third-time founder (YC W21, previous exit).

Founded: 2026 (see flag — conflicts with traction/funding narrative) | Team size: 1–10 | Total funding: $2.7M Industry: Consumer Tech Website: empathic.so Office: San Francisco (SoMa / upper SoMa)

Why Candidates Should Join

• Engineer #1, direct to founder: First engineering hire, working hand-in-hand with a Thiel Fellow / three-time founder on the hardest problems in real-time AI.
• Proven traction, complexity about to explode: 130 paying customers with 80%+ day-one and 70%+ week-two retention; joining right as the technical surface area expands into voice and video.
• Full ownership across the stack: Backend infra, ML integration, in-house memory systems, latency, and voice interfaces — plus setting the engineering bar and helping recruit the team.

Intake Call Summary

• No intake call transcript was present on the role page — only an "Intake Video" embed (Contrario × Empathic). Summary cannot be authored from the HTML; pull from the video if a written summary is needed.

The Role

This is engineer number one — working directly with the founder on the most technically interesting problems in real-time AI interaction, from memory systems and latency optimization to voice and video interfaces that feel delightful at scale.

What You'll Be Doing

• Optimize inference costs across smaller models (currently a couple thousand dollars/day in Anthropic credits)
• Own and evolve the in-house memory system that powers better agentic interactions
• Ship latency and information-compression improvements across the stack
• Build the content recommendation engine that surfaces interesting content to users
• Design and ship voice interfaces with the latency, presence, and nuance that make them feel real rather than robotic
• Set the bar for code quality and engineering taste; help recruit the next engineers

Tech stack: Backend (Python, Go, Rust, TypeScript, or similar) + distributed systems; full-stack with ML model integration; real-time / latency-sensitive infrastructure; voice/video systems. (No single stack specified on the page.)

Requirements

• 3+ years backend + full-stack shipping experience (excluding internships)
• Raw intelligence + ability to move fast (founder priority over seniority)
• In-person San Francisco, 9-to-6 minimum, high-intensity culture
• Former founder or early-stage engineer preferred

Green Flags

• Former founder or founding engineer
• Top-school background with high raw intelligence
• Taste and judgment on AI-generated outputs
• Deep technical taste before AI tools
• Genuine fascination with real-time, latency-sensitive, or voice-first systems

Red Flags

• Career engineer mindset; sees the role as just a job
• Candidates from lower-tier schools with multiple company hops
• Cannot articulate taste or judgment on AI outputs
• Unwilling to work at startup intensity or in-person
• No demonstrated shipping or production ownership
• Only worked on small features at large companies

Role Details

Salary$175,000–$250,000Equity1%–6%On-site policy100% in-person, San Francisco (SoMa / upper SoMa); relocation support for qualified candidates; 9-to-6 minimum, intensity beyond a standard 9-to-5Visa sponsorshipH-1B, O-1Employment typeFull-timeLocationSan Francisco, CA

Benefits & Perks: Up to 6% equity · medical/dental/vision via employer ICHRA (covers most Gold and Platinum plans) · 401k plus match · work computer and peripherals · free lunch and dinner daily · monthly bonus for living within half a mile of the office · relocation support for qualified candidates.

Screening Questions

• None listed on the role page. (Stage 2 is a 20-minute founder screening call covering behavioral overview and general background fit, but no specific screening questions were provided.)

Interview Process

Stage 1 — Pending Approval — Candidates awaiting initial approval. Stage 2 — Screening call with founder (20 minutes) — Behavioral overview and general background fit. Stage 3 — Technical interview 1 — Algorithmic problem-solving; LeetCode-style array manipulation, starting easy and escalating. No AI tools allowed. Stage 4 — Technical interview 2 — System design deep-dive to assess architecture thinking. Stage 5 — On-site with founder (half day) — Design problems, pair programming, and technical areas the candidate indicates strength in; final team-fit evaluation. Stage 6 — Offer Extended Stage 7 — Candidate Hired — Candidate accepts and starts.

Ideal Companies & Backgrounds

• Not provided on the role page.

Ideal Candidate Profiles

• Not provided on the role page.

Rejected Candidate Feedback

• None provided on the role page.

Sourcing notes

• The body "Must-Have" adds useful detail beyond the sidebar Requirements: 3+ years professional engineering (excluding internships), with at least 1 year in a senior or ownership capacity; proficiency in 1 backend language + distributed systems; track record shipping full-stack to production; raw intelligence prioritized over years; 100% in-person SF.
• Body "Nice-to-Have": former founder/founding engineer (single strongest signal per founder); frontend proficiency + design taste; experience optimizing real-time / latency-sensitive / voice-video systems; genuine passion for AI and human interaction.