AI & Machine LearningDirect Ashby career site

Founders Initiatives, Technical Ex-Founders

Location: San Francisco, CA · On-site
Job type: Full-time
Level: Senior
Listed: 31 days ago

Skills & highlights for this role

AI agent systems
full-stack engineering
production-grade automation

Recent recognition

No. 1 Best Places to Work in the Bay Area, San Francisco Business Times 2026
Top 50 AI Apps, a16z (2025)
#3 Fastest-Growing Software Company, G2 Best Software Awards 2026
Best Agentic AI Software, G2 Best Software Awards 2026
#4 Fastest-Growing Software Vendor, Brex Benchmark 2025
Enterprise Tech 30 Class of 2026, Nasdaq & Wing VC
Top-Ranked Startup, Lean AI Leaderboard
Backed by Y Combinator

Retell AI transforms customer experience with voice AI for enterprises, including customers like CVS/Aetna, American Airlines, Lenovo, and Grab. We have more customer stories than we can tell!

About the Role

We are hiring a Founders Initiatives, Technical Ex-Founders to design and implement internal and external AI systems that power how Retell hires, sells, operates, and scales.

You will be responsible for building production-grade AI workflows, automations, and agent systems that directly impact company operations and customer experience.

This role sits at the intersection of applied AI, full-stack engineering, and startup operations.

Key Responsibilities

HR & Recruiting AI Systems

Build systems that extract structured signals from resumes (skills, experience, founder traits, domain expertise)
Develop lead scoring models to predict interview success and role fit
Design AI recruiter workflows for candidate screening and qualification
Automate personalized outbound email and candidate engagement workflows

Security & Compliance Automation

Build automation systems for customer security workflows (BAAs, DPAs, DocuSign, contract review flows)
Automate security questionnaire and compliance response generation
Improve internal tooling for enterprise readiness and audit processes

Operational Infrastructure Tools

Build systems for accounts receivable automation and finance-related email workflows
Create automated enterprise customer onboarding and account setup tools
Design internal systems that reduce manual operational overhead across teams

3Rd-party Integrations & Platform Work

Integrate with CRM systems such as Salesforce, HubSpot, and GoHighLevel
Build workflow automation using tools like Zapier, n8n, and Make
Design LLM-powered systems using OpenAI, Gemini, Claude, and other models
Own API-based integrations that connect internal systems across the company

Gtm Engineering & Growth Automation

Build HubSpot and Lark automations to improve sales and marketing efficiency
Develop lifecycle automation systems for customer engagement and retention
Create targeted website personalization and ad content generation systems
Build email personalization and outbound automation pipelines at scale

You Might Thrive If You

Have a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a closely related technical field.
Have 2+ years professional software engineering experience
Have 1+ year of startup experience and are comfortable with ambiguity and fast iteration.
Think like a founder and operate with high ownership
Have strong software engineering skills (backend, full-stack, or systems)
Have hands-on experience building with LLMs or AI agents in production
Are comfortable working across product, engineering, and operations
Move fast, iterate quickly, and are comfortable with ambiguity
Prefer building systems over working on narrowly defined tasks
Care deeply about real-world impact over theoretical work

Job Details

Cash: 180k - 300k
Equity: Offers Meaningful Equity
Location: Redwood City, CA, US - relocation provided
US Visas: Retell AI is open to sponsoring work authorization for qualified candidates, including H-1B, TN, L-1, E-3, F-1 (OPT/CPT), and O-1 visas.

Other Benefits

100% coverage for medical, dental, and vision insurance
$70/day DoorDash credit for unlimited breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks
$200/month wellness reimbursement (gym, fitness classes, etc.)
$300/month commuter reimbursement (gas, Caltrain, etc.)
$75/month phone bill reimbursement
$50/month internet reimbursement

Compensation Philosophy

Best Offer Upfront: Choose from three cash-equity balance options; no negotiation needed.
Top 1% Talent: Above-market pay (top 5 percentile) to attract exceptional builders.
High Ownership: Small teams, >$1M revenue/employee, and significant equity.
Performance-Based: Offers tied to interview performance, not experience or past salaries.

Interview Process

Intro Call (15-20min): Connect with our talent team to get a deeper look at the team and the work you'd be doing.
First Technical Phone Interview (45 min): System Design & Project Deep Dive
Second Tech Screen (45min): Tools & Automation
Final Interview
Coding and Technical Round (90 min)
Cross-Functional Interview (30 min)
Past Project Deep Dive (30 min)

About Retell AI

Retell AI is using first-principles thinking to reimagine the call center with cutting-edge voice AI. Thousands of companies now use Retell's AI voice agents to handle sales, support, and logistics calls that once required large teams of human agents. Backed by Y Combinator, Alt Capital, and other leading investors, we've scaled to $80M in ARR with a team of 50, up from $5M at the start of 2025, and are now valued at over $1.5B.

Our vision for 2026 is to build a modern CX platform where entire contact centers are powered by AI. Instead of basic automation that needs constant human tuning, we're creating intelligent AI “workers” that act as frontline agents, QA analysts, and managers, continuously executing, monitoring, and improving every customer interaction.

We're growing fast and looking for ambitious builders who want to tackle hard technical problems, move quickly, and have a real impact on one of the fastest-growing voice AI companies in the world.

Let's build the future together.

About Founders Initiatives

Founders Initiatives is a cross-functional team that works directly with Retell's founders on the company's highest-priority opportunities and challenges. Team members are expected to operate across functions, build from first principles, and help scale the business in whatever way creates the most impact.

This is not a narrowly scoped role, it is a high-ownership builder position where you will work across product, engineering, GTM, operations, and AI systems to design and ship core company infrastructure.

Read the original posting

From Retell AI's careers page, first listed on Rolev.ai on October 10, 2026. Rolev.ai is not the employer.

How Rolev.ai helps with this application

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Common questions

Where is the Founders Initiatives, Technical Ex-Founders job at Retell AI located?

This Founders Initiatives, Technical Ex-Founders position at Retell AI is located in San Francisco, CA (On-site). Always check Retell AI's application page for specific state eligibility or relocation policies.

What qualifications are required for Founders Initiatives, Technical Ex-Founders at Retell AI?

For the Founders Initiatives, Technical Ex-Founders role, Retell AI highlights experience with AI agent systems, full-stack engineering, production-grade automation. Rolev.ai can score your existing resume against these requirements and show any skill gaps before you apply.

How do I apply for the Founders Initiatives, Technical Ex-Founders position at Retell AI?

This listing links directly to Retell AI's Ashby application page. You can apply directly on Retell AI's site, or use Rolev.ai to check your resume fit, generate a zero-hallucination tailored resume and cover letter for this posting, and autofill the Ashby application form in 1 click with the Rolev.ai Chrome extension. You always review the form and press Submit yourself.

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