Founding Software Engineer, NYC (onsite), AI-native consumer insurance

Founding Engineer, Seed-Stage AI-Native Insurtech

New York City, in person

Up to $250k base depending on experience, plus meaningful equity

Seed-stage, circa $5M raised

Sartre Group are partnered with a seed-stage AI-native insurtech building core infrastructure for the next generation of insurance distribution.

This is a very early engineering role in New York, joining before full consumer launch and at the point where engineering is still one of the biggest constraints on the business.

The role is broad by design.

You could be working across customer acquisition systems, carrier integrations, Voice AI, internal copilots, agent evals, backend infrastructure, modelling workflows, product automation and internal tooling.

This is not a pure ML research role.

It is for a strong general software engineer who can build real systems, reason clearly, take ownership and work close to product and the founder.

The environment is intense. The engineering team is in person in New York, working long startup hours, including Saturday work at this stage of the company. This is not likely to suit someone looking for remote work, a highly structured engineering org, or a standard working pattern.

It is likely to suit someone who wants early ownership, direct impact and the chance to build core systems from the ground up.

We are looking for:

• Strong backend or backend-leaning full-stack engineering ability
• Experience building and owning production systems
• Strong CS, engineering, maths, statistics, or similar academic background
• Clear evidence of personal technical ownership
• Ability to explain systems clearly and go deeper when pushed
• Good product judgement, without being light technically
• Experience across Python, TypeScript, backend systems, APIs, data infrastructure, MLOps, internal tooling, AI agents, workflow automation, or similar areas

The right fit is someone clear, technically strong, low ego, and motivated by ownership, speed, and meaningful technical responsibility.

Compensation can reach up to $250k base depending on experience, plus meaningful equity.

The process is fast:

• Founder screen
• Technical conversation
• Onsite including a whiteboarding and problem-solving session in New York
• References
• Offer

If you are a strong engineer in New York and want a serious early-stage role with real ownership, high intensity, and a lot of technical responsibility, this is worth a conversation.