Software Engineer, Founders Initiatives

San Francisco Bay Area$160,000 - $270,000

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.

Recent recognition:

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 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.

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are hiring a Software Engineer, Founders Initiatives to design and build internal and external AI systems that power how Retell hires, sells, operates, and scales.

You'll build production-grade AI workflows, automations, and agent systems that have a direct impact on company operations and customer experience.

This role sits at the intersection of applied AI, full-stack engineering, and startup operations. We're open to exceptional new graduates (0–1 years of experience) who have demonstrated strong engineering ability through internships, research, personal projects, or startup experience.

One of the unique parts of this role is that there isn't a single path after you join. As you grow, you'll naturally gravitate toward one of two directions:

Customer-facing: Work directly with enterprise customers, help design AI solutions, build integrations, and become a trusted technical advisor.
Internal engineering: Focus on building AI systems, internal tooling, automations, and infrastructure that help Retell scale.

Most engineers will touch both early on, but over time you'll have the opportunity to lean into the path that best fits your strengths and interests.

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.
Are a new graduate or have up to 1 year of professional software engineering experience.
Have completed strong internships, research, startup work, or meaningful side projects that demonstrate exceptional engineering ability.
Think like a founder and take ownership from day one.
Have strong software engineering fundamentals (backend, full-stack, or systems).
Have hands-on experience building with LLMs, AI agents, or modern AI tooling through internships, research, or personal projects.
Are excited to work across product, engineering, and operations.
Move quickly, learn fast, and thrive in ambiguous environments.
Prefer building end-to-end systems over working on narrowly defined tasks.
Care deeply about solving real customer problems and shipping impactful products.

JOB DETAILS

Cash: 160k - 270k
Equity: Offers Meaningful Equity
Location: Redwood City, CA, US
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)