AI & Software Engineering

Location: San Francisco, California (On-site)
Employment Type: Full-time
Experience: Early career, ideally 0–2 years

The Opportunity

Oxbow Talent is partnering with one of the fastest-growing AI companies in the US to hire a Strategic Projects Associate for its San Francisco team.

This is an exceptional opportunity to join a well-funded, high-growth AI business working at the forefront of large language models, AI agents and next-generation AI infrastructure.

The position sits at the intersection of software engineering, AI, strategy and operations, offering significantly more ownership and exposure than a traditional graduate or junior engineering role.

We’re looking for someone technically exceptional, commercially curious and comfortable taking ambiguous problems from initial concept through to delivery.

The Role

You’ll work closely with senior leadership, engineering teams and external stakeholders on some of the company’s most important technical and strategic initiatives.

Responsibilities will include:

• Building software, internal tools and AI-powered workflows using Python and modern AI technologies.
• Developing and integrating LLM-powered applications, agents and automation systems.
• Taking ownership of technical projects from initial requirements through development, deployment and delivery.
• Working directly with customers and stakeholders to understand complex problems and develop practical solutions.
• Analysing technical and commercial challenges, identifying opportunities and driving projects forward.
• Collaborating across engineering, product and operations in a fast-moving startup environment.
• Experimenting with the latest AI development tools, including Claude Code, Cursor and Codex.

What We’re Looking For

Essential requirements:

• A strong undergraduate degree in Computer Science or a closely related technical discipline, ideally from a leading university.
• Approximately 0–2 years of professional experience, although exceptional graduates and startup founders will be considered.
• Strong programming ability, particularly in Python.
• Experience building and shipping software applications, technical projects or AI-powered products.
• Genuine interest in large language models, agentic AI and emerging AI technologies.
• Evidence of exceptional initiative, independent problem-solving and ownership.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to work with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Willingness to work on-site in San Francisco.

Particularly interesting backgrounds include:

• Founding engineers or early employees at high-growth technology startups.
• Software engineers with experience at leading technology companies.
• Engineers who have built production AI agents, LLM applications or developer tools.
• Candidates with exceptional technical internships, research achievements or entrepreneurial projects.
• Individuals who have independently launched products, founded companies or demonstrated outstanding technical ability.

Why Join?

• Join one of the most exciting and rapidly scaling companies in the AI ecosystem.
• Work directly on real-world AI challenges with highly talented engineers and business leaders.
• Gain exposure to technical strategy, product development, customers and commercial decision-making.
• Take ownership of meaningful projects from the beginning of your career.
• Work in an ambitious, high-performance environment where individual contributions have a direct impact.
• Build experience at the intersection of AI engineering and business strategy, with significant long-term career opportunities.

The Ideal Candidate

This role will suit someone who could succeed as a software engineer, founding engineer or technical entrepreneur but wants broader exposure to how an AI company operates and scales.

You’ll be intellectually curious, technically strong and naturally proactive. You won’t need detailed instructions to make progress and you’ll enjoy turning complex, loosely defined problems into tangible results.

If you’re an ambitious early-career engineer looking for a role combining hands-on coding, AI innovation and genuine business ownership, we’d love to hear from you.

Richard Waterson – richard@oxbowtalent.com 203 896 4646