Founding AI Engineer
About this role
Scape is hiring a Founding AI Engineer to help build the first truly AI-native email client that understands your relationships, takes meeting notes in the background, and drafts context-aware follow-ups in your tone. You’ll join the initial founding team and own high-impact technical work across LLM flows, infra, and the product surface—work that will define how a billion people interact with email. This role matters because it rethinks email from the ground up rather than layering AI atop a broken foundation.
What you'll do
- Design and implement LLM flows for context engineering, prompts, and tool integrations to power smart email experiences.
- Build and optimize infrastructure for scalability, performance, and reliability, including GCP migration tasks.
- Develop and maintain the custom sync engine that makes the client feel instant.
- Operate as a founding team member and take ownership of the highest-priority problems, regardless of domain.
- Execute database migrations, performance tuning, or product-focused changes as needed based on where impact is greatest.
- Iterate rapidly on prototypes and production features to cut through inbox noise and surface relevant actions.
- Contribute to hiring and maintain an “always be hiring” mentality to grow the team responsibly.
- Work without predefined tasks, adapting to shifting needs and taking agency over outcomes.
What Scape is looking for
- Multiple years of hands-on production coding experience — coding tenure matters more than credentials.
- Demonstrated obsession and high agency through past projects, choices, or roles.
- Strong side-project portfolio that shows depth and ownership.
- Experience with LLM/context engineering (prompts, flows, tool integration) and infra work (GCP, scalability, performance).
- Prior startup experience in fast-growing environments preferred.
- Founding mentality: willing to operate with ultra-high ownership and flexibility.
- Openness to hiring 1–2 very senior, startup-motivated engineers to accelerate growth.
- Team culture fit: people who elicit a “Hell yes” excitement from their future teammates and pass the implicit “Sunday Test.”
Company at a glance
Scape is building the first truly AI native email client, aiming to serve a billion users from Stockholm and lead AI enabled communication. It is backed by Y Combinator, General Catalyst, including OpenAI's VP of Product and Spotify's CMO.
Culture & values
The first 10 hires operate as the founding team.
Everyone from the first 10 hires should operate as a founder.
Deep obsession about the problem and high agency enable ultra high ownership.
If the biggest problem today is a database migration and you are the most suited, that work will fall on your table.
If two weeks forward the biggest problem is context engineering and you are the most suited, your work will shift to that.
If we are working a lot and spending the majority of our time together we should have fun and feel excited about spending time together.
We believe the first 10 hires will hire the first 100, who will hire the first 1000.
Community first.
We are building the company from the heart of the Stockholm ecosystem.
The office is located in a building with a dense startup ecosystem and notable founders nearby.
The building hosts founders and leaders from the startup ecosystem, with frequent curated events featuring notable figures.
The surrounding area includes startups like Lovable and Klarna, with regular ecosystem events.
The building has a rooftop terrace.
We thrive in a fast-paced environment and want to go all in.
There is a strong emphasis on ownership and a growth mindset through flexible, shifting priorities.
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