Founding Product Engineer

About Consus

Consus is building the default way aerospace and defense companies use AI. Today we do that by routing inference through compliant infrastructure. Engineers easily integrate frontier models and security teams get the controls they need. We're backed by Y Combinator (F24) and have 10+ paying customers across the industry. Consus was founded by Eric Magliarditi, who worked at SpaceX and Castelion. He saw firsthand how challenging it is for aerospace & defense to use state-of-the-art AI.

About the role

You're the first engineering hire. Gateway is live with paying customers. Next, you'll build the products that make Consus the default for aerospace and defense. You'll own the stack end to end, help decide what we build next, and work directly with the founder and our customers every day. What you build becomes how Consus builds product.

We work at the intersection of frontier AI and regulated industry. We build AI-native ourselves, and our customers look to us to show them what's possible within the rules.

Hard problems you'll work on

• Proving exactly what an AI touched, in environments where one leak is a federal violation
• Routing one API across three government clouds so engineers never have to think about which one answered
• Tying every AI action back to a person, with identity that federates into customers' GCC High tenants
• Giving security teams a record of exactly what an AI saw and did, one that holds up in front of an assessor
• Making frontier tools like Claude Code and Codex safe to use inside environments built to keep data in

Responsibilities

• Build our software factory: the full pipeline every future product ships through, from code to tested, secure release. We work across all cloud providers and love OpenTofu.
• Shape the product: talk to customers, turn what you hear into what we build next, and help decide what not to build.
• Prototype fast: build, test, and put working things in front of customers in days, not quarters.
• Work directly with customers: you'll work with the founder on onboarding and integration, route customers' AI tools through Consus, and make setup and admin seamless.
• Keep it secure: every change has to hold up in front of an assessor.

Who you are

• You handle things. Give you a problem and you'll figure it out, build it, test it, and ship it fast. Trial and error beats waiting for a spec.
• You have product sense. You talk to users, figure out what they actually need, and push back when what they ask for is wrong, including when it's the founder asking.
• You're curious. You always ask why and how, and you don't make assumptions.

Must-haves

• You're great with cloud architecture. You've designed and run production systems on AWS, Azure, or GCP, and infrastructure as code is second nature.
• You're AI-native. Agents and coding tools are how you work every day, you've built with LLM APIs, and you know where frontier tools break. You stay on the frontier and bring others with you.
• U.S. person is required given our work with ITAR-controlled systems.

Nice to have

• Experience with GovCloud, GCC High, FedRAMP, or ITAR. If you don't have it, we'll teach you.

Compensation and benefits

• $150k - $250k base
• 1% - 3% equity, 4-year vest
• Healthcare coverage
• Flexible vacation plus federal holidays

Location & Culture

In person in San Francisco. We're open to remote within California, but we strongly prefer someone in SF most of the week. Our office will be in the Presidio. We're adults. If you need to take your kid to school, do it. Plan ahead, communicate what you need, and it won’t be a problem.

Interview process

1. Founder intro
2. Project presentation: walk us through something you built and how you built it
3. Paid Work trial
4. Reference check