Lemi AI
Founding Engineer
Build the product while working directly with the enterprises using it.
Why this role exists
Be the hands-on engineer who builds our product and the trusted technical voice who sits with clients to understand what they actually need. You will move fluidly between writing production code and sitting across the table from a client — often in the same week, sometimes in the same day.
This is not a management role. We are small, and at this stage we need someone who wants to be close to the code and close to the customer at the same time. You should be genuinely excited to prototype something at a client's desk, debug it that night, and demo the fix the next morning.
We're a small team chasing an outsized outcome. If the idea of being one of the first few people in the room — before the title, the process, or the org chart exist — sounds exciting rather than uncomfortable, we want to talk to you.
What you will own
Client-embedded technical delivery
- Sit directly with client teams to understand workflows, constraints, and real requirements — translating ambiguous needs into buildable specs.
- Prototype, demo, and iterate in front of clients. Open a laptop and change something on the spot rather than promising to circle back.
- Carry what you learn in the field back to the founding team accurately and quickly.
Hands-on product & AI/ML engineering
- Write and ship production code yourself — across the stack or within our AI/ML pipeline. Own features end-to-end.
- Move at prototype speed when the situation calls for it, and at production-quality speed when it doesn't — and know which is which.
- Pick up whatever is broken, unglamorous, or unowned without waiting for it to be assigned.
Communication & trust-building
- Explain trade-offs, limitations, and timelines to non-technical stakeholders in plain language.
- Be a consistent, credible technical presence for our clients — someone they'd ask for by name.
- Keep the founding team honestly informed on client sentiment, technical risk, and delivery status.
Localization & compliance
- Adapt technical work to Vietnamese regulatory constraints, data privacy requirements, and local infrastructure realities.
What you may work on
- Production features across the product stack or AI/ML pipeline for early enterprise deployments.
- On-site prototypes and demos that turn client feedback into shipped changes the same week.
- Technical translation of ambiguous enterprise needs into scoped, buildable work.
- Adaptations for Vietnamese regulatory, privacy, and infrastructure constraints.
What success looks like
After 90 days
- You are shipping production code regularly and own at least one meaningful product surface end-to-end.
- You have sat with client teams, earned enough trust to prototype in front of them, and brought field learning back to the founding team.
- You can explain trade-offs clearly to non-technical stakeholders without overselling.
After one year
- Clients ask for you by name as a credible technical presence.
- You have shaped how we build — tooling, quality bar, and delivery rhythm — by doing the work, not by writing process docs alone.
- Your field experience has materially influenced product priorities and architecture decisions.
How this role works with the team
The Deployment Strategist owns why and what we build for an enterprise problem. The Founding Engineer owns how an individual deployment is technically built. The Head of Engineering owns the platform, engineering standards and organisation that allow those deployments to scale.
These are not rigid boundaries. On an early team, people work across disciplines when the work requires it.
What we are looking for
- Strong, current coding ability — you still write code regularly and well. Full-stack or AI/ML infrastructure depth both welcome.
- Exceptional communication in English and Vietnamese with enterprise clients and executives.
- 4–8+ years hands-on engineering experience; prior client-facing or founding-engineer work is a strong plus.
- Comfort with ambiguity — we are early; you will help define scope, tooling, and process by doing the work.
- Local market fluency in Vietnam's technical infrastructure and client landscape is a plus.
- Joint venture / enterprise client experience (conglomerates, SOEs, strategic stakeholders) is a plus.
Why join Lemi
- Our team and advisors have shipped at Meta, Google, Tesla, TikTok, Reddit, and Walmart Labs, and include operators from McKinsey, Visa, and the World Bank. We're not a research lab chasing benchmarks. We're people who have built at scale and worked inside large institutions, which is what actually deploying AI into one requires.
- Radical transparency, no corporate politics — a lot of trust placed in your judgment.
- Direct, visible impact: what you build and hear from clients shapes the product.
- Ground-floor equity upside as one of the first engineers.
- Work alongside a small founding team shipping a sovereign enterprise AI operating system.
Hiring process
Five rounds to learn how you think, build, and work with clients. Communication is weighted as heavily as coding. Each stage earns the next.
Round 1 — Screen
Resume review and a short screen on motivation, logistics, and fit — gatekeeping before deeper investment on both sides.
Round 2 — Technical
Hiring-manager technical screen: hands-on coding currency and client-facing judgment.
Round 3 — Panel (CTO & CPO)
Two people: product sense and scoping under ambiguity, plus a technical deep dive on architecture and live problem-solving.
Round 4 — CEO
Values and behavioral conversation: honesty, augment-not-replace, and long-horizon commitment.
Round 5 — Offer
References and clearance, then offer.
The process may vary slightly by role.
Apply
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