About the job
Founding Engineer
Join Terac: The Premier Expert Network Driving Frontier Research
Location: San Francisco (in-person required) | Stage: Seed ($9M raised)
At Terac, we are captivated by the vision of a future where agent-driven companies operate without traditional employees, yet still rely on human intelligence. As we stand on the brink of a new era where AI will handle most tasks with human oversight, Terac is poised to be the labor marketplace that fuels this post-AGI landscape.
We are currently an expert network that supports cutting-edge research by constructing the foundational layer that facilitates on-demand human labor. Our partners integrate with us through API access to a diverse pool of research-grade experts. We manage sourcing, verification, screening, and payments, allowing our partners to concentrate on product development.
Historically, jobs have transitioned from lifelong commitments to short-term engagements. From the stone age to the industrial era, and now platforms like Uber, the trend toward AI-driven labor marketplaces is undeniable and will only escalate in demand.
Having successfully secured $9M in funding from notable investors including Emergence, SignalFire, Audacious, and Z Fellows, we are seeking innovative engineers with a founder's mindset to take ownership of critical components of our platform as we expand from research tools into the larger human data economy.
Your Responsibilities:
Lead and enhance the recruitment engine, utilizing targeted advertisements, referrals, automated outreach, and creative solutions to identify niche audiences.
Develop and refine the Terac API for integration by research tooling and AI data companies.
Implement the AI moderator, our voice agent designed to screen candidates, assess long-term tasks, detect fraudulent behavior, and facilitate multilingual conversations.
Create marketplace systems that encompass opportunity routing, pricing optimization, expert lifetime value modeling, and feasibility analysis.
Design the expert network experience, focusing on onboarding processes, opportunity matching, payout systems, and trust frameworks to retain experts.
Collaborate closely with the CTO to influence technical strategies utilizing technologies such as Next.js, TypeScript, tRPC, Drizzle, Neon Postgres, LiveKit, and the Vercel AI SDK.
Your Profile:
A proactive builder with 3+ years of experience in software engineering, preferably in startup environments.

