Founding Engineer

About Forgepoint

Forgepoint is building AI workers that automate the manufacturing back office—processes like quoting, purchasing, invoicing, and sales coordination. Our mission is to revitalize America’s manufacturing base by equipping US manufacturers with modern software so they can focus on making great products. We’re backed by top-tier investors like a16z speedrun and angels from Brex, Xwing, and Betterment, and already have more customer demand than we can serve.

Our Founders

Jack Strauss — Co‑Founder & CEO

Jack began his career at Acer Computers and Northrop Grumman, then joined Bain & Co’s manufacturing practice advising Fortune 500 industrial firms in semiconductors and aerospace. At Xwing, he served as Chief of Staff as the company scaled from 25 to 150 employees in 18 months, later leading GTM and selling into the US military and aircraft OEMs before Xwing’s acquisition by Joby Aviation. Jack holds an MBA from Stanford and a BA in Chinese Studies from USC; he’s fluent in Mandarin and an avid backpacker and spearfisher.

Alex Pareto — Co‑Founder & CTO

Alex started at Meta before founding Demeanor, a YC-backed creator tools startup later acquired by NTWRK/Complex, where he became Director of Engineering. He then joined Brex as a founding engineer on the Spend Management team, ultimately leading the 40-person engineering team. Alex holds a BS in Computer Science from USC and is an avid skier and snowboarder.

How we work

• In person, every day in NYC — high bandwidth collaboration and an energy you can feel
• Talk to users constantly — We build with manufacturers, not for them
• Extreme ownership — We take full responsibility for outcomes. Own problems end-to-end and drive solutions without waiting for permission

Our Values

• We’re Here to Win: We are building to help American manufacturers, our customers, our company, and our teammates win at the highest level.
• There’s Always a Way: We are relentlessly resourceful, take ownership of constraints, and find a path forward when others stop.
• Truth Over Comfort: We choose honesty over ego, surface reality quickly, and change course when the facts demand it.
• Act Now: We move fast, trust our instincts, and correct course as we go.
• Step Up: We act like founders, fill gaps, fix problems, and follow through until the work is done.
• The Team. The Team. The Team.: We put the team first, push and support each other, share wins, and own failures together.

About the role

This is a true 0→1 role. Join at the ground floor and help define both the product and the company. You’ll ship core AI features across the stack, invent new products to deliver value for our customers, and architect scalable and beautiful software. Expect hands‑on work with LLMs every day, rapid prototyping, and tight feedback loops with real users. You’ll also tackle challenging engineering problems: scaling distributed services, integrating with messy legacy ERPs and CRMs, and building flexible interfaces that adapt to edge cases instead of breaking on them. Beyond code, you’ll help shape company strategy, meet customers on the shop floor, and raise the bar for culture and execution.

Responsibilities

• Ship core AI features across the stack
• Invent new products to deliver value for customers
• Architect scalable and maintainable software
• Work hands-on with LLMs daily, including rapid prototyping and tight feedback loops with users
• Scale distributed services and integrate with legacy ERPs and CRMs
• Build flexible interfaces that adapt to edge cases
• Help shape company strategy and meet customers on the shop floor

Requirements

• 2+ years experience as a product software engineer
• Care about our mission and want to see the American manufacturing base get stronger
• Own features end-to-end: product requirements, code, testing, observability, rollout, and maintenance
• Enjoy working independently and owning outcomes; love working through tough problems with a great team
• Excited to work in person 5 days a week in our NYC office
• Constantly experiment with new AI and LLM tools and optimize workflows to get maximum leverage
• Founder mindset: appreciate ambiguity, want latitude to make important decisions, and have a deep love for building
• Operate with a growth mindset and are a fast learner

Qualifications

• Prior experience with TypeScript / NodeJS / React
• Prior experience designing, implementing, and operating distributed systems: queuing and streaming mechanisms, consistency guarantees, robust design around reliability concerns (retries, caching, etc.)
• Prior experience integrating and deploying a large number of third-party API integrations
• Prior experience with industry standard LLM APIs and concepts

Comp & Benefits

• Top tier salary & equity
• Great healthcare
• Covered dinner at the office
• Unlimited Celsius
• Travel across the entire USA: we value in-person collaboration with our customers and spend a lot of time on their shop floors