Founding Engineer
About the Role
Gallop Intelligence is seeking a Founding Engineer to build the secure enterprise foundation for an AI platform. This role is ideal for someone who thrives on turning ambiguous requirements into working systems and shaping technical direction from day one. You’ll own the secure platform foundation, drive end-to-end integration, and ensure reliability and security are built into the system.
Responsibilities
- Own the secure platform foundation for enterprise AI: design and implement core services for secure deployments (auth, data handling, access controls, and operational safety).
- Drive end-to-end integration ownership across the stack, connecting product needs to engineering reality (APIs, services, infrastructure, and deployment).
- Build reliability into the system through verification, monitoring, and pragmatic safeguards to catch issues early and ensure diagnosability.
- Handle ambiguity by proposing paths, validating quickly, and iterating based on evidence.
- Collaborate to translate enterprise expectations into engineering decisions, keeping security and constraints clear as requirements evolve.
Requirements
- Production engineering experience: shipped and operated real systems with a focus on reliability and security tradeoffs.
- Security-first platform thinking: understanding of access control, data boundaries, and safe-by-default design.
- Execution under ambiguity: ability to propose paths, validate quickly, and iterate based on evidence.
- Pragmatic verification/observability: adding checks and instrumentation for visible outcomes.
- Strong collaboration habits: quick alignment, documentation, and follow-through.
- Experience with Python/TypeScript/React.
- Ability to work in-office in Sunnyvale.
Qualifications
- Experience shipping production systems end-to-end, not just components.
- Strong security engineering instincts and practical application in system design.
- Track record of turning unclear requirements into concrete plans and delivering working versions.
- Experience building verification and observability into systems (tests, instrumentation, runbooks, etc.).
- Comfort with shifting priorities while maintaining high quality.
Even Better If
- Experience with enterprise integrations (SSO/SAML, RBAC, audit logging, compliance workflows).
- Built systems with non-negotiable security requirements and earned trust through measurable reliability.
Who Thrives Here
- You ask crisp clarifying questions and prefer concrete next steps over open-ended debate.
- You communicate in a friendly, direct, and facilitative way, surfacing knowns, uncertainties, and next steps.
- You take ownership of reliability by adding checks and instrumentation for visible outcomes.
- You enjoy shaping the work as you go and defining role boundaries.
The Team
You’ll work closely with a practical, iterative team focused on getting details right and maintaining momentum. Collaboration is quick, with clear next steps and steady follow-through. You’ll have room to influence platform development and are expected to bring evidence when requirements are unclear.
Benefits
- Health insurance
- Dental insurance
- Vision insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Professional development support
About Gallop Intelligence
Gallop Intelligence is an SF Bay Area AI startup and early leader in enterprise legacy code modernization. We work with Fortune 500 customers to replace legacy IT systems with faster, cheaper, and more modern solutions. Co-founded by former senior leaders at Google and Lovable, we’re on an accelerated growth trajectory with production deployments and strong customer demand.
Non-Traditional Backgrounds: If you’ve built and shipped secure, reliable systems in any environment, we’d love to hear from you. Evidence of end-to-end ownership and reliability is key, not a specific background label.