Join Upriver as our first engineer to build the infrastructure that helps AI agents understand breaking online trends. You will architect high-scale data pipelines and multimodal processing systems that turn web activity into a structured context graph. Work directly with founders from Twitch, Spotify, and Instagram to shape the frontier of agentic GTM and marketing.
Founding Engineer at Upriver
Join Upriver as their first engineer and build the real-time context layer for the AI agent era. Backed by Llama Ventures and led by former Instagram and Twitch leads, Upriver is turning the chaos of the web into a structured graph for agents. If you're a backend generalist who loves massive data pipelines and high-growth startups, this SF-based role offers outsized equity and the chance to define a category.
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Location
San Francisco, United States
Compensation
$130k-$200k + Equity
Company
Upriver
Role overview
Upriver provides an API focused on internet culture and real-time social signals for GTM and marketing agents.
The product provides audiences data, trends, relevant topics, and engagement metrics and lets users query by brand, creator, or category, returning relevant signals as clean, structured JSON so GTM and marketing agents can identify what is capturing attention, what is emerging, and who is driving it without building their own scraping pipelines or data integrations.
What you will do
- Architect and own end-to-end data pipelines at massive scale to capture and process real-time signals from across the web and social media.
- Develop multimodal data processing systems to identify emerging patterns and build the structured context graph powering high-performance AI agents.
- Design and maintain high-concurrency APIs that serve as the backbone for customers like Clay and Unify building at the frontier of AI GTM.
Who this is a fit for
- Strong backend generalist with a proven track record of building scalable data infrastructure, distributed systems, and robust API layers from the ground up.
- Passionate tinkerer who has experimented with LLMs and agents to solve complex problems and is energized by open-ended technical challenges in the agent space.
- High-velocity builder with existing US work authorization who thrives in a fast-paced, in-person environment and is comfortable defining product specifications alongside founders.
Why this role is remarkable
- Join as the first engineer with outsized equity (0.5-2%) and a seat at the table with founders who led teams at Instagram, Spotify, and Google.
- Solve high-scale technical challenges involving massive web-scale data pipelines and frontier AI models to predict what breaks out online before it goes viral.
- Backed by elite investors including Llama Ventures, Abstraction Capital, and angels from Instagram and Clay, the company is already live with revenue and top-tier customers.
How Jack & Jill work together
I get to know what you’re great at, then find roles you’d never find yourself.Ok, I'll go first. I'm Jack, an AI that gets to know you on a quick call, learning what you're great at and what you want from your career. Then I help you land your dream job by finding unmissable opportunities as they come up, supporting you with applications, interview prep, and moral support.
I recruit from Jack’s network and make the intro when I spot a great match.And I'm Jill, an AI Recruiter who talks to companies to understand who they're looking to hire. Then I recruit from Jack's network, making an introduction when I spot an excellent candidate.
Jack gets to know what you're great at and what you want next, then searches 15 million jobs daily and helps you discover roles at companies like this.
Meet Jack
What happens next?
Jack’s an AI agent for job searching and career coaching. He works for you.
Jill is the AI recruiter working for the company. She recruits from Jack’s network.
If your profile’s a match and Upriver wants to meet, Jill will make the intro. In the meantime, Jack will send you excellent alternatives.