Retell is building the new standard for automating call center communications, including sales, support, customer engagement, and retention calls.

Backed by Altman Capital, Y Combinator, and top investors, we've raised a $4.7M seed round and hit $7M ARR in 12 months.

Check us out on the Top Lean AI Native Companies Leaderboard at leanaileaderboard.com.

Retell AI - API That Turns Your LLM Into A Human-Like Voice Agent

Retell AI Basics: Everything You Need to Start Building Voice Agents

Why This Company

Twenty years ago, every business found itself needing a website, the new gateway to the world. Platforms like WordPress and Squarespace rose to become the standard for getting businesses online.

Today, we’re at the start of a new shift. Every business that relies on phone interactions can now have an AI voice agent of their dreams. A tireless and empathetic receptionist, salesperson, debt collector, or appointment reminder that works 24/7. Operational bottlenecks vanish overnight. Doubling your business no longer means doubling your team. Customer experience no longer suffers. (Ever tried calling an East Coast bank after 3 p.m. PT?) But companies aren't ready. Platforms don't exist.

At Retell, we're building the new standard for building AI voice agents. A seamless UI, a comprehensive toolkit, effortless integrations, and a thriving builder community, we're creating everything businesses need to deliver exceptional phone interactions on every single call.

This shift is happening, so why not be part of the team that defines it?

Why This Role

As a Founding Forward Deployed AI Engineer at Retell, you’ll work directly with our largest enterprise customers to bring AI voice agents into production—embedding with their teams, navigating complex systems, and building custom solutions that make a measurable impact.

It’s a hybrid role across engineering, product, and customer success. One week you might be deep in backend integrations or deploying AI in a customer workflow; the next, you’re leading a customer workshop or collecting feedback to influence our roadmap. You’ll be part of a small, fast-moving team where versatility, speed, and clarity matter.

If you enjoy wearing multiple hats, working directly with customers, and shipping solutions that matter—you’ll thrive here.

Position: Founding Forward Deployed AI Engineer

Job type: Full-time 70hr/week (50 hr/week onsite with flexible hours + 20 hr/week work from home)

Salary: $200K - $310K

Equity: 0.2% - 0.7%

Bonus: $20k - $100K

Location: San Carlos, CA, US

US visas: Sponsors Visa & Greencard

Benefits: 100% medical, dental, vision insurance covereage. Unlimited breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Gym, daily communte fee reimbursed. Internet, phone bill covered.

Who You Are

• Technical & Experienced – You have a degree in CS, CE, or EE, and at least 1 year working in a tech-focused environment
• Friendly & Empathetic – Strong communication and presentation skills—you know how to connect with both technical and non-technical folks
• Accountable & Collaborative – You're comfortable working with both sales and engineering, and you do what it takes to get projects across the finish line
• Proactive & Fast-Moving – Willing to put in the hours when needed; you can juggle multiple projects and hit deadlines without dropping the ball
• Curious & Growth-Oriented – You adapt quickly, stay current with the latest tech trends, and are comfortable with a mix of technical and non-technical tools

What You’ll Do

• Make Enterprise Customers Love You – Partner with sales to close deals and drive incredible outcomes for our largest customers. You’ll embed directly with them, helping them go live by building integrations, implementing AI into complex workflows, and becoming their go-to technical expert and trusted advisor.
• Drive the Product to Be More Valuable – Customize our product for real-world enterprise use cases and win the trust of technical stakeholders. You’ll identify feature gaps, surface customer feedback, and work hand-in-hand with product and engineering to shape what we build next.
• Be the Go-To Tech Guru – Travel to customer sites, unblock adoption, troubleshoot tricky issues, and make sure every rollout is smooth. Whether it’s running office hours, leading webinars, jumping into community threads, improving docs, or crafting killer demos and decks—you’ll step in wherever you’re needed most.
• Be the Team Player – Build tight feedback loops across product, sales, engineering, and success. You’ll connect the dots, fill in the gaps, and do whatever it takes to help our customers win.

Our Compensation Philosophy

• Our Strongest Offer, Upfront
  We give you our best offer from the start. No need to negotiate or match other companies offer — instead, we offer three clear compensation options, each with a different balance of cash and equity. You pick what fits you best.
• Designed for Talent Density
  We’re building with the top 1%, not the average. That’s why our compensation is set far above market — to attract people who raise the bar for everyone around them.
• Scale Through Code, Not Headcount
  We aim for >$1M in revenue per employee. That means smaller teams, fewer layers, and higher ownership per person — both in terms of scope and equity.
• Performance > Background
  We don’t anchor to other companies, past salaries, or industry ranges. Your offer is based entirely on your performance in our interview process. That’s it.
• Experience Doesn’t Dictate Pay
  Your offer is based solely on how well you perform in the interview process. We don’t factor in past salaries, titles, or number of years worked. You can earn our highest tier with zero years of experience — if you prove you’re ready for it.

Interview Process

• Online Assessment – We’ll kick things off with a short HackerRank assessment—two coding questions, 25–30 minutes total. You’ll have 7 days to complete and submit it.
• Phone Interview 1 – A 30-minute live coding session focused on data structures and algorithms. We'll share a CoderPad link, and you’re free to use your preferred language.
• Phone Interview 2 – A 30–45 minute technical interview, building automations or use common developer tools to improve workflows.
• Onsite Interviews – These take 1–4 hours and are conducted in person in the San Francisco Bay Area. Please bring a computer for any hands-on portions. For remote candidates, we’re happy to arrange virtual sessions. There are up to four rounds:
  • Practical Coding Session – Tackle real-world coding tasks, referencing documentation and debugging along the way.
  • System Design Interview – Walk through the architecture of a production-ready system and share your high-level thinking.
  • Resume Screening - A deep dive into past project experiences, thought process and judgement.
  • Behavioral Interview – A conversation about your past experience, decision-making, and work style.