Founding Full-Stack AI Engineer

We’re building AI-native solutions to solve one of the biggest barriers in housing development: permitting. Our mission? Make it faster, simpler, and more affordable for cities and developers alike to build homes, tackling the 4–7 million U.S. housing shortfall head-on.

Every month of delay in a permit process adds about $5,000 to an average home’s cost, and in many places, permits take longer to secure than actually building the home. We want to change that by cutting red tape with AI and keeping projects moving. If tackling big, thorny technical challenges—especially ones with large-scale societal impact—fires you up, keep reading.

About Us

Govstream.ai is a venture-backed startup, based in Seattle and Bellevue, and led by Govtech veteran Saf Rabah (ex-Socrata, acquired by NASDAQ:TYL). We’re a small, driven, remote-first team committed to simplifying housing development. Every city struggles with complex permitting; we aim to cut through that complexity using practical AI solutions.

Our Culture

We’re lean by design, focused on real impact over bureaucracy. Here’s how we operate:

• Excellence First: We uphold high standards to deliver real impact in real for our customers and the communities they serve.
• Transparency & Trust: Open communication, minimal politics, and shared ownership.
• Small & Empowered Teams: We move fast—iterating, learning, and adapting without red tape.
• Purpose Over Process: Meetings are intentional, documentation is concise, and distractions are kept at bay.
• Take Risks & Embrace Mistakes: Innovation means trying new things, sometimes failing, and always learning.
• Life is Short: We take our work seriously but not ourselves—humor and genuine connections matter, and we believe joy fuels productivity.

What We’re Building (and Why It Matters)

We’re creating an end-to-end AI platform that transforms how cities manage permitting. At its core is Conversational Workflow– bridging user interactions with workflow automation for a more efficient and supportive permitting journey for city staff and applicants alike.

Our aim? Untangle the complexities of zoning, land use, building codes, and other regulations that make up the permitting process–so city staff can do more while cutting busywork, and residents, businesses, and developers have a clearer path to getting homes built. Here’s how we do it:

• Multi-Channel AI Interactions: Handle web, email, and phone queries seamlessly with tailored AI, letting staff scale and applicants self-serve.
• Smart Staff Tools: Automate checks, flag issues, and offload routine tasks, freeing city workers for high-impact decisions.
• Adaptive Workflows: Integrate zoning, land use, and regulatory rules with real-time data retrieval, handling thousands of unique city codes at scale.
• Advanced AI Models: Machine vision for blueprints, LLMs for code interpretation, and geospatial analysis—mixing APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic) with open-source flexibility.
• Rich Data Pipelines: Turn PDFs, GIS files, and other rich-but-messy data into query-ready formats for real-time compliance checks.
• Decision-ready Analytics: Forecast trends, model risk, and empower cities with deeper insights that drive smart and sustainable growth.

We’re deep in development, and this is where you come in—help us build a smart, scalable platform that makes housing more affordable for everyone.

Your Role: Founding Full-Stack AI Engineer

As our Founding Full-Stack AI Engineer, you’ll be at the heart of our mission, building the core systems that power Govstream.ai. On any given day, you might:

• Design Agentic Workflows: Develop RAG-based pipelines that coordinate calls, chats, and dashboards, ensuring concurrency, robust state management, and real-time retrieval of city code data.
• Build Machine Vision Pipelines: Leverage OCR, geospatial APIs, and agent-based logic to convert blueprints and zoning info into real-time compliance checks.
• Engineer Data Flows: Tame messy inputs (PDFs, shapefiles, code documents) into AI-ready schemas that your LLM Agents can query and reason about at scale.
• Craft AI Co-Pilots: Predict city staff needs, flag potential issues, and automate administrative tasks—reducing noise and wait states for city staff.
• Develop Decision-Ready Analytics: Create risk models, surface permitting bottlenecks or policy gaps, giving city leaders the insights they need to act confidently.
• Ship Iteratively: Release features, gather feedback from staff and applicants, and refine based on real-world usage. You're also the kind of engineer who naturally jumps at the chance to amplify your impact—experimenting enthusiastically with AI code-generation and other engineering productivity tools to move faster and smarter.

Ultimately, this role is about turning the slog of permitting into an AI-driven win. If that challenge fires you up, let’s talk.

What This Isn’t

• No Academic Drift: We value research but prioritize shipping products customers need and love to use.
• Beyond Chatbots: We’re building systems that decide and deliver, not just chat.
• No Busywork: Every line of code advances our mission—nothing’s for show.
• Not Just a Number: This isn’t a faceless gig; you’ll shape real outcomes.
• No Meeting Overkill: We’d rather build than talk about building.
• No Aspirational AI Enthusiasts: We're seeking software engineers who've delivered production software at scale, not just enthusiasts drawn to the novelty of AI.

First 90 Days

• Ship an AI Workflow: Deploy a practical workflow that solves real permitting tasks with public data.
• Tune for Efficiency: Optimize our AI stack for both performance and cost-effectiveness.
• Build or Enhance: Take ownership of a core system—retrieval, compliance, decision support—or something critical that moves us forward.
• Define the Roadmap: Help shape our product and technology decisions as we evolve.

What You Bring

We’re looking for a top-tier software engineer who:

• Ships Real Software: You've built and deployed robust cloud software at scale—taking ideas from "0 to 1", not just incrementally improving existing systems. You excel at engineering fundamentals, including scalable architectures, API design, data pipelines, and DevOps practices like automated deployment, infrastructure-as-code, and monitoring.
• Integrates AI Practically: You have hands-on experience integrating AI (LLMs, agent frameworks, machine vision, etc.) into real applications.
• Curious and Current: You actively learn new tools and apply emerging AI tech practically—without chasing novelty.
• Comfortable with Complexity: You confidently tackle challenging problems—zoning rules, regulatory workflows, messy data—without introducing unnecessary complexity.
• Cuts through the Noise: You value focus, genuine collaboration, and results over distractions, or vanity projects. You are not afraid to try new things.
• Thrives in Startups: You're resourceful, accountable, and energized by fast-paced, iterative work environments. You thoughtfully invest in effective communication with your teammates to make distributed teams actually work.
• Product-Minded: You care deeply about user experience and outcomes, not just the code itself. You understand the "why" behind what you're building, and prioritize solutions that solve real customer problems and deliver genuine value.

The Opportunity & What You Get

• Founding Voice: You're joining at a formative stage, with significant influence over our product strategy, technical decisions, and team culture.
• Impact & Growth: Everything you build directly affects our product's evolution, accelerates outcomes for communities, and boosts your own career trajectory.
• Competitive Compensation & Equity: We offer fair pay for top talent, plus meaningful equity so you directly benefit from the value you help create. As the company grows, so do your financial rewards.
• True Ownership: You'll help choose our tech stack, define engineering practices, and shape the team and culture around you.
• Purpose-Driven Work: We’re here to make housing cheaper, faster, and easier to build—a real mission, with tangible impact and genuine meaning.

If you're ready to help build something transformative alongside a team that's all-in, email us at build@govstream.ai. Send a short note about why you’re interested, plus links to any relevant work, projects, or experiences. We'll get back to you promptly.

Govstream.ai is an equal-opportunity employer.

We value diverse perspectives and welcome applicants from all backgrounds.