Founding Engineer, Dubai
About Fractional AI
Fractional AI builds bespoke gen AI software to transform businesses.
Every C-suite is trying to bridge the gap between AI in theory and AI in practice. We close this gap with exceptional engineering talent and custom end-to-end AI builds (see some of our case studies to learn more).
Fractional AI is building a Dubai office to serve clients in EMEA and Asia.
About the Role
Joining Fractional AI’s Dubai office as a Founding Engineer, you’ll play a leading role in building and shipping AI applications for our customers - from understanding customer needs to deploying cutting-edge AI solutions in their environments - all while shaping our engineering and broader Fractional culture for the next 100+ engineers.
By the time you’ve completed your second project, you’ll have shipped LLM applications across more companies and use cases than the vast majority of AI engineers in the world.
What you bring to the table
You write exceptional code + deeply care about the craft of coding (7+ years of experience): you build elegant, production-ready code; you have strong proficiency across multiple programming languages
You are excited about AI: you have some demonstrated interest in AI - Whether you've experimented with LangChain, built an LLM-based side project, or simply have become a ChatGPT power user
You’re comfortable working across the full stack: Engineers at Fractional work across the backend, frontend, data layer, and infrastructure. We don’t expect you to be an expert in all of these on day 1, but you’re willing to jump in and learn quickly
You love solving hard, new problems: you are comfortable self-teaching, asking “why?,” and experimenting to solve problems you haven’t seen before
You are ‘start-up ready’: you jump in without instruction, embrace a ‘no job too big, no job too small’ mindset, and want to shape strategy and culture
You are comfortable talking with users: you deeply care about the user and skillfully navigate user conversations to ensure what we’re building meets their needs
You are a great teammate: you are comfortable helping others (and asking for help), you champion integrity in everything, and want to build a one-in-a-career culture of personal growth
What you'll do
Design and develop custom AI solutions tailored to the unique needs of our customers, ensuring seamless integration and scalability
Partner with a high-caliber team across the full project lifestyle, from requirements gathering, to prototyping, system design, coding, testing, deployment, and support
Actively shape our engineering and broader company culture - from how we learn, to how we hire, to how we celebrate - you’ll shape how we make Fractional a place we all love working
Our tech stack
We’re generally tech stack agnostic - we work in our customers’ environments and code bases. A lot, but definitely not all, of our work is in Python or Typescript.
After working at Fractional AI for a few years, you’ll be an expert at using the various foundational models, building with frameworks like AI SDK, Langchain/Langsmith, and various other tools and frameworks (e.g., OpenPipe, Pinecone, ChromaDB).
A day in the life
You're on a "Project Team" designed for that client's high-impact AI need- it may be automating a call center with AI phone agents or building an AI content moderation system – each project is different
You’ll dive into one of the higher priority items for the morning (say building out an evals suite). You have a weekly standup with the customer (the CTO at the client) to chat through tradeoffs, progress, and timeline.
You join team lunch (which doubles as the Fractional AI cross-project standup) to hear about different projects we’re working on … the lunch will turn into a lively debate about Weights and Biases v. Braintrust capabilities.
You’ll have some solo heads down time to continuing jamming on the high priority pieces for that print.
Maybe you join a prospective customer call to share your perspective on what’s technically feasible on that potential project.
Why you should (and shouldn’t) join us
We’re big believers in transparency and know joining a company is a big decision. We’re not the best fit for everyone and try to be clear on what we are and what we’re not so you make the choice that’s right for you.
Why join Fractional?
Build on the forefront of applied AI: You’ll have a front row seat to how the world’s leading companies are actually deploying AI solutions. By the time you’ve completed your second project, you’ll have shipped LLM applications across more companies and use cases than the vast majority of AI engineers in the world.
Solve big, real problems: Companies come to us when they can’t solve some of their biggest problems themselves. For you, that means learning everyday, never getting bored, and working across a range of industries, customers, and products.
Learn with and from the best in person: We're a team of senior engineers (some former founders, some former engineering leaders) who only want to work on high-impact projects. Working elbow to elbow in our Dubai office means things like team lunches, quick brainstorming, and the right amount of banter.
Why shouldn't you join Fractional?
Preference for just speed or quality: We love hacking things together for a proof of concept but ultimately our code will be put into production in our customers’ environments - you need to enjoy balancing elegance and expediency.
Predictability is important to you: You’ll be working across customers, programming languages, industries and projects, which means you won’t be becoming an expert in the same product suite or serving the same user day after day.
Directly interfacing with customers isn’t your thing: At Fractional, you’ll spend most of your time coding but will be closer to the customer than in most engineering roles. You’ll frequently interact with engineers from the customer’s team to ask questions and problem solve. A deep understanding and appreciation of the customer and the ability to speak with them and present to them with polish is crucial.
Our Values
Overdeliver.
Overuse AI.
Over "engineer" the culture.
Location
In-office in Dubai 4 days a week, Fridays remote.
Benefits
🏦 Competitive Compensation Package: Attractive salary aligned with your experience and skills.
🌴 Unlimited PTO: Take the time you need to relax and rejuvenate.
🏥 Exceptional Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage: Comprehensive health benefits to keep you and your family healthy
🎉 Team Events and Activities: Regular events to build camaraderie and a strong team spirit.
🪪 Visa sponsorship