AI Product Engineer

San Francisco, CA

About the role

Lightning Labs builds the infrastructure that makes Bitcoin work as a global payment network. Our protocols: the Lightning Network, Taproot Assets, and L402, are used by developers all around the world and are increasingly the rails that AI agents use to pay for services, stream value, and transact autonomously. We are looking for an AI Product Engineer to help us move faster everywhere at once. Location: San Francisco Bay Area ideal. Remote considered for strong candidates, with proximity to US time zones

The Role This is not a single-product role. You will move across the company, picking up whatever project has the most leverage that week: building a demo that shows developers what L402-powered agentic commerce looks like, automating a workflow that saves the business development team hours of manual work, standing up an MCP server that gives AI agents access to our APIs, or shipping a feature in Terminal Web. You are the person we point at a problem and trust to come back with something that works. The ideal candidate is someone who builds and ships constantly, using AI-native tools as a natural part of how they work. You have strong product instincts, you don't just write code, you understand why something matters and who it's for. You're comfortable being dropped into an unfamiliar codebase on Monday and demoing a working prototype by Friday.

What You'll Do Build demos and developer experiences that show what's possible on Lightning. End-to-end working applications that showcase Lightning payments, L402-gated APIs, Taproot Assets, and agentic workflows. These demos are how we communicate the value of our platform to developers and partners. Automate and augment internal workflows by partnering with engineering, product, business development, and marketing teams to identify where AI can eliminate manual work. Build the tools, scripts, MCP servers, and integrations that make the whole company faster. Ship features across products including Terminal Web, LND, and new products. You'll write production code, not just prototypes, but you'll also know when a prototype is the right answer. Work autonomously with minimal direction. Understand the company's priorities, identify where you can have the most impact, and execute. Context switch across projects and teams while maintaining quality.

What We're Looking For You build and ship production-quality software. You have a portfolio, GitHub profile, or set of projects that demonstrate this, we'd love to see them. You use AI-native development tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, or similar) as part of your daily workflow, not as a novelty. You're comfortable across the full stack. Our work spans TypeScript, React, Go, Python, and whatever else the problem requires. Go experience is a plus. You have strong product instincts and can translate between technical and non-technical contexts. You'll work directly with business development, marketing, and product, not just engineering. You're familiar with agentic AI patterns: tool use, MCP, multi-step workflows, and integrating LLMs into real systems. You're self-directed with a bias toward action. You thrive in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and have a track record of delivering.

Nice to Have Understanding of Bitcoin, the Lightning Network, L402, or Taproot Assets. We care more about curiosity and willingness to learn than existing knowledge. Experience building developer-facing demos, sample applications, or technical content. Contributions to open source projects. Experience at a small, high-growth company where wearing many hats was the norm. How to Apply We strongly encourage you to include links to projects, demos, repos, or anything else that shows how you build. A strong portfolio speaks louder than a keyword-optimized resume.

About Lightning Labs

Lightning Labs is building the next generation of decentralized, resilient financial infrastructure. We believe systems based on cryptography, blockchains, and smart contracts will enhance financial cooperation around the world in unprecedented ways at scales both large and small.

At Lightning Labs, we develop software that powers the Lightning Network. Our open source, secure, and scalable Lightning systems enable users to send and receive money more efficiently than ever before. We also offer a series of verifiable, non-custodial Lightning-based financial services. We bridge the world of open source software and the next generation of Bitcoin financial software.

We have developed Lightning Network Daemon (LND), the most advanced and most developer-friendly implementation of the Lightning Network protocol. Along with Neutrino, an open platform that enables users with mobile devices to conduct blockchain and Lightning Network transactions quickly and easily.

We’re hiring. See our open positions: http://lightning.engineering/careers.html. Get involved: http://dev.lightning.community/.

Other roles at Lightning Labs

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Job details

Location

San Francisco, CA

Company

NameLightning Labs
IndustryBitcoin
Team Size2

Funding

Total raised

$82.5M

Last stage

Series B

Investors

Valor Equity Partners
BBaillie Gifford
SStillmark
GGoldcrest Capital
BBrevan Howard

Founders

ES

Elizabeth Stark

Co-Founder & CEO

LinkedIn
Olaoluwa Osuntokun

Olaoluwa Osuntokun

Co-Founder & CTO

LinkedIn

What happens next.

No applications, no recruiter spam. Just the intro.

01

Confirm the fit

A few questions to make sure this role is the right shape for you. Two minutes.

02

I pitch you to the company

I write the intro, send it to the founder, and handle the back-and-forth.

03

A meeting lands on your calendar

If they’re a yes, I book the chat. You show up — that’s the whole job-hunt.