Full Stack Engineer (TS/SCI) at Hazel | Y Combinator

Note: This role is exclusively available to U.S. citizens who can obtain and maintain a U.S. government-issued Top Secret security clearance with full-scope polygraph. There are no exceptions. Who We Are: Our mission at Hazel is simple and powerful. We use AI to help U.S. government purchasing teams buy at the speed of need with unparalleled efficiency and cost-effectiveness. It is a $2.7T problem every single year, and Hazel is at the forefront with Federal and State, Local, and EDucation (SLED) agencies.   Hazel has identified a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to solve this by deploying cutting-edge AI to the public sector and unlocking the full potential of our nation. We empower our partners to move with expediency against the most pressing challenges of this century. Hazel builds AI for the public interest. What We Are Building: Hazel is transforming government procurement: how government agencies purchase goods and services from commercial vendors. You’ll work directly with our federal partners in deploying our AI-forward bid evaluations solution, helping them assess vendors more accurately, reliably, and quickly. With the federal government under increasing pressure to accelerate acquisitions, our tools give them a real edge. Our full COTS platform supports the entire procurement lifecycle from need identification through award management, and our other partners include state & local governments, schools, and special authorities. About the Role: As a Hazel full stack engineer, you will be at the helm of architecting and building Hazel’s platform. You will work closely with Hazel’s customers to identify pain points to prioritize the most impactful features.  You will build new features every week and be faced with many challenging technical problems. Most importantly, you join the tip of the spear in delivering effective and secure AI for the public sector. This specific role is for deploying and scaling Hazel's cutting-edge AI for our largest contract with one of the most important U.S. government agencies. You will bring it into production by owning the customization, security accreditation, and deployment of Hazel in a unique operational environment.

What You’ll Do Day-to-Day:

Define, iterate, and execute on projects contributing to Hazel’s federal and commercial product roadmap  Identify areas for process and technical improvements, and take the initiative to enhance engineering processes and structures in classified environments  Collaborate with colleagues, customers, and partners to understand key tactical and strategic priorities and deliver innovative, impactful solutions  Take ownership of projects, ensuring they meet rigorous standards of quality, performance, and security accreditation for a classified deployment  Work onsite in Washington D.C. to deploy Hazel onto classified networks

What We’re Looking For:

Proven experience as a full stack engineer or similar role  Proven experience with the technologies in our Tech Stack, which includes:

Designing and implementing AWS cloud infrastructure  Python  Typescript  React/Next.js   PostgreSQL   CI/CD tools (e.g., GitHub, CodePipeline)  IaC (CDK/Terraform)  Familiarity with Auth N/Auth Z/SAML/SSO/IdP  Docker

Adeptness with using AI Coding Tools (e.g. Cursor/Claude Code)  Willingness to spend 25% of time onsite with customers (all travel is covered)  Excitement about bringing innovation to the public sector  Continuous drive towards learning and personal development   TS/SCI with FSP

We will sponsor new clearances

Nice to Have Experience:

Has worked at a startup or startup-like environment  Experience working in air-gapped or classified environments  Security accreditation (e.g., IL-6, ICD-503)  AWS Solutions Architect or similar  Building or contributing

to “from scratch” applications that had many users  Mapping business priorities to technical priorities and vice versa  Working with or adjacent to the public sector

Base Salary Range: $150K - $200K USD | 0.25% - 0.75% Company Equity

Estimate provided is dependent on a wide range of factors, including years of experience, relevant knowledge, and current security clearance  Generous health & 401(k) benefits  Relocation Assistance  Unlimited PTO

Why Join Hazel: This is Hazel’s first engagement in a new customer portfolio. We are one of the very first startups to ever win work with this customer. You will lead this product deployment. If you are interested in a career in national security, we will sponsor your Top Secret clearance for this role. As a Hazel engineer, you’ll architect and deploy secure, scalable systems that bring AI to government procurement. You’ll own features end-to-end, from backend services and data pipelines to model integration and front-end delivery, helping our partners move faster and smarter. Hazel combines startup speed with the mission focus of public service. You’ll work side-by-side with inquisitive and driven founders as well as a world-class and dynamic founding engineering team. Hazel continuously promotes learning and provides numerous resources from our founders, other startups, and VCs – as well as frontline exposure to customer executives and multiple engineering skillsets. Hazel is a mission-driven organization founded by engineers and built around delivering world-class innovation to our government partners. We strive for excellence, deliver impact, and have fun doing it. How You Fit Us: You care about mission. Hazel partners with agencies supporting everything from public school teachers in the classroom to warfighters in the field. We believe in products which change America for the better.  You want a startup that is structured without being rigid, quality-obsessed without being slow, and product-led without losing the vision. You take ownership: shaping the roadmap, talking to customers, and wearing many hats. We build exceptional generalists.  You solve problems. There’s no more time to opine on strategy and policy when our nation faces existential challenges, today. We are workhorses, not showhorses.

You are always learning. Nobody has all the answers, and the world is ever-evolving, so we must be adaptive. We bring the best practices available from all domains to meet the challenge.  You believe in team. Our team grows together, supports one another, and elevates our shared successes. We are more effective together. Disclosures: Hazel is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status, age, or any other federally protected class. Hazel’s name is inspired by Hazel Ying Lee, one of the first Chinese-American women to serve in the U.S. military as a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots in World War II. All Americans can break barriers, dare to innovate, and be the change.  Our mission at Hazel is simple and powerful. We use AI to help U.S. government purchasing teams buy at the speed of need with unparalleled efficiency and cost-effectiveness. It is a $2.7T problem every single year, and Hazel is at the forefront with State, Local, and EDucation (SLED) and federal government agencies. Government procurement has moved at a glacial pace for decades, stovepiped by complex processes, regulatory capture, and overworked civil servants. The impacts are severe. Our founders saw at Palantir and BCG how lowly procurement challenges fueled wildfires across California, compromised critical U.S. national security systems, and wasted billions of dollars. Hazel has identified a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to solve this by deploying cutting-edge AI to the public sector and unlocking the full potential of our nation. We empower our partners to move with expediency against the most pressing challenges of this century including climate sustainability, great power competition, and more. Hazel builds AI for the public interest. The founders August and Elton saw this problem firsthand at Palantir and BCG, and they have enlisted a deep bench of investors from both tech and government to deploy one of the first real commercial applications of generative AI in the public sector.