Founding Backend Engineer at LiteLLM (W23)
$160K - $220K  •  0.50% - 3.00%
Call every LLM API like it's OpenAI [100+ LLMs]
San Francisco, CA, US / Remote (US)
Full-time
US citizen/visa only
1+ years
About LiteLLM

LiteLLM (https://github.com/BerriAI/litellm) is a Python SDK, Proxy Server (LLM Gateway) to call 100+ LLM APIs in OpenAI format - [Bedrock, Azure, OpenAI, VertexAI, Cohere] and is used by companies like Rocket Money, Adobe, Twilio, and Siemens.

About the role
Skills: Python, JavaScript, TypeScript

TLDR

LiteLLM is an open-source LLM Gateway with 18K+ stars on GitHub and trusted by companies like Rocket Money, Samsara, Lemonade, and Adobe. We’re rapidly expanding and seeking a founding full-stack engineer to help scale the platform. We’re based in San Francisco.

What is LiteLLM

LiteLLM provides an open source Python SDK and Python FastAPI Server that allows calling 100+ LLM APIs (Bedrock, Azure, OpenAI, VertexAI, Cohere, Anthropic) in the OpenAI format

We have raised a $1.6M seed round from Y Combinator, Gravity Fund and Pioneer Fund. You can find more information on our website, Github and Technical Documentation.

Why do companies use LiteLLM enterprise

Companies use LiteLLM Enterprise once they put LiteLLM into production and need enterprise features like Prometheus metrics (production monitoring) and need to give LLM access to a large number of people with SSO (secure sign on) or JWT (JSON Web Tokens)

What you will be working on

Your main responsibility will be to make sure that LiteLLM unifies the format for calling LLM APIs in the OpenAI spec. Doing this involves writing transformations to transform the API request from the OpenAI spec to the format of the LLM provider.

You will be working closely with our CEO and CTO in this role.

Example projects you will pick up on joining:

  • Migrate key systems from httpx to aiohttp to get 10x higher throughput
  • Add support for Anthropic, Bedrock Anthropic thinking param on LiteLLM
  • Handle LLM provider-specific quirks like OpenAI o-1 not supporting streaming
  • Ensure LiteLLM can compute aggregate spend once there are 1M+ Logs in the database
  • Add cost tracking + logging for /v1/messages Anthropic API

What is our tech stack

Backend built on Python, FastAPI. Frontend on JS/TS. Redis, Postgres, s3, GCS Storage, Datadog, Slack API

Who we are looking for

  • You have 1-2 years of experience in backend or full-stack development and have worked on production grade critical systems
  • You are excited about open source software. You want to talk to our users to understand why they use us and what they require.
  • You have played a key role in maintaining and scaling reliable, high-performance infrastructure.
  • You are a hard worker and thrive working in a small and accountable team
  • You are eager to take responsibility for shaping the infrastructure of a rapidly growing development tool.
Technology

Founding engineer will help with migrating key systems to aiohttp, handle LLM provider-specific quirks like Azure role handling, standardize LLMs to OpenAI Spec.

  • Strong Python and async framework experience (e.g., aiohttp, FastAPI).
  • Familiarity with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Azure, Hugging Face)
  • Proven ability to optimize scalable, high-performance systems.
Interview Process

Interview Process

Our interview process is a 1 day virtual on-site block, 3 h 30 m total.

  • Coding Interview 1 — 60 min
    Work through a real LiteLLM GitHub issue. We evaluate problem-solving approach, code clarity, and testability.
  • Coding Interview 2 — 60 min (held only if Coding interview 1 meets the bar)
    A second, deeper issue that stresses edge cases and unit tests.
  • Architecture Interview — 45 min (held only if Coding interview 1 meets the bar)
    Walk through a system-design scenario focused on AI infrastructure and scalability.
  • Founder Chat — 30 min
    Behavioral discussion about your working style, expectations, and the company’s direction.

Scheduling

  • Send three possible 3 h 30 m slots (Mon–Fri, 6 a.m.–9 p.m. PT) within the next two weeks.
  • We’ll confirm the earliest mutual time and share one video link for the loop.

Accessibility

Tell us any accommodation needs and we’ll arrange them.

Other jobs at LiteLLM

fulltimeSan Francisco, CA, US / Remote (US)Backend$160K - $220K0.50% - 3.00%1+ years

Hundreds of YC startups are hiring on Work at a Startup.

Sign up to see more ›