Stilta

In a world where products and software can be replicated overnight, intellectual property is the last durable moat. Every breakthrough in AI, biotech, clean energy, and autonomous systems depends on patent protection to survive. Yet the system meant to protect these innovations hasn't kept up. Stilta exists to fix that: we build agentic AI for intellectual property, creating the technology that will finally modernize how the world’s most important ideas are defended. We just closed one of the largest seed rounds in Y Combinator, backed by top Silicon Valley investors. We already work with several of the world’s largest IP firms and Global Fortune 500 companies, and are growing rapidly. About the role We're hiring a Founder's Associate to operate alongside the founding team. The job is whatever moves the company forward that week - one week it's an investor update, the next it's diligence on a competitor, the next it's running point on a Fortune 500 demo. No two weeks will look the same. If you want a front-row seat to how a generational company is built from scratch, this is it. What you’ll do Prepare and run competitive intelligence that directly shapes product and sales strategy Build investor materials, board updates, and strategic analyses that inform how we raise and grow Support sales by prepping for enterprise demos, building custom materials, and following up with prospects at the world's top IP firms Source, screen, and coordinate candidates as we scale the team from five to fifteen Build internal systems and processes from scratch - the operational infrastructure of the company doesn't exist yet, and you'll create it What we’re looking for AI is your default way of working - you use Claude or similar tools daily to think faster, build faster, and solve problems that used to take days in hours You thrive in ambiguity and like to operate across multiple workstreams You're exceptionally sharp Your slope matters more to us than your starting point - we care about how fast you'll grow, not where you start Founder or previous startup experience is a plus, but not a requirement.

You'll be one of the first hires outside the founding team and your decisions will shape the product for years. You'll build across the full stack: multi-agent reasoning pipelines, retrieval over hundreds of millions of patents and scientific literature, and the surfaces that practitioners at top IP firms and Fortune 500 IP teams use daily. These are problems without established patterns. You're building agentic software that patent lawyers actually trust to do substantive work - and you'll define what this category of product looks like. What you will do Build and improve the multi-agent architecture powering invalidity search, infringement analysis, freedom to operate research, and more Own the full lifecycle of features - from talking to customers about what they need to watching them use it in production Push code to production daily. Your code reaches users in hours or days, not weeks Build retrieval, reasoning, and evaluation systems that run autonomously over millions of documents with reliable source-backed results Set engineering standards for a codebase that will scale to a large team\ What we are looking for Exceptional matters more than experienced - we care about what you can do, not how long you've been doing it Strong engineering fundamentals and opinionated about product You write software with and for AI agents, and have shipped agentic systems before You can take a product idea from sketch to production single-handedly - write the specs, build the UI, wire the agent pipeline, deploy the infra Comfortable across Python and TypeScript, and you've worked with enough infrastructure - vector databases, distributed compute, cloud orchestration - that none of it slows you down Experience navigating enterprise requirements - SOC 2, data residency, access controls - is a plus

Every deal to date has been closed by the founders - from Global Fortune 500 enterprises to some of the largest IP firms in the world. The product is proven and the pipeline is growing. What's missing is a real sales function. You will manage deals, build a sales playbook with the founders, and work closely with the product and engineering teams to ensure we're meeting the needs of our customers. You should be excited about the opportunity to build the sales playbook rather than stepping into an environment where we've already figured it out. What you will do Own the full sales cycle from prospecting to close for IP law firms and enterprise IP teams Iterate on and improve the sales playbook alongside the founders Run demos for senior patent attorneys and heads of IP Cultivate relationships with key prospects (incl. travel to clients) Build the sales infrastructure - CRM, pipeline tracking, forecasting - so this function scales well beyond you What we are looking for Enterprise SaaS sales experience with a track record you can walk us through with real numbers - experience selling to enterprise or professional services is a plus You can earn the trust of sophisticated, sceptical buyers - senior patent attorneys who've heard every pitch and need substance, not slides Builder mentality - you design systems and processes, not just close deals You use AI tools like Claude as part of how you work - research, outreach, prep. We're an AI company and our GTM should reflect that Early-stage startup experience is a plus. What's required is hunger, resourcefulness, and the drive to build from zero

We're hiring a patent professional who wants to shape the future of their field, not just practice in it. You'll be the domain authority inside the company: the person who knows what "good" looks like and makes sure our AI meets that bar. You'll lead the domain side of customer engagements with top IP firms and Fortune 500 IP teams, turn real litigation workflows into product, and work directly with engineering to improve how our agents reason about claims, prior art, and infringement. What you will do Join enterprise demos and pilots as the domain expert Onboard customers: train teams, configure workflows, ensure first-week value Set and enforce the quality standard for AI-generated analysis - claim charts, prior art mappings, infringement assessments - against the bar you know from practice Translate what patent professionals need under real pressure into product decisions and feature priorities Work with engineering to improve how our agents reason about claims, prior art, and infringement What we are looking for 2+ years of patent experience - litigation and invalidity experience is a plus, but we value anyone who has done serious patent work and knows what quality looks like Have personally drafted claim charts and conducted prior art searches Curious about AI and ready to be hands-on in shaping how it handles the work you have been doing manually You want ownership and impact, not billable hours