Founding Software Engineer

Founding Software Engineer (Backend / Infrastructure leaning) – Remote with occasional travel across East Coast – Competitive Salary + Equity + Opportunity to work with an Ambitious, Rapidly-Growing Start-Up

This young, early-stage start-up challenger are currently looking for a hands-on Back-End/Infrastructure Engineer to join their small team and help drive the business forwards.

This could be an excellent opportunity for an experienced Back-End/Infrastructure Engineer with founding/small start-up experience to take that next step into an exciting position with a very well-run and ambitious organisation in an innovative, exciting space.

This young and agile company are building cutting-edge AI platforms. They are in a unique space where there is an opportunity for them to gain significant market share very quickly.

About the Company:

Seed-stage company, founded ~18 months ago

$7M seed round closed this past summer

Current team size: 3 engineers

Business has moved past pure architecture and now needs execution and ownership

There is the opportunity to work within a complex codebase, own entire product points, and build new features end-to-end.

Everything they do is entrenched in achieving engineering excellence.

Why They Are Hiring:

• First software license with a customer targeted for February

• Role is critical to moving from demo to real customer usage

About the Senior/Staff Software Engineer (Backend / Infrastructure leaning) Engineer Vacancy:

• They need a builder
• ~80% hands-on coding
• Heavy focus on backend systems and infrastructure
• Full-stack exposure where required
• Building and evolving the product

• Supporting customer-specific customizations

• Working very closely with:

• CEO (engineer by background, deeply involved in product and engineering)
• ML engineer
• Forward-deployed engineer

Leadership Trajectory:

• Expected to grow into a leadership role over time
• Potential path toward Head of Engineering
• Looking for someone excited by leadership, not just long-term IC work
• Lead-from-the-front profile rather than a pure manager

What this role is not:

• Not a classified role
• No security clearance required
• Not forward-deployed
• Not purely ML-focused
• Not architecture-only
• Not a people manager on day one

Other:

• Remote-first role
• Preference for NYC or Virginia, but open geographically
• Will include some onsite trips where they pull the team together

NYC or Virginia

Fly in one morning, leave the next afternoon

Candidate must be comfortable with light, regular travel

Ideal Requirements for the Senior/Staff Software Engineer (Backend / Infrastructure leaning) Engineer Vacancy:

Startup Energy: You thrive in fast-paced environments, manage ambiguity well, and focus on what moves the needle.

• Senior-level software engineering experience

• Strong backend and infrastructure background

• Comfortable operating in pre-launch, ambiguous environments

• Comfortable working in a small company – currently team is 4 people

• Proven experience shipping production systems

• AWS experience

Nice-to-have:

• Familiarity with agentic systems or agentic services

o Does not need deep expertise

o Cannot be completely new to the concept

Soft Skills:

• Thrives in early-stage, high-ambiguity environments

• Enjoys building before everything is clearly defined

• Has shipped real systems, not just prototypes

• Understands security, privacy, and regulated constraints

• Wants to grow into a technical leader as the company scales – route to Head of

Engineering

• Excited to partner closely with a technical CEO

• This should feel like an ownership hire, not a support hire

• Start-up experience would be nice-to-have

• Regulatory experience in industries such as health-tech or fin-tech or security-first SaaS

or privacy- and compliance-heavy domains might be good

Apply to the Role:

Roles like these are snapped up very quickly, so act now if you do not want to miss out Reply to this advert or email your CV to