Founding Engineer — Stealth AI Startup (Vertical SaaS)

We're building an AI-powered SaaS product for an underserved blue-collar industry that's worth hundreds of billions and runs on duct tape and prayer.

We're not going to share the specifics in this post — too much competition, too much noise, too easy to get copied. What we will tell you:

• The product is real and already in beta with paying customers
• We have built-in distribution through an existing operating company (no zero-to-one sales problem)
• The market is enormous, fragmented, and almost entirely ignored by good software
• We're founder-funded and revenue-positive on day one of launch
• The exit path is clear and meaningful

If you make it past the first call, you'll get the full picture under NDA.

The role

You'll be the senior technical leader on the founding team. Day one, you'll own:

• Building and shipping the core product (mobile + web)
• AI architecture: LLM integrations (Claude, GPT), data pipelines, agent design
• Backend, frontend, database — full stack
• Infrastructure: scaling from 10 customers to 10,000
• Hiring engineers as we grow

This isn't a "code from a spec" job. This is a "you're the technical brain of the company" job. If you want to be told what to build, this isn't for you. If you want to BUILD something with founder-level autonomy and ownership, keep reading.

Who you are

• 5+ years building production software (any stack — what matters is shipping)
• Have built at least one AI/LLM-integrated product end-to-end
• Comfortable with mobile (React Native, Flutter, or native) — most of our users are on phones
• Have shipped to real users, not just internal tools
• Self-directed. We don't have time to manage you.
• You move fast and ship working code. Pretty doesn't matter. Working does.

Bonus points

• Experience in vertical SaaS (especially service businesses, sales tech, or operations software)
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) — a meaningful slice of our market is Spanish-speaking
• Have been part of a founding team before
• You've burned out at a big company and want to build something where your work actually matters

Comp & equity

• Base salary: $150K–$220K depending on experience
• Equity: Founder-level grant, vesting over 4 years with 1-year cliff
• Health benefits: Yes
• Time off: Reasonable — we work hard but don't pretend "unlimited PTO" is real

This is a real founder seat at a company building toward a meaningful exit. We're not pretending to be a startup — we're operating as one.

What we're NOT

• We're not a "we'll IPO in 2 years" pitch deck. We're a real company with real customers.
• We're not VC-funded. We're founder-funded with paying customers from day one. Trade-off: less cash to start, more equity, more autonomy.
• We're not corporate. No politics, no committees, no waiting two weeks for a decision.

How to apply

Email [your email] with:

1. Your name, location, and current situation
2. Links to 1-2 things you've built that you're proud of (GitHub, deployed apps, whatever)
3. One paragraph: what's the most interesting AI/LLM problem you've solved recently and how?
4. Salary expectations and earliest start date

Don't send a generic cover letter. I'll read it and skip you. Send something that shows you actually read this post.

We respond to every applicant within 5 days. Serious candidates get the full company picture under NDA after the first call.