Founding Full-Stack Engineer at Acme

Location: Remote / In-person (flexible)
Type: Full-time
Source: Hacker News

About the Role

Acme is building a product. We are an early-stage company at the ground floor — no code yet, no customers yet, just a clear vision and a bias for action. We are looking for a founding engineer who wants to build something from nothing: architect the system, write the first line of code, ship the first version, and grow alongside the company.

What You'll Do

Build the product end-to-end: From database schema and API design to frontend UI and deployment infrastructure.
Make architectural decisions: Choose the tech stack, set up CI/CD, monitoring, and dev environments.
Ship iteratively: Get working software in front of users fast, then improve based on real feedback.
Set engineering standards: Establish coding conventions, code review practices, and a culture of quality.
Influence product direction: Work directly with the CEO on what to build, what to cut, and how to prioritize.
Own the infrastructure: Provision cloud resources, manage deployments, and keep the app running in production.

Who You Are

Experience: 3–8 years of software engineering experience, preferably in early-stage startups or with significant side-project shipping.
Full-stack capable: Comfortable across frontend, backend, databases, and infrastructure.
Ship-focused: 80% today beats 100% next month. Pragmatic tradeoffs between speed and quality.
Independent: Thrive without a playbook. Figure things out, make decisions, communicate clearly.
High ownership, low ego: Care about the mission and the team, not about who gets credit.
Product-sensible: Good judgment about what users need and what can wait.

Compensation

Salary: Competitive
Equity: Meaningful equity (2–5% range)

How to Apply

Send a note to the CEO with what excites you about early-stage building, a link to something you have built (GitHub, portfolio, side project), and why Acme specifically. No formal resume required.