Founding software engineer

A fantastic opportunity for an experienced Software Engineer to join a profitable, self-funded technology company building data-driven pricing and trading systems. As the first engineering hire, you will work directly with the founders to develop core platform infrastructure, improve real-time decision-making and turn research into reliable production systems. This role would suit a strong backend or platform engineer who uses AI-assisted development extensively and enjoys seeing their work have a direct commercial impact.

Location: New York, NY. In-office, five days per week.

Salary: $200,000–$400,000 annual base salary + up to 2% equity

Requirements for Founding Software Engineer:

• Strong professional experience in backend, systems or platform engineering
• Experience designing, building and operating data-intensive production systems
• Extensive hands-on use of agentic AI development tools and workflows, with clear examples of how these support your day-to-day engineering
• Strong engineering fundamentals and the ability to solve complex technical problems
• Strong data intuition, with the ability to use evidence to inform product and commercial decisions
• A track record of rapid career progression and increasing technical responsibility
• Experience within technology companies with strong engineering standards, including successful smaller businesses or teams solving challenging problems
• Comfortable taking ownership, testing ideas and adapting when an approach does not work
• Strong communication skills, including the confidence to challenge decisions constructively
• Able to work from the New York office five days per week
• Able to work in the US without employer visa sponsorship or a visa transfer, neither of which is available for this role
• Python proficiency is preferred, although engineers with strong experience in other languages will be considered
• A Computer Science degree from a leading undergraduate program and an interest in live events are beneficial

Responsibilities for Founding Software Engineer:

• Build and own core platform systems, including pricing, bidding and data infrastructure
• Develop reliable systems that support real-time trading and data-driven decisions
• Turn interactive AI-assisted research processes into continuously running research pipelines
• Build A/B testing frameworks to evaluate and improve pricing models
• Improve bidding system throughput and production performance
• Develop AI-powered tools for operational triage and production incident response
• Implement systems that detect model drift and support ongoing monitoring
• Work directly with the founders to prioritize projects and translate business challenges into practical engineering solutions

What this role offers:

The opportunity to join as the first engineering hire, with substantial ownership of core systems and technical decisions. Technically challenging work across real-time systems, data infrastructure and machine learning, using AI-assisted development workflows. A competitive base salary and up to 2% equity in a profitable, self-funded business where engineering improvements can deliver measurable commercial results quickly.

Applications:

If you would like to apply for this unique Software Engineering role, please submit your resume through the relevant application link! We’re committed to creating an inclusive and accessible hiring process. If you require reasonable accommodations for your application or during the review process, please let us know by separately emailing applications@redtech-recruit.com (if this email address has been removed by the job board, full contact details are available on our website).

Keywords: Founding Engineer / Founding Software Engineer / Senior Software Engineer / Senior Software Developer / Backend Engineer / Backend Developer / Platform Engineer / Systems Engineer / Infrastructure Engineer / Python Developer / Lead Software Engineer / Technical Lead / Python / Agentic AI / AI-Assisted Development / AI Developer Tools / Data Pipelines / Real-Time Systems / Machine Learning / Pricing Engines / Bidding Systems / A/B Testing / Model Monitoring / Model Drift Detection / Data Engineering / Distributed Systems / Workflow Automation / Production Observability / Trading Systems / Computer Science / Software Engineering / Computing / Computer Systems / Algorithms

RedTech Recruitment Ltd focuses on finding roles for Engineers and Scientists. Even if the above role isn’t of interest, please visit our website to see our other opportunities. We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at RedTech. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability status.