full stack developer/startup founder

Technical Co-Founder / Founding Engineer

Early-Stage Education Technology Startup

Compensation: Primarily Equity-Based

Position: Co-Founder / Founding Technical Lead

Schedule: Flexible

Location: Remote / Hybrid/ Columbus, OH (preferred but will hire best candidate)

About the Company

We are an early-stage education technology startup building a new platform designed to help students explore careers, understand professional pathways, and make more informed decisions about their futures.

The product combines interactive digital experiences, artificial intelligence, career exploration tools, simulations, personalized recommendations, and student-focused content into a single platform.

An initial version of the platform has already been developed. We are now looking for a highly motivated Technical Co-Founder / Founding Engineer who can help take ownership of the technology, strengthen the existing product, and build the technical foundation for future growth.

This is not a traditional salaried software engineering position. It is intended for someone interested in joining an early-stage company as a technical founder and building meaningful ownership through equity.

What You'll Do

You will work directly with the founder to help shape both the product and technical direction of the company.

Key responsibilities may include:

• Review, improve, maintain, and expand the existing application and codebase.

• Lead development of new platform features from concept through deployment.

• Build and integrate AI-powered features using large language models (LLMs) and third-party APIs.

• Develop scalable backend systems, APIs, databases, authentication, and application infrastructure.

• Improve frontend functionality, responsiveness, performance, and user experience.

• Develop interactive experiences, simulations, dashboards, and student-facing tools.

• Help establish the company's long-term technical architecture and development standards.

• Troubleshoot bugs, security issues, performance problems, and production issues.

• Translate creative product concepts into functional prototypes and production-ready features.

• Help determine what should be built internally versus through external APIs, models, or infrastructure.

• As the company grows, potentially help recruit and lead future engineering and product team members.

Technical Skills We're Looking For

You do not need to be an expert in every technology listed below. We care most about strong engineering fundamentals, versatility, creativity, and the ability to learn quickly.

Experience with several of the following is preferred:

Programming & Development

• Python

• JavaScript and/or TypeScript

• React or similar modern frontend frameworks

• Node.js and modern web application development

• Java

• C++

• HTML/CSS

• REST APIs and third-party API integrations

• SQL and/or modern database technologies

• Git and version control

AI & LLM Development

• Experience integrating large language models into applications

• OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, or similar AI APIs

• Prompt engineering and structured LLM outputs

• AI agents, tool/function calling, or workflow automation

• Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) or vector databases

• Designing AI systems with appropriate reliability, privacy, cost, and safety considerations

Platform & Infrastructure

• Replit or similar cloud development environments

• Cloud deployment and hosting

• Authentication and user-management systems

• Database architecture

• API development

• Application security

• Performance optimization

• SaaS architecture

Experience building educational technology, gamified applications, interactive simulations, 3D/web experiences, or AI-powered consumer products would be particularly valuable.

Creative Product & Design

This role goes beyond writing code.

We are looking for someone who enjoys asking, "How could we make this experience better?"

You should be comfortable contributing ideas around:

• UI/UX

• Product design

• Gamification

• Interactive experiences

• Student engagement

• AI experiences

• Visual storytelling

• Prototyping

• Creative feature development

Experience with Figma, WebGL, Three.js, React Three Fiber, game development, 3D environments, or similar creative technologies is a plus, but not required.

Who We're Looking For

The ideal person is entrepreneurial and wants meaningful ownership rather than simply another engineering assignment.

You may be a strong fit if you:

• Want to help build a company from an early stage.

• Enjoy moving quickly and solving ambiguous problems.

• Can independently turn ideas into working products.

• Are comfortable working with an evolving codebase.

• Think about users and business outcomes in addition to engineering.

• Have strong product instincts and creative problem-solving skills.

• Are excited about AI, education, career exploration, and emerging technology.

• Communicate clearly with both technical and nontechnical collaborators.

• Want the opportunity to influence the company's technology, product, and long-term direction.

Startup experience is valuable but not required.

Compensation & Ownership

This is an early-stage co-founder opportunity in which equity is expected to be the primary form of compensation initially.

The specific ownership structure, responsibilities, vesting schedule, time commitment, and future compensation will be discussed with qualified candidates and documented through appropriate agreements.

Candidates should understand that early-stage startups involve significant uncertainty and risk. Equity does not guarantee future compensation or company value.

As the company reaches appropriate revenue or financing milestones, the founders may evaluate transitioning the role to include cash compensation.

Why Join?

This is an opportunity to become a foundational member of a company rather than joining after the major product and technology decisions have already been made.

The right person will have the opportunity to meaningfully influence:

• Product direction

• Technology architecture

• AI strategy

• User experience

• Engineering culture

• Future hiring

• Company strategy

Most importantly, you will be helping build technology intended to give students greater exposure to careers and opportunities before they have to make major educational and professional decisions.

How to Apply

Please submit a resume, LinkedIn profile, GitHub profile, portfolio, or examples of products you have built.

In your application, briefly tell us:

• What have you built that you're most proud of?

• What technologies do you consider your strongest?

• What experience do you have building with LLMs or AI APIs?

• Have you ever taken an application from prototype to production?

• Why does joining an early-stage company as a technical co-founder interest you?

• What level of time commitment could you realistically make?

We care more about what you can build, how you think, and your desire to create something meaningful than a specific degree or traditional career path.

Pay: $8.00 - $10.00 per hour

Expected hours: 37.5 per week

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Columbus, OH 43268