Founding Engineer (Full-stack & AI)

Punchlister; Oost-Vlaanderen; Hybrid; EUR 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Work in Ghent Wintercircus hub

equity potential

AI tooling for production use

Hybrid on-site option

Job summary

Punchlister is looking for its first engineering hire to work with the founders on building and shipping the platform. You will own features from concept to production, manage releases, and ensure quality with automated tests.

You will also experiment with AI models and integrations to serve construction industry workflows. Based in Belgium, you’ll join a fast-growing, product-focused startup that values ownership, pragmatism and high-impact work.

Qualifications

• Several years of building web applications, both front end and back end.
• Strong in TypeScript, React and Node, and comfortable with SQL and Postgres.
• You've built features on top of LLMs that real users rely on, not just prototypes.
• You're able to write automated tests to speed up testing when rolling out new features.
• You use AI coding tools daily and know where they go wrong.
• Fluent in Dutch and English is a minimum requirement; French would be a nice extra.

Responsibilities

• Build features from start to finish with the founders, handling frontend, backend and database work.
• Own releases and version control, manage Git workflow, guardrails and production readiness.
• Make the product testable by setting up automated tests for each release.
• Work with AI models, evaluating and scoring LLMs for real tasks and cost efficiency.
• Build integrations with ERP systems and document/data platforms via APIs and MCP.
• Help set engineering standards, processes and grow Punchlister's software team.

Skills

TypeScript

React

Node.js

SQL

PostgreSQL

LLMs

Automated tests

AI tooling

Dutch language

English language

Tools

Git

APIs

MCP

Job description

You'll be Punchlister's first engineering hire. You'll work side by side with the founders to build the platform: you help decide what gets built, you build it, and you make sure it works.

Punchlister's founders ran a Belgian construction company before building software for the industry.

They know what a site report looks like, how extra work gets priced, and how many evenings a project manager loses to admin. Punchlister is the tool they wished they'd had. It turns voice notes, photos, WhatsApp messages and emails from the job site into site reports, extra-work items, tasks and documents, and pushes them into the tools contractors already use, like Robaws and Odoo.

Punchlister is onboarding new customers at a high pace and ships new features every week. Now the team needs an engineer to build the product with them.

What you'll do

• Build features from start to finish. Together with the founders, you turn a customer need into a clear feature. Then you do everything it takes to build it, front end, back end and database, and get it running on the Punchlister platform.
• Own releases and version control. You manage the Git workflow and the path from development to production: what gets released, when, and how. You put the guardrails in place (reviews, checks, rollbacks) so a release never breaks the platform for customers.
• Make the product testable. You set up automated tests, so every release is checked before it goes out and the team knows what ships works.
• Work with AI models. You compare and score LLMs on Punchlister's real tasks, so the platform always runs the model that performs best for each job, at a cost that makes sense.
• Build integrations. You connect Punchlister to the ERP systems its customers use, and to document and data platforms, through APIs and MCP.
• Set up how the team works. You help set the engineering standards and put the processes in place (code review, testing, documentation) that let Punchlister grow into a software team.

Who you are

Punchlister is a small team building fast. It needs someone who doesn't think in boxes. If you're used to a narrow role in a big organisation and want to keep it that way, this role probably isn't for you. If you want to have actual impact and ownership in a fast growing company, this role is exactly what you are looking for.

Your experience

• Several years of building web applications, both front end and back end
• Strong in TypeScript, React and Node, and comfortable with SQL and Postgres
• You've built features on top of LLMs that real users rely on, not just prototypes
• You're able to write automated tests in order to speed up the testing proces when rolling out new features.
• You use AI coding tools every day and know where they go wrong
• Fluent in Dutch and English is a minimum requirement. French would be a nice extra.

How you work

• You're fine with little structure, and you're happy to help build it
• You pick up what needs doing, without waiting to be asked
• A challenge outside your comfort zone motivates you
• You care about the details: customers rely on the platform for their daily work

Nice to have

• Experience in an early-stage startup, or as the first engineer somewhere
• Integrations with ERP systems or other third-party APIs
• Some feel for construction, or another industry where the work happens away from a desk

What Punchlister offers

• Work in an inspiring environment. Punchlister is based in the Wintercircus, the former circus building in the centre of Ghent that is now the city's tech hub. You share it with around 50 startups and scale-ups, and with the events, talks and bars that come with them.
• Work with the newest AI, in production. You test and choose the latest LLMs and AI tools yourself, and put them to work in a product that construction companies use every day.
• Build the engineering team from day one. The standards, processes and tools you set up become how engineering works at Punchlister. As the team grows, your role grows with it.
• See your impact within days. You talk directly to the project managers who use what you build, and see your work used on real projects shortly after you ship it.
• A fair salary package. A package that fits the role and is competitive within the industry. The details are discussed in the interview.
• Equity. As one of the first people at Punchlister, you get the possibility to share in the value you help create.
• On-site & hybrid. Time together at the Wintercircus, flexibility for the rest. The rhythm is agreed together.