Founder Associate

Duku AI; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A cutting-edge AI startup is seeking an execution-focused team member to drive cross-functional operations and support product development. You will collaborate closely with founders and participate in strategic decision-making in a fast-paced environment. Ideal candidates should have a startup mindset, an analytical approach, and a curiosity for AI and developer tooling. This role offers real ownership, shaping the company's direction as you help create the future of autonomous testing.

Qualifications

• Experience in a startup or high-velocity environment preferred.
• Ability to work directly with founders on strategic decisions.
• Strong first-principles thinking.

Responsibilities

• Drive cross-functional execution with founders across departments.
• Support fundraising and investor communications.
• Build internal systems for operational scaling.

Skills

Relentless execution

Analytical sharpness

Curiosity for AI

Ability to operate in chaos

Job description

QA slows the world down. Flaky tests kill trust, stall releases, and bleed engineering velocity.

Duku AI is ending that era.

We’re building autonomous agents that think like engineers: they run every critical user journey, catch failures before users do, and self‑heal as the codebase evolves. Real AI teammates, not test scripts that break on impact.

We’re venture‑backed and led by operators who’ve scaled Meta’s testing infrastructure, launched Uber’s global playbooks, and grew Deliveroo from zero to hypergrowth. We know what elite execution looks like and we’re hunting for one more builder to help us rewrite the rules of software quality.

What You’ll Do

• Drive cross‑functional execution with founders across product, engineering, and operations
• Sit in user and partner calls and turn insights into clear roadmap decisions
• Build internal systems that let us scale fast: GTM ops, product ops, finance workflows, hiring loops
• Pressure‑test strategy: market sizing, competitor intelligence, founder research briefs
• Support fundraising, investor comms, and data room readiness
• Own special projects that accelerate the company: everything from recruiting to analytics to product shaping
• Work inside the product engine: help spec features, run experiments, and support AI‑agent evaluation

What We’re Looking For

• Relentless execution: you move quickly, cleanly, and without supervision
• Founder energy: high ownership, no ego, bias to action
• Analytical sharpness: strong first‑principles thinking and crisp communication
• Curiosity for AI, developer tooling, and autonomous systems
• Ability to operate in chaos and turn ambiguity into structure
• Comfort working directly with founders on decisions that change the company’s trajectory

Ideal Background

We hire for mindset, not pedigree. You might have:

• Worked in a startup or high‑velocity environment
• Built something from 0 to 1
• Experience in consulting, product, operations, or founder‑adjacent roles
• A technical edge (not required but valued)

Why This Role Matters

Autonomous testing is inevitable. Five years from now, every engineering team will rely on AI agents to ship faster, safer, and smarter. You’ll be joining at the inflection point, working right next to the founders, shaping product, GTM, culture, and trajectory.

If you want to see how category‑defining companies are built from the inside, and you want real ownership instead of a support function, this is the opportunity.

Join now and help make the future arrive faster.