Founding Software Engineer — Path to CTO + Equity

Trust The Locals; Toscana; On-site; EUR 50,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Trust The Locals, a Florence-based Travel Tech startup, is seeking a Founding Software Engineer to help build a scalable, AI-enabled platform for international travel services. The ideal candidate is an ambitious developer with passion for technology and startup growth, ready to contribute from day one.

You will collaborate closely with the founders, develop new features, and apply AI to improve workflows while taking on increasing technical responsibilities as the company grows.

Qualifications

• Experience building software applications from the ground up.
• Comfort with both frontend and backend development.
• Understanding of databases and APIs.
• Interest in AI-driven development and new tools.
• Able to learn quickly and work with founders.

Responsibilities

• Understand the architecture and functionality of our existing digital platform.
• Help complete the product and improve existing features.
• Identify and solve technical problems.
• Contribute to improving performance, stability, reliability, and user experience.
• Design and develop new functionalities for travel agencies, hotels, local professionals, customers, and internal teams.
• Turn business ideas into working software solutions.
• Work on both frontend and backend development, depending on your skills and the needs of the product.
• Explore opportunities to integrate AI into our platform.
• Develop intelligent features that simplify processes and improve user experience.
• Help automate operational workflows through AI and other technologies.
• Experiment with modern AI-powered development tools to accelerate product development.
• Work with APIs, databases, and external services.
• Help integrate payment solutions, management systems, and other digital tools.
• Contribute to making our platform efficient and scalable.
• Collaborate directly with the founders to identify priorities and new opportunities.
• Share ideas and propose technical improvements.
• Gradually become more involved in technical decisions and the product roadmap as your experience grows.

Skills

Founding Engineer

Frontend/Backend

Programming fundamentals

Databases & APIs

Independent problem solving

Entrepreneurial mindset

AI tools familiarity

Tools

Cursor

Claude Code

GitHub Copilot

Job description

Trust The Locals, a Florence-based Travel Tech startup, is seeking a Founding Software Engineer to help build a scalable, AI-enabled platform for international travel services. The ideal candidate is an ambitious developer with passion for technology and startup growth, ready to contribute from day one.

You will collaborate closely with the founders, develop new features, and apply AI to improve workflows while taking on increasing technical responsibilities as the company grows.