Founding Engineer, Wellington

black.ai; Wellington; On-site; NZD 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

black.ai is seeking a talented full-stack developer to build and own core features for their product based in Wellington, New Zealand. The successful candidate will have a strong commitment to transforming financial advisory services, using AI tools for development, and collaborating closely with the founders. This role emphasizes coding excellence and a business-oriented mindset, with opportunities for in-person collaboration and potential international travel.

Qualifications

• Deep mission commitment regarding financial advisory transformation.
• Continuous learning drive for 0-1 development cycles.
• High risk tolerance and comfort with ambiguity.

Responsibilities

• Build and own core product features end-to-end.
• Establish foundational patterns and technical decisions.
• Work directly with founders to translate user needs.

Skills

Full-stack/backend coding excellence

AI tool proficiency

Customer obsession

Collaborative mindset

Job description

Location

Wellington

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

On-site

Department

Engineering

What you'll do

Full-stack development

Build and own core product features end-to-end. You'll work across the stack, from backend infrastructure to frontend experiences, with a bias toward shipping fast and iterating.

Architecture ownership

Establish foundational patterns and technical decisions that will scale with the company. You'll be the codebase authority and shape the engineering culture.

Product collaboration

Work directly with founders to translate user needs into technical solutions. Your business acumen and product intuition matter as much as your coding ability.

AI-native development

Use AI tools daily for architecting, building, and debugging across stacks. We expect you to be a power user of modern AI development tools.

You're a fit if

• Full-stack/backend coding excellence — talent prioritised over years of experience
• Deep mission commitment regarding financial advisory transformation
• Business acumen with product and growth orientation
• Continuous learning drive for 0-1 development cycles
• Customer obsession, impact focus, intellectual curiosity, execution speed
• High risk tolerance and comfort with ambiguity
• Collaborative long-term mindset
• Daily AI tool proficiency for architecting, building, debugging across stacks
• Prioritises in-person collaboration and able to travel internationally

Nice to have

• Engineering hiring, management, and development track record
• Startup experience navigating critical milestones toward product-market fit
• Security infrastructure and data privacy compliance implementation experience