Founding Engineer — Backend & Generalist (Node.js / TypeScript)

Safemind AB; Stockholms kommun; Hybrid; SEK 669,600 - 1,004,400; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible hours

Founding engineer equity

Direct line to product decisions

Job summary

Safemind AB, a fintech startup in Stockholm, is looking for a founding engineer to shape the future of personal finance through their innovative banking app. This role requires strong skills in Node.js and TypeScript, with a focus on building core backend services. You will have real ownership of the codebase and contribute to important decisions in a small, driven team.

The startup culture values responsibility and product-thinking, offering flexibility and the opportunity to grow alongside the company. Founding engineer equity is included.

Qualifications

• Strong Node.js and TypeScript skills, with an understanding of the runtime.
• Experience with production systems that real users depend on.
• Familiarity with backend fundamentals, databases, and REST APIs.

Responsibilities

• Shape the codebase and culture in a founding engineer role.
• Work across backend services to integrate functionalities.
• Contribute to architecture and technical decisions.

Skills

Node.js

TypeScript

PostgreSQL

REST APIs

Async patterns

Job description

A Stockholm-based fintech startup is building the future of personal finance - a banking app that combines smart money management with AI-driven insights. They’re a small, senior-leaning team where every engineer has real ownership and real impact. This is a startup with big ambitions and an entrepreneurial spirit - you’re here to help build something that matters for the long run. The team is growing and they’re looking for people who want to take ownership of what they’re building and grow together with the team.

The role

This is a founding-engineer position. That means you’ll be part of a small team shaping the codebase, the culture, and how the team builds. You’ll work across the backend and wherever else the product needs you, which could be tooling, internal systems, data pipelines, or API integrations. You don’t need to be a specialist in any one area, but you (or your best AI friend) need to be genuinely strong at writing correct, maintainable server-side code.

What you’ll work on

• Core backend services powering the app - account data, transactions, notifications, user state
• REST and event-driven APIs consumed by the iOS app (and whatever comes next)
• Third-party integrations: banking rails, open banking APIs, data providers
• Rebuilding the backend - moving off legacy services onto the new Node stack
• Internal tooling, monitoring, and reliability improvements
• Contribute to technical decisions: architecture, dependencies, process
• Work with TypeScript/Node.js on the backend side

About you

We see that you have:

• Ownership mindset - you take responsibility for what you build and see it through
• Product-thinking over ticket-execution - you care about why something is being built, not just what
• Good judgment: you know when to move fast and when to slow down and do it right
• Strong Node.js / TypeScript - you know the runtime, you don’t just know the syntax
• Backend fundamentals: databases (PostgreSQL or similar), REST APIs, auth, async patterns
• Experience with production systems - you’ve shipped things that real users depend on

It would also be nice if you have:

• Curiosity about banking and money - not just as a domain but as a problem worth solving
• Exposure to fintech, banking, or regulated industries
• Experience with job queues or async workflows (BullMQ, SQS, or similar)
• Some frontend or mobile knowledge - enough to collaborate effectively
• Fluent with AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor) - and you’ve shipped real code without them too

To thrive in the team you are:

• Senior, or junior going on senior
• Comfortable with ambiguity - you can figure out what "done" looks like
• Want to grow with the team and the product over the long run

What the team offers

• Real ownership - you shape the codebase and the culture, not just work in them
• Small team, direct line to product and architecture decisions
• Flexible hours, sane pace - they build for the long run
• Stockholm-based, hybrid - they value face time but don’t micromanage
• Founding engineer equity