AMBITIOUS FOUNDING iOS ENGINEER — Start Up NYC

Initi8 Recruitment; New York (NY); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Initi8 Recruitment in New York City seeks an ambitious iOS engineer to own features from idea to shipped product. You will work directly with founders, product, design, and backend engineers to turn concepts into polished experiences with significant influence over mobile architecture and user experience.

This is not maintenance; you’ll ship high-impact features, define architecture, and drive the product forward with ownership and speed.

Qualifications

• Solid iOS development experience using MVVM or similar patterns.
• Built and scaled iOS apps from 0 to 1.
• Strong proficiency in Swift or Objective-C.
• Experience with REST APIs and asynchronous data handling.
• High ownership and proactive problem-solving.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship high-quality iOS features using Swift.
• Help define and evolve the company's iOS architecture.
• Create interfaces and interactions that feel fast and native.
• Debug production issues and improve app reliability and performance.
• Help establish engineering practices as the mobile team grows.

Skills

MVVM

Swift

Objective-C

REST APIs

Ownership

iOS scaling

Job description

Some products you build. Some you help scale into something huge. Every so often, you get in early enough to do both — and this is one of those.

We're after an ambitious iOS engineer who wants real ownership from day one — not "join a team and pick up tickets." This is get in early at one of NYC's fastest-growing start-ups and help build the product from the ground up, at a company still early enough that your decisions actually stick. Massive user volume already. Real backing. The kind of growth curve that gets talked about in years to come.

If you're hungry, sharp, and want to be the person who figures out what to build before anyone has to tell you — keep reading.

The Role

Their iOS app is at the center of the creator experience. You'll be one of the core engineers responsible for building and scaling it.

This isn't a maintenance role. You'll work directly with the founders, product, design, and backend engineers to turn ideas into polished product experiences, with significant influence over mobile architecture, technical direction, and user experience. You'll own features from idea → iteration.

Key Responsbilities

• Build and ship high-quality iOS features using Swift
• Help define and evolve the company's iOS architecture
• Build interfaces and interactions that feel fast, polished, and native
• Debug production issues and improve app reliability and performance
• Help establish engineering practices and standards as the mobile team grows

About You

You're not just here for a paycheck — you're looking for "the thing." Maybe you've interned at a few startups, built side projects late at night, shipped your own apps, or thrown yourself into hackathons because you couldn't help it. You want a flat team where people just get on with it — no layers, no waiting for permission. You're curious by default, move quickly, and would rather solve the problem than wait to be assigned it.

What We're Looking For

• Solid professional iOS development experience using MVVM or similar architectural patterns
• You've built and scaled iOS apps from 0 to 1
• Strong proficiency in Swift or Objective-C
• Experience working with REST APIs and asynchronous dataComfortable working in a fast-moving start-up environment
• Strong attention to detail
• Ability to take an ambiguous problem and turn it into a shipped product
• High ownership — you don't need someone telling you exactly what to build every day

Nice to Have

• Experience at an early‑stage or high‐growth startup
• Experience with payments, messaging, or creator products

Why This Is Different

This is a red‑hot platform in a niche that's exploding — connecting people with commercial opportunities through authentic content. Already handling massive volume across millions of creators and thousands of brands,. Freshly and heavily backed and scaling at a pace that's hard to find anywhere else.

You're not employee #3,000 buried in Slack. You're one of the founding engineers, with the influence that comes with it. Your code ships, your ideas matter, and the line from your work to the company's growth is direct. That's rare this early in a career.

The team is small, sharp, and moves with intent — everyone in the office, every day, shipping.

The Money Talk

The Vibe

Financial District, Manhattan. In‑person, 5 days a week — the whole team's there, shipping together.

So — You In?

If you're an ambitious iOS engineer who wants real ownership and to stop waiting for permission — this is your moment. One of NYC's fastest‑growing start‑ups is hiring right now, and this timing won't repeat.