Founding Engineer

Dex; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Dex is seeking a Founding Engineer for San Francisco startups, offering total comp up to $250k+ plus meaningful equity. You would be among the first engineers, owning domains from architecture to ship, and working side-by-side with founders.

You should be a strong generalist with an appetite for ambiguity and early-stage pace; prior founding or startup experience is a bonus. Apply through Dex to connect with founders and keep control of the process.

Qualifications

• Strong generalist engineering and a builder's instinct.
• Comfort with ambiguity and an early-stage pace.
• The appetite for the whole problem, not a slice of it.
• Prior founding or early-startup experience — a bonus, not a requirement.

Responsibilities

• Building the product from the ground up with the founders
• Owning entire domains end-to-end, architecture through to ship
• Setting the engineering culture and standards from day one
• Wearing whatever hat the week requires, and shaping what gets built

Skills

Generalist engineer

Startup experience

Ownership mindset

Architectural planning

Job description

Founding Engineer (San Francisco Startups | up to $250k+ + equity)

Salary: Total compensation up to $250,000+ plus meaningful equity

Dex is an intelligent recruiter that helps you run your job search. Tell Dex about your experience, what you want to build or solve, and your non-negotiables — we only surface the handful of roles genuinely worth your time, and manage the applications on your behalf.

San Francisco has no shortage of startups calling every hire a founding engineer. The seats worth taking are rarer: real ownership, founders you'd back, and a company early enough that your fingerprints end up on everything. We work with these founders directly and know what they're building and how they're funded, so the roles we show you have already passed the filter you'd want to apply yourself.

The opportunities

Compensation at these companies can reach $250k+, with equity that's meant to matter. You'd be among the first engineers in the building — owning whole domains from architecture to ship, working in the room with the founders, and setting the standards everyone hired after you inherits. Early-stage pace, with backing serious enough to build properly.

You could work on

• Building the product from the ground up with the founders
• Owning entire domains end-to-end, architecture through to ship
• Setting the engineering culture and standards from day one
• Wearing whatever hat the week requires, and shaping what gets built

You may have

• Strong generalist engineering and a builder's instinct
• Comfort with ambiguity and an early-stage pace
• The appetite for the whole problem, not a slice of it
• Prior founding or early-startup experience — a bonus, not a requirement

Why apply through Dex? We put you in front of the right founders with a proper introduction, not a cold application — and you stay in control of what moves forward.

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