Founding Engineer

a16z-speedrun; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Founding equity

Seed-stage salary

Health, vision, dental

Direct founder collaboration

Job summary

TAYA is seeking a founding engineer to own the software core: the iOS app people use daily to capture, search, and relive memories. You’ll take the existing app from functional to indispensable, directly with Elena, without layers or process, shaping the product for years to come.

This software-first role demands a product-minded approach, strong Swift skills, and a track record of shipping end-to-end consumer apps. Join a mission-driven team building private, wearable-connected memory tech.

Qualifications

• 3+ years building and shipping consumer iOS software.
• Strong Swift engineer; SwiftUI, AVFoundation, and the iOS platform feel like home.
• Shipped at least one consumer app end-to-end, from empty project to App Store.
• Taste: a strong point of view on how software should look and feel, and a track record of shipping work that shows it.
• Has owned product metrics, not just features: you've moved retention, activation, or engagement and know how.
• Comfortable across the stack: APIs, managed services, and frontend.
• Track record of 0-to-1 building under ambiguity.
• Strong opinions on privacy and data minimization.
• Excellent attention to interaction detail.
• AI-native: you build with Claude Code, Codex, and similar tools daily and get more done because of it.
• Audio-heavy or real-time app experience is a plus.
• CoreBluetooth / BLE hardware integration is a plus.
• On-device ML or Core ML is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the iOS app, the daily driver for someone's entire memory archive.
• Own onboarding and the first-run experience: get people to their first real memory fast.
• Own retention: define the metrics that matter, then build the features and loops that move them.
• Build AI-powered search and retrieval that surfaces the right moment.
• Improve the capture experience: tap-to-capture, backgrounding, audio handling.
• Own sync between the wearable and the app over BLE.
• Integrate AI services and a managed backend (Supabase or similar).
• Own a privacy architecture users can trust, on-device wherever possible.
• Work with Elena across product, design, and GTM to ship, learn, and iterate.

Skills

Swift

SwiftUI

iOS development

App Store rollout

Product metrics

Privacy by design

AI-enabled search

BLE integration

On-device ML

Real-time audio

Tools

Supabase

Claude Code

Codex

Job description

About TAYA

TAYA is a memory company. We use AI to help people remember what actually happened: what was said, what was promised, the idea you had and lost by lunch.

Our first product is a voice-first AI you can talk to, paired with a wearable made to be worn. Most memory devices end up in a drawer because nobody wants them on their body. Ours is designed to be something you reach for, so it's there when it matters. It captures, holds onto privately, and hands back the moment you need it.

Founded by Elena Wagenmans (ex-Apple, Stanford) and backed by MaC Venture Capital, Female Founders Fund, and a16z Speedrun. We care a lot about taste: how the product looks, feels, and reads is the product. Pre-orders are open ahead of a 2026 launch.

Join us in building AI worth keeping on.

About the Role

We're looking for a founding engineer to own the software at the center of Taya: the app people open every day to capture, search, and relive their memories. We have a working iOS app today. Your job is to take it from working to indispensable.

You'll work directly with Elena, with no layers and no process, and the decisions you make now will define the product for years. This is a software-first role for someone who thinks in products, not tickets, and who measures success by whether people keep coming back.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the iOS app, the daily driver for someone's entire memory archive

• Own onboarding and the first-run experience: get people to their first real memory fast

• Own retention: define the metrics that matter, then build the features and loops that move them

• Build AI-powered search and retrieval that surfaces the right moment

• Improve the capture experience: tap-to-capture, backgrounding, audio handling

• Own sync between the wearable and the app over BLE

• Integrate AI services and a managed backend (Supabase or similar)

• Own a privacy architecture users can trust, on-device wherever possible

• Work with Elena across product, design, and GTM to ship, learn, and iterate

Qualifications

• 3+ years building and shipping consumer iOS software

• Strong Swift engineer; SwiftUI, AVFoundation, and the iOS platform feel like home

• Shipped at least one consumer app end-to-end, from empty project to App Store

• Taste: a strong point of view on how software should look and feel, and a track record of shipping work that shows it

• Has owned product metrics, not just features: you've moved retention, activation, or engagement and know how

• Comfortable across the stack: APIs, managed services, and frontend

• Track record of 0-to-1 building under ambiguity

• Strong opinions on privacy and data minimization

• Excellent attention to interaction detail

• AI-native: you build with Claude Code, Codex, and similar tools daily and get more done because of it

• Audio-heavy or real-time app experience is a plus

• CoreBluetooth / BLE hardware integration is a plus

• On-device ML or Core ML is a plus

Benefits

• Founding engineer equity, real ownership from day one

• Competitive seed-stage salary

• Health, vision, and dental benefits

• Direct work with the founder on a product people are already pre-ordering