Founding Engineer

Dex; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 225,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Job summary

Dex is seeking a founding engineer in San Francisco to build the product from the ground up and own full architecture end-to-end. You will work directly with founders, set engineering standards, and help shape what gets built in a fast-paced, early-stage setting.

You could own whole domains, contribute to culture, and adapt to changing priorities as the company grows. Equity is offered, with compensation up to $250k+ total, reflecting early ownership.

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

Strong generalist engineering

Builder's instinct

Comfort with ambiguity

Early-stage startup experience

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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