Founding Engineer

Guarded Growth IP LLC; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in founding role

Fully remote with flexible hours

Health, dental, and vision coverage

Small, craft-focused team

Job summary

Guarded Growth IP LLC is seeking a Founding Engineer to join co-founders and shape the data infrastructure, the AI layer, and the engines built on top. You will own end-to-end architecture across the stack in an early-stage environment.

This remote-first role offers meaningful equity, flexible hours, and a team that values craft, performance, and reliable systems. You’ll drive standards and ship features that define the platform’s trajectory.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of production engineering experience.
• Experience taking a system from prototype to production at scale.
• Strong written communication.
• Care about craft: API design, code clarity, performance, reliability.

Responsibilities

• Design and build connectors to IP offices worldwide.
• Build the normalisation pipeline that turns inconsistent office data into a single structured schema.
• Ship product engine features in DocketEngine and RenewalEngine.
• Contribute to the AI/intelligence layer - portfolio health scoring, risk detection, predictive analytics.
• Set engineering standards, tooling, and architecture choices that the team will live with for years.

Skills

Backend systems

Data pipelines

Full-stack work

Communication

Tools

TypeScript

Astro

React

Python

Cloud platforms

Job description

Help us build the data infrastructure layer for global IP - from office connectors to the AI/intelligence layer running on top.

About the role

We’re hiring a Founding Engineer to work directly with the co-founders on the foundational pieces of the platform - the data infrastructure layer, the AI/intelligence layer, and the engines built on top.

This is an early-stage role with broad scope. You won’t be siloed into one area. You’ll architect, build, and ship across the stack - and the work you do in your first six months will shape what the company looks like in five years.

What you’ll do

• Design and build connectors to IP offices worldwide (USPTO, EUIPO, WIPO, JPO, KIPO, and the long tail)
• Build the normalisation pipeline that turns inconsistent office data into a single structured schema
• Ship product engine features in DocketEngine and RenewalEngine
• Contribute to the AI/intelligence layer - portfolio health scoring, risk detection, predictive analytics
• Set engineering standards, tooling, and architecture choices that the team will live with for years

What we’re looking for

• 5+ years of production engineering experience - strong in at least one of: backend systems, data pipelines, full-stack product work
• Experience taking a system from prototype to production at scaleComfort with ambiguity - you can scope your own work and pick what matters
• Strong written communication - we’re remote-first and we write a lot
• Care about craft: API design, code clarity, performance, reliability

Bonus

• Previous experience at an early-stage startup (employee #1-10)
• Background in legal tech, fintech, or other regulated domains
• Built data infrastructure or normalisation systems before
• Experience with TypeScript, Astro, React, Python, or modern cloud platforms

What we offer

• Meaningful equity - this is a founding role
• Fully remote with flexible hours; quarterly in-person team weeks
• Health, dental, and vision (US and EU coverage)
• A small, deliberate team that takes craft seriously