Founding Engineer - Shaper Capital

Shaper; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Material equity

Competitive cash compensation

Job summary

Shaper is seeking a Founding Engineer to join a portfolio company at the ground floor, taking ownership of the engineering foundation alongside the founder. You will define architecture, ship the first product version, and make critical technical decisions that shape the company for years to come.

You will set the standards for engineering practices and culture, with room to grow as the company scales. This is a rare 0-to-1 opportunity to work closely with a founding CEO and learn what it takes

Qualifications

• Strong generalist engineering experience, ships real products, early engineering hire.
• Entrepreneurial, customer-focused, takes ownership and moves fast.
• Comfortable with high autonomy and shaping architecture and culture.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical foundation and ship the first version end-to-end.
• Partner directly with the founding CEO and align on technical direction.
• Establish engineering culture, tooling, and scalable practices.
• Collaborate across product, sales, and customer support as needed.

Skills

Generalist engineering

Startup experience

Customer interaction

Proactive ownership

AI-assisted development

Tools

Copilot

Cursor

Claude Code

Job description

At Shaper Capital, we're on a mission to partner with incredible people to build companies that shape the world. We're the company-building engine of Travis May, who co-founded and led the two largest data exits of the last 20 years: LiveRamp (NYSE: RAMP, $200M+ revenue) and Datavant ($7B merger with Ciox). Now he's applying that playbook to solve data fragmentation across every major industry, from healthcare to national security to supply chain to AI.

Since October 2023, Shaper has launched 8 companies and raised 100M+ from top firms like a16z, CRV, and Footwork. One portfolio company went from incorporation to a $10M raise in 6 weeks (Arbital Health). Another grew 20x in a single year and closed an 8-figure deal in its first year (Protege). Most recently, our co-founded company, Fractional AI, was acquired to anchor a massive new AI venture backed by Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman Friedman to deploy Claude at scale.

By joining Shaper today, you'll be part of a small, ambitious team driven by the belief that the world's greatest problems have yet to be solved and the most transformative companies have yet to be built. We empower our portfolio companies to create businesses that transform industries, and we believe in hiring individuals who are smart, nice, and get things done. We invest in hiring high-potential and humble individuals who thrive in fast-paced, ambiguous environments and can rapidly grow their responsibilities as we reimagine company creation.

Role Overview:

As a Founding Engineer, you'll join one of Shaper's portfolio companies at the ground floor as the technical co-builder standing up the company's engineering foundation alongside its founder. You'll start from a blank slate and take wide ownership across the whole stack. You'll help define the architecture, ship the first version of the product, and make the technical calls that shape how the company builds for years to come.

As the first engineer, you'll also define what great looks like here; the practices and culture that will shape the engineering team as it scales.

This is a true 0-to-1 seat with room to grow as the company scales and a unique opportunity for an exceptional, hands-on generalist engineer to work shoulder-to-shoulder with a founding CEO and learn what it takes to build a category-defining company from the inside.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own the Technical Foundation: Build the first version of the product end-to-end — from initial architecture decisions through shipping to real customers.
• Partner Directly with the Founding CEO: Talk directly with the customers using the product and help set the technical direction and roadmap alongside leadership.
• Establish Engineering Culture and Tooling: Help build the technical foundations, tooling, and engineering practices that the company will scale on as the team grows.
• Work Across Every Lane of the Company: Engineering is your home base, but this role reaches into all of it — product, sales, customer service, and beyond — wherever the company needs you most.

Who you are:

• You have strong generalist engineering experience — you've built and shipped real products, ideally as an early engineering hire (employee #1-10) at a startup or in another 0-to-1 capacity.
• You move fluidly across the stack, pick things up quickly, and execute ruthlessly.
• You're entrepreneurial, love working closely with customers, take ownership without waiting to be told, and bring scrappy energy to your work.
• You make quick, thoughtful calls that balance short-term speed with long-term health.
• You’re comfortable using AI-assisted development (Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, or similar) to move fast and iterate quickly, without sacrificing sound judgment on what ships.
• You align with our motto of hiring people who are smart, nice, and get things done.

What We Offer:

• A true ground-floor seat at a Shaper-backed company, with real ownership of the technical foundation.
• Room to grow as the company scales, with the opportunity to shape engineering culture and technical direction from the very beginning.
• Material equity in the ground floor of a company you're building from zero + competitive cash compensation and benefits.
• The ability to join a working network of highly talented operators, engineers, and specialists collaborating across a multi-industry portfolio, all pressure-tested on solving hard problems.
• Work directly with high agency operators embedded deep in early-stage startups, giving the company experienced technical, product, and talent support across multiple functions it couldn't otherwise access at this stage.