Founding Principal Engineer

Barker Staffing Solutions LLC; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Handsprint Health is seeking a Founding Principal Engineer with 6+ years for a pediatric mental health platform. You will work with the CEO to set the technical foundation, own end-to-end systems, and lead a growing engineering org in a regulated space. This is a hands-on, product-minded role in a fast-moving startup.

You’ll own architecture across telehealth, EHR, patient dashboard, and AI adoption, and drive the onshore team building over the next 6-12 months.

Qualifications

• 6-15 years of experience in full-stack engineering.
• Recent startup experience as senior or founding engineer.
• Staff/Principal-level IC owning systems end-to-end.
• Led or directed offshore/distributed engineering teams.
• Production full-stack TypeScript (Node + React + AWS).
• Hands-on AI/LLM implementation in production systems.
• Product-minded: makes UX/feature decisions without detailed PRDs.

Responsibilities

• Write production code on the hardest problems while owning architecture across telehealth, EHR, patient dashboard, and AI adoption.
• Translate clinical, growth, and operations needs into technical plans with minimal PRDs.
• Lead and transition offshore engineering teams while establishing standards and quality practices.
• Drive AI adoption across the organization to accelerate the roadmap.
• Lay groundwork for a small onshore engineering team in 6-12 months.

Skills

Full-stack engineering

Startup experience

Staff/Principal-level IC

Team leadership

AI implementation

Tools

TypeScript

Node

React

AWS

Job description

We are looking for a Founding Principal Engineer with 6+ years of experience at Handspring Health, who will be working directly alongside the CEO to set the technical foundation for a pediatric mental health platform that's rebuilding care from the ground up. You'll be a product-minded, hands-on builder who thrives in early-stage environments and takes ownership of complex consumer products in a regulated space. We just raised our Series B and are replacing our offshore team with a small, exceptional in-house engineering org, and you'll be the one to define how it's built.

What will you be doing?

• Writing production code on the hardest problems while owning architecture across telehealth, EHR, patient dashboard, and AI adoption
• Working directly with the CEO to translate clinical, growth, and operations needs into technical plans: making independent product decisions without detailed PRDs
• Leading and transitioning the offshore engineering team while establishing engineering standards, code review, and quality practices
• Driving AI adoption across the organization to accelerate the product roadmap
• Laying the groundwork for a small, high-caliber onshore engineering team over the next 6-12 months

Requirements

• 6 - 15 years of experience in full-stack engineering
• Recent early-stage/startup experience as senior or founding engineer (Bigtech background is ok as long as supplemented with recent startup experience)
• Staff/Principal-level IC owning systems end-to-end
• Led or directed offshore/distributed engineering teams
• Production full-stack TypeScript (Node + React + AWS)
• Built software in regulated environments (fintech, healthcare, HIPAA)
• Hands-on AI/LLM implementation in production systems
• Product-minded: makes UX/feature decisions without detailed PRDs