Founding Principal Engineer

globalplacementfirm; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model (3 days in-office)

Union Square, NYC location

Visa transfers accepted

Job summary

GPF Staffing is recruiting a Founding Principal Engineer for a rapidly growing HealthTech startup in New York. This hands-on leadership role reports to the CEO, owns major architectural decisions, and sets the engineering foundation for a growing healthcare platform.

You will guide the transition from offshore to a small in‑house team, establish standards and processes, and drive responsible AI adoption. The ideal candidate has 6+ years of production software experience, startup experience, and

Qualifications

• 6+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Previous experience in an early-stage or startup environment.
• Demonstrated ownership of technical and architectural decisions from concept through production.
• Strong product mindset with the ability to make sound product decisions when requirements are not fully defined.
• Comfortable operating with significant autonomy in a fast-moving environment.
• Experience establishing engineering standards and improving development processes.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work across technical, clinical, operational, and business teams.
• Interest in applying AI to products, engineering workflows, and organizational processes.

Responsibilities

• Write production code and solve the company's most complex technical problems.
• Own architecture across telehealth, EHR integrations, patient-facing dashboards, and emerging AI capabilities.
• Work directly with the CEO to translate clinical, operational, and growth objectives into technical solutions.
• Make independent product and engineering decisions without relying on highly detailed PRDs.
• Lead the technical transition from the existing offshore engineering team.
• Establish engineering standards, code-review processes, development practices, and quality expectations.
• Drive responsible AI adoption across the organization to accelerate product development and internal capabilities.
• Help establish and grow a small, exceptional U.S.-based engineering organization over the next 6–12 months.

Skills

Hands-on engineering

Architecture ownership

Startup experience

Product mindset

Cross-functional communication

AI interest

Tools

TypeScript

Node.js

React

AWS

Job description

Founding Principal Engineer — HealthTech / AI

New York, NY | Hybrid – 3 Days In-Office
$200K–$250K Base + 0.2%–0.4% Equity | Full-Time

GPF Staffing is recruiting a Founding Principal Engineer for a rapidly growing, Series B healthcare technology company transforming pediatric mental health care.

This is a highly influential, hands-on engineering role for an experienced builder who wants to work directly with the CEO, own major technical decisions, and establish the engineering foundation for a growing healthcare platform.

The company is transitioning from an offshore development model to a small, high-caliber in-house engineering organization. The Founding Principal Engineer will play a central role in determining how the platform, engineering practices, and future team are built.

What You'll Do

• Write production code and solve the company's most complex technical problems.
• Own architecture across telehealth, EHR integrations, patient-facing dashboards, and emerging AI capabilities.
• Work directly with the CEO to translate clinical, operational, and growth objectives into technical solutions.
• Make independent product and engineering decisions without relying on highly detailed PRDs.
• Lead the technical transition from the existing offshore engineering team.
• Establish engineering standards, code-review processes, development practices, and quality expectations.
• Drive responsible AI adoption across the organization to accelerate product development and internal capabilities.
• Help establish and grow a small, exceptional U.S.-based engineering organization over the next 6–12 months.

What We're Looking For

• 6+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Strong hands-on experience building and shipping complex production applications.
• Previous experience in an early-stage or startup environment, ideally working directly with founders or executive leadership.
• Demonstrated ownership of technical and architectural decisions from concept through production.
• Strong product mindset with the ability to make sound product decisions when requirements are not fully defined.
• Comfortable operating with significant autonomy in a fast-moving environment.
• Experience establishing engineering standards and improving development processes.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to work across technical, clinical, operational, and business teams.
• Interest in applying AI to products, engineering workflows, and organizational processes.

Tech Stack

TypeScript | Node.js | React | AWS

Compensation & Equity

Base Salary: $200,000–$250,000
Equity: 0.2%–0.4%

Location

New York, NY – Union Square

This is a hybrid position requiring candidates to work in-office three days per week. Candidates who are not currently located in New York should be willing to relocate.

Visa Sponsorship

The company is open to eligible visa transfers, including H-1B transfers and qualifying OPT candidates.

Hiring

The company expects to hire 1–2 engineers for this opportunity.

This opportunity is best suited for a hands-on technical leader who still wants to build, rather than someone looking for a primarily people-management role. You'll have the opportunity to influence architecture, product direction, engineering culture, AI adoption, and the development of the future engineering organization.